Hiram Bingham Train: What You Get for the Price

Short answer: The Hiram Bingham is Belmond's luxury train to Machu Picchu. It leaves Poroy, outside Cusco, at 9:05 a.m., reaches Aguas Calientes about 12:24 p.m., and the fare covers brunch going, dinner coming back, the bus up to the citadel, a guide and tea at the Sanctuary Lodge. Fares start around US$500 each way (as of June 2026, seat61.com). Pay it for the day out, not for the view, which every train shares.

We get asked about this train by couples marking an anniversary and by travelers who want the one day in Peru where nothing is a chore. Both are good reasons. The wrong reason is thinking the Hiram Bingham sees something the other trains miss. It runs on the same single track as the PeruRail Expedition and Vistadome, through the same gorge, to the same station. What you buy is the carriage, the food, the service and a day built around the train rather than around a 6 a.m. entry slot. This guide lays out the timetable, what is on board, how it compares with the Vistadome and who we think should book it. For the whole set of trains, read our Machu Picchu train guide.

Route and timetable

The Hiram Bingham leaves Poroy station at 9:05 a.m. and arrives at Machu Picchu station, in Aguas Calientes, at about 12:24 p.m. The return leaves Aguas Calientes at 5:50 p.m. and reaches Poroy at about 9:16 p.m. (timetable on seat61.com, updated June 2026, and Belmond's own round-trip page, which lists the 9:05 a.m. departure and the 9:16 p.m. return). The ride takes about 3 hours 19 minutes each way, with a stop at Ollantaytambo to pick up passengers who board in the Sacred Valley.

Poroy sits 8 miles (13 km) from the center of Cusco, about 20 minutes by road, and Belmond includes the transfer from your Cusco hotel in the fare. The train also sells one-way and round-trip tickets from Ollantaytambo, and from the Rio Sagrado station at its sister hotel in Urubamba on a seasonal basis, per the Belmond site. Belmond warns on the same pages that timings are approximate because the train runs under the national railway's constraints.

Days of operation are the thing to check before you build a trip around it. A Belmond sales notice published on perurail.com says the train runs all week except the last Sunday of the month. Other published schedules describe it as running daily except Sunday, and resellers list a closure from January through April with a bus and train combination through the Sacred Valley in those months. Belmond's own site did not show a calendar when we read it, so confirm the day you want on belmond.com or by phone with Belmond before you buy anything else.

The timetable decides your visit. Arriving at 12:24 p.m. means a bus up and an entry slot in the early afternoon, about 1:00 or 2:00 p.m. You will not be at the gate for the first slot at 6:00 a.m. In the dry months that is fine, and the day trippers from the morning trains are leaving as you walk in. In the rainy months, roughly November to March, the afternoon is when the cloud is most likely to have lifted, which few people expect.

On board and at the citadel

The fare on the Cusco round trip includes, per Belmond's round-trip page read in October 2026: a welcome dance show and live music, brunch on board going out, cocktails and a gourmet dinner coming back, the bus up and down between Aguas Calientes and the citadel, a guide for up to 8 people in Spanish or English, the Tea Time at Sanctuary Lodge, A Belmond Hotel, next to the gate, and a VIP lounge at the Aguas Calientes station. Belmond's main page adds transfers to and from the train and bilingual guiding subject to availability.

The train carries 84 seats, with two dining cars and two bar cars, per Belmond. The Society of International Railway Travelers describes the two dining cars at 42 seats each, and an open bar car at the rear where the music plays and people stand outside on the observation platform. Peruvian wines and spirits are poured without charge, and the welcome pisco sour comes before the train moves. Imported bottles cost extra.

Three details matter more than the menu. First, the Machu Picchu entrance ticket. Belmond's FAQ says the train ticket does not guarantee entry to Machu Picchu, because the Ministerio de Cultura controls the entrance tickets, and asks guests to check availability for their day. Confirm with Belmond that your entry ticket is in hand, or buy it yourself following our guide to Machu Picchu tickets. Second, luggage: one hand bag of up to 11 lb (5 kg) and 62 linear inches (157 cm), per Belmond's FAQ. Third, dress: smart casual, in Belmond's words, with an explorer touch. A collared shirt or a dress for dinner, walking shoes for the ruins, no formal wear needed.

Children aged 0 to 2 ride free in a parent's arms, or at half price with their own seat, and children aged 3 to 11 get a 25% discount, per the Belmond FAQ. The day is long for small children: twelve hours door to door with about four hours inside the citadel and at the lodge.

Compared with the Vistadome

The Vistadome is PeruRail's panoramic class, and on the morning run it is the train we book for most travelers. It leaves Ollantaytambo in about 1 hour 30 minutes, or Poroy in about 3 hours 30 minutes from May to December, with side and roof windows, a snack and a short show on the return. The Hiram Bingham takes the same track from Poroy in about 3 hours 19 minutes. The gorge, the river and the cloud forest are the same from either window.

What changes is the money and the shape of the day. Published fare guides in mid-2026 put a Vistadome seat from Ollantaytambo between about US$55 and US$130 one way, depending on date and hour, while the Hiram Bingham starts around US$500 one way and resellers quote round trips between roughly US$950 and US$1,230 per person (checked October 2026). The Hiram Bingham fare folds in the bus, the guide, two meals, drinks and the tea, items that cost about US$100 to US$150 a person when you buy them separately on a Vistadome day. The gap stays wide: you are paying several hundred dollars for the dining car, the service and the slow lunch with the river outside.

Our opinion. If the train ride itself is the treat, the Vistadome in the morning and the Expedition back gives you the window and leaves money for a better hotel in Cusco. If you want one unhurried day where the meals, the bus, the guide and the lodge are already handled, and the price does not make you wince, the Hiram Bingham delivers exactly that. Nobody we have sent on it complained about the food. A few wished they had seen the citadel in the morning light.

Who it suits

Book the Hiram Bingham if you are celebrating something, if you will ride this line only once and want the day to feel like an event, or if a long day of logistics is the part of travel you dislike most. It also suits travelers who do not want to carry anything: the 11 lb bag limit is enough for a camera, a rain shell and a sweater, and your suitcase stays at the hotel.

Skip it if you want the 6:00 a.m. entry slot, Huayna Picchu or a mountain route, which start early and need their own ticket and time. Skip it if you travel between January and April, when the regular departure from Poroy is replaced by a road and rail combination and the full day gets longer. And skip it if the budget is better spent on nights: the difference between a Hiram Bingham round trip and a Vistadome day buys two or three nights at a 5-star Sacred Valley hotel.

We do not sell the Hiram Bingham as part of our packages. Our Machu Picchu tours from Cusco by train use the Vistadome or the Expedition with a licensed guide and the bus included, and the 2-day version sleeps in Aguas Calientes so you can take the first bus up. If you want the Belmond train inside a longer trip, ask through the quote form and we will build the days around Belmond's timetable once you have the seats.