One of our primary objectives for this trip is to visit Machu Picchu.  Due to our bad timing, we will be passing through southern Peru in mid June.  This will be during the peak season for visitors to Machu Picchu due to it being a traditional family vacation period for North Americans and Europeans.  That being the case we thought it would be a good idea to purchase our tickets in advance.

They impose a limit of 2500 people allowed to visit the site each day but more importantly, there is a limit of 400 people allowed to climb Huayna Picchu, the large peak that towers over Machu Picchu.  This climb, which requires the purchase of an additional ticket, provides killer views of the “lost city”.  The first group is allowed to begin the climb at 7:00am.  So, this was additional incentive to purchase our tickets early and insure that we would be part of that first group.

First we had to commit to a date that we would plan for our visit to Machu Picchu.  Then once we located the “official” website, we were able to complete the purchase of our tickets.  Sounds simple but this actually took a few hours given our spotty internet service, the Spanish language website which required 3 disconnected steps and our credit card issuer that initially flagged the transaction as possibly fraudulent activity.  But we have our tickets and are set for our visit on June 12, 2013.