Machu Picchu Tickets: Every Option Compared and Explained

Three Circuits, Ten Routes

Since 1 June 2024, entry to the Llaqta de Machupicchu is organised into 3 circuits and 10 routes, replacing the older five-circuit system. The change was made by Resolucion Ministerial No. 000528-2023-MC, which amended the visitor regulation approved back in 2017. Your ticket names one route. You follow that route in one direction, with a licensed guide, and you cannot switch partway through.

Circuit 1, the Panoramico, runs the upper terraces and the paths toward the big mountains. It includes Route 1-A for Machupicchu Mountain, Route 1-B for the Upper Terrace, and two high-season-only routes: 1-C to the Inti Punku sun gate and 1-D to the Inca Bridge.

Circuit 2, the Circuito de la Llaqta or Machupicchu Clasico, is the classic full view. It covers the upper platforms by the Guardian's house, the urban entrance at Llaqta Punku, the Quarries sector, the Sun Temple viewpoint, the Main Temple, the Temple of the Three Windows, the Sacred Rock and the Qolqas. It splits into Route 2-A, the designed route, and Route 2-B, the Lower Terrace.

Circuit 3, the Circuito de la Realeza, covers the lower urban sectors. Route 3-A climbs Waynapicchu, Route 3-B is the designed route through the Temple of the Sun and the Inca's House, Route 3-C is the Gran Caverna in high season, and Route 3-D is Huchuy Picchu, also high season only. If you want the mountain climbs, see our pages for Huayna Picchu and Machu Picchu Mountain, and read the full circuits guide before booking.

Entry Times, Tolerance and How Long You Get

Entry is sold by the hour. Slots run from 06:00 to 15:00, one departure each hour at 06:00, 07:00, 08:00, 09:00, 10:00, 11:00, 12:00, 13:00, 14:00 and 15:00. In months of regular demand you can arrive up to 30 minutes after your ticketed slot. In high-demand months, which run from 1 June to 15 October plus 30 and 31 December, tolerance stretches to 45 minutes.

The mountain controls are stricter. There is no tolerance at the Machupicchu Mountain, Waynapicchu Mountain or Huchuypicchu control points, so those tickets must be used at the exact time printed on them.

On standard routes, entries between 06:00 and 13:00 give you a maximum of 2 hours 30 minutes inside the Llaqta. For the 14:00 and 15:00 slots, your visit runs until the site closes at 17:30 at the latest. Re-entry is not permitted except in force majeure, so plan food, water and layers before you go up. Overstaying leads to removal from the site with police and park-guard support. The full rule set is on our Machu Picchu rules page.

The Aguas Calientes Ticket Office

There is a second chance if the online system is empty. The Ministry of Culture's ticket office in Machupicchu Pueblo, the town most people still call Aguas Calientes, sells up to 1,000 tickets a day. The rule that matters is this: tickets bought in person are valid for entry the NEXT day only. Never same-day. If you walk into the office on the day you hoped to visit, you are buying for tomorrow, assuming tomorrow still has quota left.

Tickets bought this way are locked to your name, so staff will take your passport details at purchase. Your passport is checked again against the ticket at the gate, so the name on the ticket and the document in your hand must match. In-person tickets are non-refundable, just like online ones. The official site publishes live availability of the daily 1,000-ticket quota, so you can check before you queue.

Online, the only official seller is the Ministry's own platform at tuboleto.cultura.pe, where a single order can hold a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 5 tickets. If your dates are gone online and you are already in town, the office is worth trying. If your dates are gone and you have not booked anything, read our page on what to do when Machu Picchu tickets are sold out, or look at the last-minute guided tour with entry ticket, which secures entry on dates the official system shows as full. The site map helps you find the office and everything else in town, see the Aguas Calientes map.

Official Tariffs and Who Qualifies

The Ministry of Culture publishes a promotional tariff each year for three groups: Peruvian nationals, foreign residents of Peru, and citizens of Andean Community (CAN) countries. For the current fiscal year, set by Resolucion Ministerial No. 000284-2025-MC, those tariffs are S/64 for general visitors on standard routes and S/112 on the mountain and cavern routes, which are 1-A, 3-A and 3-C. Students and minors aged 3 to 17 in those qualifying groups pay S/32 on standard routes and S/80 on mountain and cavern routes. Children under 3 enter free. To use any of these tariffs a visitor must show a valid DNI, carnet de extranjeria or passport proving the qualifying status, and students need a valid university or technical student card issued under the SUNEDU or Ministry of Education rules, or an equivalent original card from a CAN-country institution.

The tariff for non-resident foreign visitors is a different matter. It is set separately from the promotional resolution, and the resolution that sets it could not be located and fetched directly on a primary Ministry of Culture document. It is only reported in the Peruvian press. Because we cannot confirm it on an official source, we do not print a foreign-tariff number here. The price you pay is simply the price on the card you book above, with no surprises added later, except the checkout fee we flag on the official entrance tickets card.