1. The inca trail, which must be booked months in advance due to a limit on numbers.
2. Take the train from Cusco to the town of Aguas Calientes at the foot of Machu Picchu.
3. The four day zip lining, mountain biking, trekking and jungle tour offered by many companies. Arriving in Aguas Calientes before going to Machu Picchu.
4. Via transport of your choosing over the road to Hydroelectrica then walk or train to Aguas Calientes.
From Aguas Calientes you then take the bus or walk up to Machu Picchu... got it?
Like many overlanders we chose to drive ourselves as far as possible, so headed towards Hydroelectrica. On the way we spent the night in the small town of Santa Teresa. Here you can camp for free at the hot pools in their car park after paying the 5 sole per person entrance fee. We got a little lost on the way thanks to google and held up by road works so ended up arriving in the dark after asking a few locals for directions. The pools are located down a dusty road beside the sacred river Urubamba. The three stony bottomed pools are constantly fed by gloriously hot water from a mountain spring and they are very clean. We could see why they were filled with tourists and locals alike. We were surprised by their quality and even ran into our pampas tour buddies again it was that popular.
Machu Picchu was a great experience just don't forget to see some of the other ruins around Cusco and consider that everything on the way it's very expensive so doing a tour could almost have been cheaper once you allow for gas as well.
Rochelle & Will