Machu Picchu Train: PeruRail vs Inca Rail, Which to Book

Short answer: PeruRail and Inca Rail run the Machu Picchu train on the same single track. Both leave Ollantaytambo, in the Sacred Valley, and reach Aguas Calientes in about 1 hour 30 minutes. PeruRail also runs from Poroy and San Pedro in Cusco, usually from May to December. Book your entry ticket first, then the train, and pay for big windows only on daylight trains.

The train is the part of the trip people overthink. The two companies share the rails, the canyon and the arrival town, so the choice comes down to three things: the station that suits your hotel, the hour that fits your entry slot, and how much glass you want around you. This guide compares the classes and stations side by side. For the whole route from Lima and Cusco, with the bus and the treks, read how to get to Machu Picchu first.

PeruRail or Inca Rail

PeruRail and Inca Rail are equal on the things that matter most: both leave Ollantaytambo, both take about 1 hour 30 minutes to Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu Pueblo), and both follow the Urubamba River through the same gorge. The differences are the departure times, the cars and the luggage rule.

PeruRail has more departures and more stations. Its trains leave Ollantaytambo from about 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and it is the only company with trains from Cusco itself (Poroy and San Pedro) and from Urubamba. It also runs the Belmond Hiram Bingham, the luxury train sold by Belmond. Inca Rail runs from Ollantaytambo only, with a bus connection from its office on Avenida El Sol in Cusco, and its middle class, The 360°, has an open-air observation car.

Our rule is simple. Pick the company whose departure fits your entry slot and your hotel, and only then compare classes. A Vistadome at 7:05 a.m. beats a fancier train two hours later if the later one makes you miss your hour at the gate.

Train classes compared

There are four PeruRail services and four main Inca Rail classes to Machu Picchu. The base classes are PeruRail Expedition and Inca Rail The Voyager, the middle ones are Vistadome and The 360°, and the upper ones add an open-air car, meals or both. The table compares them by station, ride time, what you get on board and the luggage you can carry.

Machu Picchu train classes compared (as of October 2026)

Operator and class	Departs from	Ride time to Aguas Calientes	On board	Luggage included
PeruRail Expedition	Ollantaytambo, Urubamba, Poroy, San Pedro, Wanchaq (Bimodal bus)	About 1 h 30 min from Ollantaytambo, about 3 h from Poroy, about 4 h from San Pedro	Panoramic side windows, audio tour	Backpack 8 kg (17.6 lb) and 100 cm (39 in), or carry-on 12 kg (26.5 lb) and 115 cm (45 in)
PeruRail Vistadome	Ollantaytambo, Urubamba, Poroy, San Pedro, Wanchaq (Bimodal bus)	About 1 h 30 min from Ollantaytambo, about 3 h 30 min from Poroy, about 4 h 40 min from San Pedro	Side and roof windows, Andean snack, cultural show and alpaca fashion show on the return	Same as Expedition
PeruRail Vistadome Observatory	Ollantaytambo and Cusco stations	About 1 h 30 min from Ollantaytambo	Open-air balcony car, snacks and drinks, live show	Same as Expedition
Belmond Hiram Bingham	Poroy	About 3 h 30 min each way	Lunch going, dinner returning, wine, afternoon tea at the Sanctuary Lodge	Same as Expedition, no extra bags on board
Inca Rail The Voyager	Ollantaytambo (Bimodal bus from Cusco)	About 1 h 30 min	Panoramic windows, snacks with local ingredients	One hand bag, 8 kg (17 lb) and 118 cm (46 in), no storage service
Inca Rail The 360°	Ollantaytambo (Bimodal bus from Cusco)	About 1 h 30 min	Taller windows, open-air observation car, snacks and drinks, show on the return	One hand bag, 8 kg (17 lb) and 118 cm (46 in), plus storage for one bag
Inca Rail The Prime and The First Class	Ollantaytambo	About 1 h 30 min	Upper classes. The First Class has a dining car, bar car and open-air balcony, high season only	One hand bag, 8 kg (17 lb) and 118 cm (46 in), plus storage for one bag

PeruRail departure window from Ollantaytambo (as of October 2026)

Direction	First departure	Last departure	Notes
Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu, Expedition	5:05 a.m.	9:00 p.m.	Early trains suit a morning entry slot
Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu, Vistadome	7:05 a.m.	1:27 p.m.	Daylight departures only
Machu Picchu to Ollantaytambo, all classes	5:35 a.m.	9:50 p.m.	Evening returns run in the dark

Every class sees the same river, the same cloud forest and the same Inca terraces at kilometer markers along the way. What you pay for is the size of the window, a snack and a show. The upper classes add an open-air car, where you stand in the wind and hear the river.

Vistadome or Expedition

Vistadome is worth the difference on the morning train out, and Expedition is enough for the ride back. The roof windows of the Vistadome let you see the snow peak of Verónica and the canyon walls above you, and the morning light on the river is the reason to pay. On the way back, the Vistadome adds a short cultural performance and an alpaca fashion show, per PeruRail.

The mistake is paying for glass after dark. Sunset in the gorge comes around 6:00 p.m. all year, and an evening return shows you little more than your reflection. Book the panoramic class going in the morning and the base class coming back in the evening, and spend the difference on lunch in Aguas Calientes.

The upper classes

The Vistadome Observatory and The 360° both add an open-air car at the rear, and both are good value if you will ride this line only once. The Belmond Hiram Bingham is a different product: a full day out from Poroy with lunch on the way out and dinner on the way back, about 3 hours 30 minutes each way, per Belmond and PeruRail. Inca Rail's The First Class has a dining car, a bar car and an open-air balcony, and runs in high season only, per Inca Rail.

Stations

The Machu Picchu train leaves from five places: Ollantaytambo and Urubamba in the Sacred Valley, and Poroy, San Pedro and Wanchaq on the Cusco side. Ollantaytambo is the main station, with the shortest ride and the most departures from both companies. Every train ends at Machu Picchu Pueblo, the station in Aguas Calientes.

Ollantaytambo

Ollantaytambo sits at 9,160 ft (2,792 m), 1.5 to 2 hours by road from Cusco. The station is at the bottom of the town by the river, a ten-minute walk from the plaza. It is the station we use for almost every trip, because the ride is short and the road from Cusco is faster than the slow train section between Poroy and the valley.

Be on the platform 30 minutes before departure. The road in from Cusco gets slow near the station, and boarding goes car by car. PeruRail keeps a free luggage room at Ollantaytambo open from 4:15 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Poroy and San Pedro

Poroy is a station on the edge of Cusco, and San Pedro is in the city, next to the San Pedro market. Both are PeruRail only. From Poroy the ride takes about 3 hours on the Expedition and 3 hours 30 minutes on the Vistadome. From San Pedro it takes about 4 hours on the Expedition and 4 hours 40 minutes on the Vistadome, per PeruRail.

From January to April, PeruRail switches every departure to and from Cusco to its Bimodal Service. A bus leaves Wanchaq station in Cusco for Ollantaytambo or Pachar, and you board the train there. If your ticket says Poroy and you travel in March, read it twice: you will start at Wanchaq.

Urubamba

Urubamba has a PeruRail station for travelers staying in the middle of the Sacred Valley. It suits valley hotels near the town, and few others. Check the timetable on perurail.com before you build a plan around it, since it has far fewer departures than Ollantaytambo.

Luggage rules

PeruRail allows one backpack of up to 8 kg (17.6 lb) and 100 cm (39 in) in height plus length plus width, or one carry-on of up to 12 kg (26.5 lb) and 115 cm (45 in), on the Expedition and the Vistadome, per its luggage page. Inca Rail allows one piece of hand luggage of up to 8 kg (17 lb) and 118 cm (46 in) in total, and its cars have no luggage racks, per Inca Rail.

Extra bags cost money or get left behind. On PeruRail an extra carry-on of up to 12 kg costs US$15 and a checked bag of up to 23 kg (50 lb) costs US$25 (as of October 2026, PeruRail luggage page). The Hiram Bingham accepts no extra luggage on board. Inca Rail stores one bag of up to 16 kg (35 lb) and 55 by 35 by 25 cm (22 by 14 by 10 in) for The 360°, The Prime and The First Class, and offers no storage on The Voyager.

Our advice has not changed in years. Leave the suitcase at your Cusco or valley hotel, and pack one daypack for two nights: a change of clothes, a rain shell, sunscreen, insect repellent and your passport. Aguas Calientes is warm and humid, so you need less than you think. If you arrive at the station with a big bag, PeruRail stores it free at Ollantaytambo and at Machu Picchu station (5:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.).

Booking train tickets

Buy Machu Picchu train tickets on the operators' own sites: perurail.com, incarail.com, and belmond.com for the Hiram Bingham. Resellers sell the same seats with a markup. Book in this order: your Machu Picchu entry ticket, then the train in, then the train out.

The order matters because the entry ticket is the scarce one. Once you know your hour at the gate, pick a train that reaches Aguas Calientes about 2 hours before it. For the return, leave at least 4 hours between your entry slot and the train back: about 2 hours 30 minutes inside, the bus queue down, and the walk to the station.

Each reservation carries a passenger name, and we tell travelers to carry the passport they booked with. PeruRail lets you change the date of a ticket up to 24 hours before departure with a 10% administration fee, and refunds as a credit note under the same deadline and fee, except on promotional fares (as of October 2026, PeruRail FAQ). Children from 3 to 11 need their own PeruRail ticket at 75% of the adult fare. Check Inca Rail's conditions on its own site before paying.

Fares change by date, hour and class, so we do not print them here. The cheapest seats on the morning trains from Ollantaytambo go first from June to August, in our experience, so book the train the same week you get your entry ticket.

If you would rather not juggle the timetables

Matching two train tickets, a bus and an entry slot is where most plans break. Our tours with the train included book the seats around your entry hour and handle the van to the station. The 2 days by train package puts you on the morning Vistadome with a night in Aguas Calientes. For the entry ticket itself, see our guide to buying Machu Picchu tickets.