The tour begins early in the morning in Cusco, with a train journey to the Citadel of Machu Picchu. It includes a visit of the Citadel during several hours, and the return to Cusco by train late at night. Il is usually done in 1 day, those you want can add options and stay an additional day.
The Citadel of Machu Picchu is a national and international classified and protected site; therefore, it depends on Peruvian Government and particularly on the Ministry of Culture Cusco. They establish access conditions, regulations, entrance fees and they also sell entrance tickets. Every agency, ours included, must go see there and immediately pay the full amount to book entrance tickets. For trains, the private company Peru Rail manages trains, timetables, conditions and fees. Our agency manages the other optional services (reservations, guides, transfers, bus, etc.).
During many years, there were no access limitations to entry the Citadel of Machu Picchu. Since July 15, 2011, and without previous notice, the Peruvian Government has taken several measures but the most important has been to limit the access to 2500 people per day. That is why an availability system has been implemented. For trains, there is a limitation depending on the number of wagons, so, depending of the maximum capacity. For these reasons, we accept reservations several days in advance.
Peru is a big country with many different weathers. That is why it would be difficult to set a fine period to visit several places. However, we consider that the best season is from June to September. For the Machu Picchu tour, the warmer season is from November to March but it is also the rain season. We think that it is nicer to have a sunny but cool day than having a hot but rainy day. So, we preferably recommend doing it between May and October. Notice that Machu Picchu is open every day all year round (7/7, holidays included). We suggest you to see the weather page for more details.
There is a "local" train between Cuzco and Aguas Calientes but by government mandates this train is reserved for Peruvians and residents only, and they have to show a Peruvian ID. Tourists cannot take it.
If you do the tour in 1 day, your luggage will theoretically stay in Cusco. However, if you choose to stay an additional day, you will maybe need to leave your luggage in Cusco. Most of the places where you might stay (hotel, hostel, guest house) offer to guard your luggage for free during the tour. But we can also gladly do it; just bring your luggage to our Agency the day before the tour.
The purpose of ethical commerce is, let's remember, that a commercial activity should respect social conditions (rights, guarantees for employees, decent salaries, etc) and environmental conditions (respect and protection of the environment, of sites, of fauna and flora). Since this is a very important goal, we are proud to claim that we respect all our employees and their work conditions.