Machu Picchu & Aguas Calientes Tours & Holidays

Aguas Calientes town is the gateway to Machu Picchu ruins, and is also known as Machu Picchu Pueblo. It is located in the valley below the world famous citadel and really the only reason to stay here is so that you take the short shuttle bus up the mountain to Machu Picchu at the time that suits you; a more flexible option than taking daytrip from Cuzco. The town itself really centres around the tourism of the ruins and is filled with hostels, hotels, restaurants and gift shops; its points of interest are the hot springs at the top of the town, the train station and the small market surrounding the station. The ruins are set atop Andean mountains with terraced slopes falling down into the Urubamba River, which rushes along round a great hairpin bend below. It is in a good state of preservation because the Spanish conquistadors never discovered it. For centuries it was buried under jungle vegetation, until American explorer Hiram Bingham stumbled upon it in 1911 and it was later explored by an archaeological expedition sent by Yale University.