Aguas Calientes Gateway to Machu Picchu

In his latest blog post, Dale Dunlop, The Maritime Explorer, follows one of the great train journeys from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes – Gateway to Machu Picchu. If you are interested in what Adventures Abroad has to offer, please check out our Small Group Tours to South America.

In the last post from my February 2026 Kingdoms of the Andes tour with Adventures Abroad, we left the Incan capital city of Cusco and entered the Sacred Valley, making our way to the amazing town of Ollantaytambo. The excitement was growing among our group as we came nearer and nearer to what for most of us was the ultimate destination on this trip – Machu Picchu. However, we are still a day away, as we first have to get to the town of Aguas Calientes, from where we can take a bus to Machu Picchu, but there's a catch. You can only get to Aguas Calientes by walking the famous Inca Trail or by train. Needless to say, our group will be taking the train, so please join us for one of the world's great train journeys, after which we'll explore the surprising town of Aguas Calientes.

Actually, I lied. In February, there is only one way to get to Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu, and that is by train, as the Inca Trail is closed the entire month for maintenance work. That is the reason why February is the best month to visit, because there will be a fraction of the number of tourists you will find the rest of the year.

Now I'm going to veer off script here a bit. The actual itinerary we took involved an early morning train ride from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes and then right on to our tour of Machu Picchu, after which we returned to Aguas Calientes. We then had much of the next day to explore the town before heading back to Ollantaytambo in the late afternoon and then back to Cusco. However, for the purposes of literary license, I'm going to describe the train ride and Aguas Calientes in this post and Machu Picchu in the next.

There are several rail options to get from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes, including the ultra luxurious Belmond Hiram Bingham. Our two trips were on the next step down from luxury, the Vistadome by Peru Rail, which was very comfortable and featured not only the open windows of the Vistadome car, but also food and drink and entertainment.

The trip takes just under two hours and descends from 2,800 metres (9,186 feet) at Ollantaytambo to 2,042 metres (6,700 feet) at Aguas Calientes, following the Urubamba River the whole way. It starts off in the High Andean Valley, which is quite open and descends into the Cloud Forest with high humidity and lush forests while the Urubamba River valley gets narrower and narrower.

This short video gives you some idea of how interesting this trip is.

I'll also include this gallery of photos taken along the way.

You may recall reading about a head on collision between two trains on this line that happened on December 31, 2025, in which one driver was killed and many were injured, including seven Canadians. The last photo in the galley shows the spot of the collision. You read about things like this, including buses going off cliffs, plane crashes, tour boat sinkings and other tragedies, but you can't let it paralyze your willingness to travel or else you might never leave the house.

On a happier note, I saw that they still use manual switching on these lines and it brought back nice memories of my time as a brakeman on the northern Manitoba line out of The Pas. I have had an endearing love affair with trains ever since.

In places the valley became so narrow that the Inca Trail ran alongside the tracks. If it had not been closed, there would have been a continuous stream of hikers taking three or four days to get to Aguas Calientes. At one time I would have thought this a great adventure, but not now.

At the end of the journey, we pull into the Aguas Calientes station, which is also called Machu Picchu station.

Aguas Calientes

In preparing for this trip, I did as much research as possible online and was not expecting much of Aguas Calientes. In fact, most online comments were quite disparaging, describing it as an overpriced tourist trap. Maybe because we were here in February with a lot fewer tourists than other months, I found the place to be quite enjoyable, with the Alcamayo River dividing the town in two and high mountains on all sides.

There are many Aguas Calientes around the world, as the name simply means 'Hot Waters' and there are thermal pools here, although to my knowledge no one on the tour visited them. I guess when you have something as famous as Machu Picchu on your doorstep, hot springs are not such a big deal.

What I did seek out were the statues of the thirteen Incas, including Pachacutec, the one now believed to have built Machu Picchu, in the Plaza Mayor.

You can find them at various places around town. Here is a gallery of a few of them. Atahualpa is green because he was beneath a canopy that blocked the direct light.

The online comments were disparaging of both the accommodations and the restaurants, and I found things to be quite the opposite in Aguas Calientes. Our hotel, El MaPi, was excellent with some very unusual decor. This was my room with the quote from Louis Pasteur that essentially translates as "Keep an open mind and you'll be surprised at what you'll discover". Can't argue with that.

Directly across the street was the Inka Wasi restaurant, which was probably the most interesting place to eat on the entire trip.

It has a number of fascinating pieces of artwork that made exploring the place a lot of fun, including carvings of the 14 Incas. In an earlier post, I mentioned 13, but others think it should be 14. Either way, this is a pretty neat piece of art.

This one gives some real food for thought. Instead of the 12 apostles, you have the 14 Incas apparently paying obeisance to Jesus at his last supper with Machu Picchu in the background. I won't even attempt to unwrap the symbolism underlying this piece, but it's very impressive.

And then there's this. I have no idea what it is supposed to represent, but it's definitely thought provoking.

But is the food any good? Yes, in fact, it was one of the best places on the trip to get real Peruvian cuisine. This is pork from a traditional horno or adobe oven and if you like chicharonnes you'll have to try it here.

I heard a number of really bad Peruvian flute players on this trip and one really good one. This guy was set up just outside the Inka Wasi restaurant and played the most haunting version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah that I have ever heard. Where most of these street performers have only one flute, this guy had his own orchestra and I was glad to contribute to his music.

There is a small museum about 2 kilometres from the centre of Aguas Calientes that is a very pleasant walk that takes you over the Urubamba River by way of a pedestrian bridge.

The Manuel Chavez Ballon Museum has interesting exhibits inside and a nice outdoor section as well that features butterflies and orchids.

Here is a gallery of a few things of interest, both inside and outside.

So, Aguas Calientes is far better than its reputation suggests. The town has comfortable hotels, welcoming restaurants, and plenty of interesting things to see and do. But, let's face it, Aguas Calientes is only the amuse bouche to what is to come next – Machu Picchu at last.