Lady’s Guide to Machu Picchu Town

Today I want to share my guide to Machu Picchu town with you. Called Aguas Calientes, it’s located in the Urubamba River Valley in southeast Peru and is the closest town to Machu Picchu. Known for its thermal baths, colorful shops and market, and natural highlights, it’s a great place to stay while visiting the Inca ruins.

Machu Picchu Town

Most visitors to Machu Picchu don’t see much beyond the famous Inca site. But Machu Picchu town itself has some hidden gems, and it’s worth discovering.

After an excellent experience with luxury travel in Machu Picchu, I set out to discover what else the small Peruvian town had to offer.

Spectacled Bears in Machu Picchu Town

Given my love of animals, my first priority was the local wildlife in Machu Picchu town. Lucky for me, my accommodation, Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel, offered an excursion to see its spectacled bears.

The hotel rescues and rehabilitates members of the endangered Andean species, and guests can visit them.

Three spectacled bears were on site that day. They were busy eating their breakfast when we arrived from Machu Picchu town.

While observing them, we learned spectacled bears were mostly fruitarians, preferring the watermelons and avocados in their enclosures to the chickens that hung tantalizingly from the ceilings.

As they roamed (one even walked on a tightrope without any training or prompting), I couldn’t help thinking of Paddington Bear, London’s famous mascot.

He came from “darkest Peru”, where the only bears are those of the spectacled variety. Sweet!

Gardens in Machu Picchu Town

After visiting the animals, I went on another excursion in the gardens in Machu Picchu town. This one started at Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel’s small tea and coffee plantation, where I learned about the tea-making process.

It reminded me of my stay at a tea plantation in Sri Lanka the prior year, what with the techniques being very similar.

The walk continued through the property’s immense orchid collection, past its hummingbirds, alongside its resident Andean Cock-of-the-Rock (Peru’s national bird), and across its herb garden.

We also passed ancient Inca (or pre-Inca) rock paintings as we headed up to a waterfall.

The scenery was beautiful, and I was amazed by how much more there was to Machu Picchu than just the ruins.

Aguas Calientes

That included Machu Picchu town. Most visitors to Machu Picchu write off Aguas Calientes as a tourist trap.

But the local Mercado de Artesanias market was as vibrant as any I saw on my trip to Peru, and the small plaza with its pretty church was welcoming despite the fog and drizzle.

Walking up the main street, which was lined on both sides by colorful restaurants and shops, I wandered into a Mexican place for tortilla soup. There I met other travelers from Lima and Australia as I enjoyed my lunch in the small dining room.

Machu Picchu Town

At 2:30pm I left Machu Picchu town to travel to Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley of the Incas in Peru. My train journey was with Inca Rail. The company had offered me a complimentary ticket in its business class carriage.

I had a comfortable leather seat at a four-person table, and during the hour-and-a-half ride down the mountain I enjoyed complimentary coca tea, chocolate, and crackers.

Before I knew it, I arrived in Ollantaytambo and my time in Machu Picchu town officially came to an end.

I was sad to leave the Inca site after discovering there was even more to the area than I ever imagined.

But future adventures awaited me on my Peru travels, and even the mighty Machu Picchu couldn’t keep me from exploring more of what the country had to offer. To be continued…

Want to see more? Take a look at my Peru travel video.

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