Machu Picchu Tickets: How to Buy Them on the Official Site

Short answer: Buy Machu Picchu tickets only on tuboleto.cultura.pe, the Ministerio de Cultura site. A foreign adult pays S/152 plus an S/11 SERNANP fee (as of February 2026). You pick a circuit, a route and an hourly entry slot, then type each passport exactly. Book the 6 to 9 a.m. slots and Huayna Picchu as soon as your dates are firm.

Machu Picchu tickets at a glance (as of October 2026)

Item	Detail	Source
Official online seller	tuboleto.cultura.pe (Ministerio de Cultura)	machupicchu.gob.pe, online tickets page
Foreign adult, standard route	S/152 plus S/11 SERNANP fee from 1 May 2026, S/163 total (as of February 2026)	Infobae, 9 February 2026
Mountain and Great Cavern routes	About S/200 (agency price tables, not confirmed officially)	Agency tables, check tuboleto.cultura.pe
People per purchase	1 to 5	tuboleto.cultura.pe, read 28 September 2026
Entry hours at the main gate	Every hour, 6:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.	Ministerio de Cultura, Horarios de ingreso
Arrival tolerance	30 min in regular months, 45 min in peak months (1 Jun to 15 Oct, 30 and 31 Dec). None at mountain checkpoints	Ministerio de Cultura entry-hours table
Daily capacity	5,600 in high season, 4,500 in low season (2026 calendar)	RM 000285-2025-MC, via Infobae
In-person sale in Aguas Calientes	1,000 tickets a day, valid the next day	machupicchu.gob.pe, DDC Cusco resolution 001102-2022
Changes and refunds	Fixed date, no changes, no refunds	PeruRail ticket guide and agencies
ID for foreign visitors	Passport, the same one entered at purchase	PeruRail ticket guide

We plan these visits every week, and the mistakes repeat. Travelers buy from a look-alike reseller, pick an entry hour that their train cannot reach, or type a passport number with one digit wrong. This guide walks through the purchase in the order the official site asks for it, and stops at each point where a ticket gets lost.

Where to buy the official ticket

The only official online seller is tuboleto.cultura.pe, run by the Ministerio de Cultura (Peru's Ministry of Culture). The archaeological park's own site, machupicchu.gob.pe, sends you to the same address. Search ads and sites with "Machu Picchu" in the domain sell the same ticket with a markup, and some only take your money and pass the order on.

There is one other official channel: a ticket office in Aguas Calientes that sells a daily quota for the next day. We cover it further down. Licensed agencies also buy tickets for their own travelers on the same system, which is how our packages get them.

Before you open the site

Have four things decided before you start, because the payment page gives you little time once you reach it. Sort out your train first, then the ticket. The train decides which entry hours you can actually make.

• The date you will be at the gate, matched to your train and your night in Aguas Calientes, if any.
• The circuit and route you want, plus a second choice in case the first is full.
• Each traveler's full name, nationality, passport number and date of birth, copied from the passport they will carry.
• A credit or debit card that works for international online payments, with your bank warned that a charge from Peru is coming.

Check how many spaces are left on the official availability page first. It shows live numbers per route and hour, and it saves you from building a trip around a route that sold out last week.

Buying on tuboleto.cultura.pe, step by step

The purchase takes about ten minutes if your data is ready. One purchase covers 1 to 5 people. A group of six or more needs two purchases, so book the larger half first.

Step 1: Choose the circuit and route

A circuit is one of the three official one-way paths through the Inca city, and each circuit splits into routes. Circuit 2 is the classic visit through the temples. Route 3-A is the ticket that includes the Huayna Picchu climb. The table in the next section shows all ten routes.

What goes wrong: people pick Circuit 1, Route 1-B, because it is cheap or available, then find out it never enters the city. It stays on the high platforms above the city, where the classic photo is taken.

Step 2: Choose the date

Pick the day you will physically walk through the gate. If you arrive in Aguas Calientes on an evening train, your visit is the next day, and that is the date you book.

What goes wrong: a date booked one day off. The date is fixed once you pay. The ticket cannot be moved to another day, and it is not refunded.

Step 3: Choose the entry hour

Entry slots run every hour from 6:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the main gate. Your hour is printed on the ticket and the staff check it.

What goes wrong: an hour your train cannot reach. The first trains from Ollantaytambo reach Aguas Calientes in mid-morning, then you still need the bus up and its queue. Leave about 2 hours between the train's arrival and your entry time. If you sleep in Aguas Calientes the night before, take the 6 or 7 a.m. slot.

Step 4: Type each visitor's details

Enter every traveler with the name, nationality and passport number exactly as printed in the passport they will carry on the day. Foreign visitors enter with the passport. A driver's license or a photo of the passport does not replace it.

What goes wrong: a typo in the passport number, a middle name dropped, or the number of a passport you are about to renew. Read every field twice before you continue. If you renew your passport after buying, carry the old one too, and ask the ticket office in Aguas Calientes what they need before your entry day.

Step 5: Pay by card

Payment is online by card, and the session gives you a limited window to finish, reported as 15 minutes by PeruRail's ticket guide. Prices on the site are in soles (S/). Your bank converts the charge.

What goes wrong: the card is declined or the timer runs out, and the spaces return to the pool. Start again from step 1 and check that your route still has room.

Step 6: Save the ticket

After payment the site shows the ticket as a PDF and sends it by email. Download it, keep it on your phone offline, and print one copy. Signal in Aguas Calientes and at the gate is weak.

What goes wrong: the email never arrives or lands in spam. Save the PDF and take a screenshot before you close the page, and you will not need the email at all.

Circuits and routes in one table

Machu Picchu has 3 circuits and 10 routes, in force since 1 June 2024 under Ministerial Resolution 528-2023-MC. Each route is one way, and you cannot switch routes inside. Four routes (1-C, 1-D, 3-C and 3-D) are sold only in high season.

The 10 official routes (since 1 June 2024)

Route	Official name	What you see	Max time inside	Season
1-A	Machu Picchu Mountain	Upper terraces, then the climb to the summit	7 hours	All year
1-B	Upper terrace	Upper platforms only, never enters the city	2 hours 30 minutes	All year
1-C	Intipunku (Sun Gate)	Upper terraces, then the trail to the Sun Gate	4 hours	High season only
1-D	Inca Bridge (Puente Inka)	Upper terraces, then the cliff path to the log bridge	3 hours	High season only
2-A	Designed route	Temple of the Sun viewpoint, Plaza of the Temples, Intiwatana, Sacred Rock, Temple of the Condor	2 hours 30 minutes	All year
2-B	Lower terrace	The same city sectors, entering along the lower terraces	2 hours 30 minutes	All year
3-A	Huayna Picchu	Lower city, then the climb to the peak behind the classic view	6 hours	All year
3-B	Designed route	Lower half of the city, Temple of the Condor, storehouses, water mirrors	2 hours 30 minutes	All year
3-C	Great Cavern	Lower city, then the long trail to the Temple of the Moon cave	7 hours	High season only
3-D	Huchuy Picchu	Lower city, then the short climb to the small peak	3 hours 30 minutes	High season only

Our recommendation is plain. For a first visit, book Circuit 2. Route 2-A covers the Temple of the Sun viewpoint, the Plaza of the Temples, the Intiwatana and the Sacred Rock. Route 2-B adds the walk along the lower terraces. If you want the classic photo and the temples, Circuit 2 is the only circuit that gives you both from inside the city.

Circuit 3 stays in the lower half of the city, including the Temple of the Condor, and its routes 3-A, 3-C and 3-D continue to three side trails: Huayna Picchu, Huchuy Picchu and the Great Cavern. Circuit 1 stays high, on the terraces above the city, and its routes lead to Machu Picchu Mountain, the Sun Gate (Intipunku) and the Inca Bridge (Puente Inka). The full guide to the circuits and routes shows each one on a map.

Prices for foreign visitors

A foreign adult pays S/152 for a standard circuit ticket, and since 1 May 2026 an S/11 SERNANP fee is added, for S/163 in total (Infobae, February 2026, citing the Ministerio de Cultura and SERNANP). SERNANP is the agency that manages Peru's protected natural areas, including the Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu.

Expect a higher price for any route with a summit climb or the Great Cavern trail. Agency price tables show about S/200 for a foreign adult, but we could not confirm that figure on an official page, so check the price on tuboleto.cultura.pe before you pay. Reduced rates exist for students and children, and the site asks for proof. Peruvians, residents and citizens of the Andean Community pay a lower rate.

Time slots and what happens if you are late

You must reach the main gate within your hour plus a tolerance of 30 minutes, or 45 minutes from 1 June to 15 October and on 30 and 31 December, per the Ministerio de Cultura's entry-hours table. A 9:00 a.m. ticket in July lets you in until 9:45 a.m. After that, the staff can refuse entry, and only a proven case of force majeure is considered.

The mountain checkpoints have no tolerance at all. Huayna Picchu, Machu Picchu Mountain and Huchuy Picchu each have their own control post with their own climbing hour on the ticket. Miss it and you visit the city only.

Two habits keep you on time. Be in the bus line in Aguas Calientes at least an hour before your slot in high season, since the queue for the 25 to 30 minute ride stretches down the street on busy mornings. And do not plan lunch in town before an afternoon entry. Eat after the visit.

Buying at the ticket office in Aguas Calientes

The DDC Cusco ticket office in Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu Pueblo) sells 1,000 tickets a day, and each one is valid for the day after purchase, per a 2022 directorial resolution of DDC Cusco (001102-2022) published on machupicchu.gob.pe. You buy in person with your passport. The official availability page shows how many of the 1,000 are left.

We treat the in-person quota as a backup, never as the plan. In June, July and August the line forms well before the office opens, and the routes you want go first. It works for flexible travelers with an extra night in Aguas Calientes and no fixed train home. It does not work on a day trip from Cusco.

When tickets sell out by month

Machu Picchu admits up to 5,600 visitors a day in high season and 4,500 in low season, per the 2026 calendar set by Ministerial Resolution 000285-2025-MC. For the 2026 season, high season covers 1 January, 2 to 5 April, 19 June to 2 November, and 30 and 31 December. The early morning slots on Circuit 2 and the Huayna Picchu route fill first because tour operators reserve them in bulk for the season ahead.

How early to book, by month (our planning rule, not an official figure)

Months	Circuit 2, 6 to 9 a.m.	Huayna Picchu (3-A)	Other routes and afternoon hours
June, July, August	2 to 3 months ahead	3 months or more	3 to 6 weeks
Easter week, late December	2 to 3 months ahead	3 months or more	1 month
April, May, September, October	1 to 2 months ahead	2 months	2 to 3 weeks
November, early December	3 to 4 weeks	1 to 2 months	1 to 2 weeks
January to March (rainy season)	2 to 3 weeks	1 month	A week or less

Tickets for the following year typically go on sale in the last quarter. The 2026 season opened on 17 November 2025, at noon for Machu Picchu, according to DDC Cusco. The timing table below is our planning rule from booking these visits, not an official figure. Use it to decide how early to act, then confirm on the availability page.

Rules inside the site

The Ministerio de Cultura's code of conduct is enforced at the gate and on the paths. Breaking it means removal without a refund. The rules that catch American travelers most often:

• Backpacks and bags no larger than 40 by 35 by 20 cm (16 by 14 by 8 in).
• No food, no thermoses and no plates or cutlery inside.
• No walking sticks, umbrellas, tripods, monopods or selfie sticks.
• No drones, aerosols, speakers or musical instruments.
• No high heels or hard-soled shoes, and no baby strollers.
• No climbing on walls, no touching or moving stones, and no straying from your route.
• No smoking or vaping.

Pack a rain shell instead of an umbrella, and bring a carrier, not a stroller, for a small child. Leave the hiking poles in your hotel in Aguas Calientes, since the gate will not keep them for you.

Do you need a guide inside?

The site regulations call for visitors to enter with an official guide, but press and travel reports say the rule has been applied unevenly at the gate. Our advice does not depend on enforcement: book a licensed guide for a first visit. The routes are one way, signage is thin, and a good guide turns 2 hours 30 minutes of walls into a city you understand. Licensed guides wait outside the entrance, and most agencies include one.

Adding Huayna Picchu or Machu Picchu Mountain

You cannot add a climb to a ticket you already hold. Huayna Picchu is a separate route, 3-A, and Machu Picchu Mountain is route 1-A, so you buy that route instead of a plain circuit ticket. The ticket shows two times: your entry hour at the main gate and your climbing hour at the mountain checkpoint.

Huayna Picchu is the steep peak behind the classic photo, with narrow Inca stairs and drops that bother people with a fear of heights. Machu Picchu Mountain is higher and longer, with a wider path and fewer crowds. Both routes allow more time inside than the standard routes (6 hours for 3-A and 7 hours for 1-A, per the official route maps). Huayna Picchu sells out first, so book it the day your dates are set. The comparison of the two mountains helps you choose.

If you would rather not do it yourself

Buying the ticket alone is simple once you know the traps. Matching it to trains, buses and a guide is where most plans break. If you prefer to hand that over, our Machu Picchu tours with the ticket included book the circuit under your passport and line up the train and bus around your entry hour. For a short stay, the day trip from Cusco with ticket and train covers the whole day in one booking. And if you are still sorting out trains, start with how to get to Machu Picchu.