22 Jun 2022
The only reason I didn’t give this tour one star is bc the Viator representative in Cusco was able to book a short notice tour and confirm it quickly. Also, the pick-up was punctual and Machu Picchu itself is beautiful.
Everything else was a very poor organization and guidance as well.
The driver was completely inconsiderate to the people he was driving and by the end of the 2-hour drive, a lot of people were carsick.
They should have told us after they dropped us off at the train station, that this period is the only chance we have to buy something to eat. We knew that the breakfast was not included, what we didn’t know is that they never planned for us to have time to eat something besides the time we spent on the train. However, nobody told us that, so after we arrived at Machu Picchu being 4 hours on the road, we were told that we have 10 minutes to buy and eat something bc we can’t eat anything inside of Machu Picchu.
Nobody gave us any instructions about what’s gonna happen once we arrive at the Machu Picchu station. So it was a miracle that we found our guide somehow, who lost part of the group, as people were completely lost and wandered away from the station.
The guide himself barely spoke English, so even though the tour was in English unless you know some Spanish, it was hard to make sense of the things he was saying.
Nobody told us to bring sunscreen or water, so the three-hour tour was under the burning sun, which cause me sunburn and almost a sunstroke, as our guide picked the places to tell the stories about Machu Picchu under the direct sun.
At the end of the tour, we learned that the ride back from Machu Picchu to the train station was not included in the tour but we “feel free to walk”. That would be an hour walk under the direct sun after 6-7 hours of no normal food.
Once we finished the tour and arrived at the train station, suddenly our guide appeared to bring us to the restaurant (which I think he has a deal with) and forgot some of our group members on the way.
In the end, you will have a better experience just getting the train tickets to Machu Picchu, and getting the guide on the spot as a lot of people are hustling there.