Travel tips and hype

How fit do you have to be to enjoy Machu Picchu (MP)?  
Not an issue - anyone who can pay for the trip can go.  Being fit to walk up and down definitely helps.

Just to clarify the geography and terminology:
- Aguas Calientes (AC) or Machupicchu town is the nearest access point, where the tourist railway ends by the Willkanuta River.
- MP Archaeological Site is uphill one mountain over - about 4 mile hike and a 1000 ft climb.  The site is situated between Machu Picchu (MMP, Old Peak) Mountain on the left and Huayna Picchu (HP, Young Peak) on the right.

- Montana Machu Picchu (MMP) - after visiting MP Site, you may choose to hike MMP, taller than HP and rarely seen in MP pictures (because it is behind you.)  You can hike this (with a separate ticket) instead of HP, but it is not nearly as famous or popular.  You will see the same view of MP from Sun Gate or even from the guard house, except from much higher up.

- HP Huayna Picchu - As someone said - "That mountain is scary. There are really steep, narrow paths with no handrails or ropes, and a straight 1,000 ft drop off the side. There are tiny caves to crawl through and shaky wooden ladders to climb. There are sheer rock faces to scoot down, scooting your way towards a cliff if you happen to slip.  Once you pass the tree line and are on the terraces, you realize how high you are, and that there is nothing to save you if you get hurt or fall.  There's no helicopter coming to rescue you up there.  All that being sad, I'm so glad I did it. The views are incredible, the sense of accomplishment is something you will carry with you for the rest of your life."  Enough said!  HP is closer, shorter but a tougher hike than MMP.

• Altitude Sickness Prevention - Yes, you’ll feel the thin air as soon as the airplane doors open in Cusco. You might get a bit lightheaded, headachy or dizzy: all normal lowlander reactions.- Commonly found (and legal?) solution - coca leaves.  You’ll find coca tea bags, coca candy, and the ever-present bay-leaf-like coca leaves in every hotel, restaurant and market.
  - Sure, take advantage of this source of personal energy, but don’t forget to drink water often, keep hydrated and use Ibuprofen for unrelenting headaches.
  - MP is only 8,000 ft so if you have stayed around Cusco at 11,000 ft for a few days, you may be acclimated by the time you get to MP.
• Currency - As much as they like your dollars, they like them unblemished.  Brand new ones are the best, but even banks don't carry them these days.  Be sure to bring currency that has no nicks, cuts, marks or smudges of any kind.  I almost couldn't buy bus tickets because the ticket attendant kept finding something wrong with each one - until I sweet-talked her into accepting them.
  - Note that MP tickets accept Sols ONLY, whereas bus and train tickets are priced in US dollars.  They may accept Sols but at lower exchange rate.  Know before you go.
  - If you wondered why some things are priced in US dollars, (or locals prefer dollars over their own currencies) - the reason is simple.  Price fluctuations/inflation in their own currencies vs. the stability of dollar.
• Food and water - is very expensive at MP, less so at AC, but still a rip off.
  - Someone staying in our hotel went out for dinner and ordered an appetizer (Nachos)  and was shocked when it came to $14.
  - at the entrance to HP, they were selling 625 ml bottled water for 5 soles ($1.67.)  We bought 2.5 liter bottle of cold water for the same price at AC - 1/4 the price.
  - Breakfast is included in your hotel.  Take sandwiches or something with you for the hike to save money.
• Hikes - From AC, you could hike up to MP Site for free - it has steps that cut across the switchback road to the top, and takes about 2 hours to climb.  There is no view along the way due to surrounding tall trees.  Remember, there is enough walking up and down at MP site itself, and then you also have to walk down.  Plan accordingly. 
  - Alternatively, you can take bus for $12 each way, which takes about 30 minutes.  You could purchase round trip tickets at AC ahead of time, or one way when you get there.  There are a lot of switchbacks with gentle climb, but there is not much view due to tall trees most of the way.- You will be dropped off at the entrance to MP.  Restrooms are outside, and you need to pay to use them.  The park no longer hands out maps to the park (although you have paid hefty $40 or so entrance fee.)  We happen to get one but we couldn't get it to orient properly, so that didn't help.  There are some signs, as well as tour guides and park rangers - whose main job is to direct traffic around one way paths.  The park gets very busy mid-day when the tourist groups arrive, so the park has RED route, mostly upper part, going in, and BLUE route, mostly lower part on the return.  MP site is large - there is a lot of walking.  Lot of steps to climb up and down - most are uneven stones, but fairly comfortable when NOT wet.
  - The guard house on the south end is the highest point - this is where most famous views of MP site are taken from.  You could also hike Inca Trail about half a mile to Sun Gate, through which the sun shines first on MP - on clear days, of course.

Sun Gate (marked)  The peak on the right is MP Mountain.

• 
  - Instead of hiring our own guide, we eavesdropped on other guides to find out where we were, and what the significance of each place was.  Hiring our own guide for 2 hours would have given us a lot better lay of the land, but we were told that much of the history is unknown/guesswork - and then there is always YouTube. 
• Passport - Be sure to bring each person's passport every time you purchase any tickets - your name and passport number seem to go on all tickets here.  Good thing - if the ticket is lost, they can issue you a new one.  Safe-keep your tickets after use and dispose them off when you get home. 
• Passport Stamp - You can get a special Machu Picchu stamp in your passport.  Look for the person on the right side of the path stamping passports when you exit.
• Tickets - You need tickets to get into Machu Picchu, and you need to buy them ahead of time. You will need to show your passport when you go in, so they can confirm that your name matches the name on the ticket. They seemed pretty strict about that.
  - You need separate tickets to climb HP and MMP.  If you want to do either of those climbs, you should get those tickets at the same time you get your main MP tickets.  There is a limit of 200 hikers each at 7 am and 10 am.
  - Those going for 7 am, get up at 4:45 am, have breakfast at the hotel, stand in the line to take the bus to the top so they have a chance to see the sunrise from top (if not foggy), and enter HP at 7 am.  We opted for 10 am HP ticket and avoided this mad rush.  There is also a better chance for fog being burned off as the sun comes up.  Luckily, the day we visited, it was absolutely clear in the morning, high of 81 degrees and some cloud floating by later in the day.