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You are here : Latest News - Cusco and Machu Picchu

LATEST NEWS - Sacred Valley tours operating from the 1st of February with a modified route.

Andean Explorer train will run between Cusco and Puno from the 22nd of February.

- Machu Picchu closed until the end of March or the first week in April depending on work progress and weather conditions. Train track repairs in full swing. Partial road / rail access to the Inca site will be made via the Santa Teresa route at the same time as access from Ollantaytambo. Inca trail will operate normally once access has been opened from Aguas Calientes.

- Cusco city and nearby Inca sites unaffected, outlying valley areas with partial damage with the Pisaq bridge being repaired. Cusco airport working normally, main roads operating normally.

Old report posted 28/01/10:

Machu Picchu, one of the most popular tourist destinations on the South American continent, attracts more than 600,000 visitors a year, mainly during the high season of June through August, although tourists continue to flock to the site year round.  The Inca Trail, arguably the most famous multi-day trek in the world, a series of paved Inca roads leading directly to the citadel of Machu Picchu itself, has proven so popular that the National Institute of Culture (Instituto Nacional de Cultura) took the decision to limit the number of people who could start the Trail each day to 500 (this includes porters, cooks and guides as well as trekkers) so as to lessen wear and tear on this 500 year old piece of National Heritage.

Over the weekend of the 22nd to the 24th of January, Cusco, the gateway for trips to Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail, went from business as usual to an area of landslides and flooding.  Rainfall is always to be expected in the area during the rainy season (December through to mid-March) and particularly during the months of January and February when people visit much less.  However, rainfall has been exceptionally heavy over this weekend and the Vilcanota river which flows through the Sacred Valley, past the town of Aguas Calientes and round the base of Machu Picchu, has been collecting record levels of water as a result.  The highest previously recorded volume of water flow in the river was 850 cubic meters per second, it has now been recorded at 1100 cubic meters per second, roughly a 30% increase on the previous record. Recent reductions in rainfall have seen water levels drop considerably and river flow decrease, repairs have started and will continue at maximum as the site of Machu Picchu and the city of Cusco generate high incomes through tourism.

Up to 2,000 tourists were stranded in Aguas Calientes when a number of landslides blocked the train tracks to the Sacred Valley and Cusco, the only access to the town apart from the Inca Trail.  The Inca Trail was also closed after landslides caused damage, so several hundred trekkers a day continued to arrive in the town, swelling the numbers of tourists and locals needing evacuation.  By this time, however, the Peruvian government had already begun an airlift effort using several helicopters and the U.S. government has also lent several helicopters to help with the air bridge.  Evacuation efforts have been continuing throughout this week in spite of the sometimes difficult weather conditions.  Contrary to some reports, the U.S. helicopters have been airlifting all nationalities, not just U.S. citizens.

Collection points and benefit events have already been set up for donations of blankets, warm clothing and non-perishable foodstuffs to help those whose homes have been destroyed by landslides and flooding both in the city of Cusco and the Sacred Valley.  Most of the more central part of the city of Cusco has been unaffected by the rains but both Peruvian locals and tourists are coming together to help provide for those who have lost everything, and in some cases members of their family as well as their belongings.

Peru Rail has conducted a detailed examination of the train tracks and has stated that all damage will be repaired within the next 6 to 8 weeks.  Thanks to the concerted efforts being made by all concerned, tourists will be able to drive to the hydroelectric station by road and take the train from there to Aguas Calientes within the next 3 weeks, which means the site of Machu Picchu will once more be accessible to visitors at that time.