Day 9: Huayna Picchu
When we signed up for this expedition, one of the main reasons we didn’t mind returning to Machu Picchu (besides the fact it is Machu-freakin’ Picchu) was that our second day here offered the opportunity to start early and climb Huayna Picchu — with our prized Circuit 3, Route 3A tickets!
Huayna Picchu is the taller mountain peak that is often pictured behind (aka. to the north) the classic Machu Picchu overview. It’s got plenty of steep steps, some narrow sections, and a decent amount of exposure to heights. Sort of like Peru’s version of Angels Landing. We never got the chance to climb it in 2022, but now we do!
Huayna Picchu? YES! (Britt you got this)
The plan for the day called for another early morning wake-up call at 4:30AM (in order to take advantage of our 7AM timed-entry tickets to Machu Picchu). We stopped by the hotel restaurant for a quick and hearty breakfast of eggs, fruit, and quinoa pancakes. The trick with your 7AM tickets is actually getting in line (much earlier) for the Aguas Calentes shuttle busses on Avenida Hermanos Ayar. Another trick is successfully convincing everybody to leave at 6AM (to meet our guides’ suggested 6:15AM departure), but even with these tricks, we still needed to be saved by Luis’ move to head over even earlier and hold us a spot in the very busy bus line. Huge MVP move!
So was it busier than usual? YES, ACTUALLY! We didn’t plan it this way, but today is June 21st, which is the Winter Solstice here in the Southern Hemisphere. And if there was ever a group of people that cared about what the Sun was up to, it’s the Incans who were hanging out at Machu Picchu.
Upon realizing this fortunate coincidence a few days ago, we mentioned it to our guides. Then we successfully convinced our expedition to add a SECOND top mission to today’s plan… get inside Machu Picchu and make a bee-line to the Temple of the Sun for the Winter Solstice sunrise — scheduled for ~7:22AM. (I think Nan, Brai and us were most gung-ho about this plan.) But could we pull it off?!?!?
7AM… We’re in!
7:18AM… Made it! Temple of the Sun above us. Let’s light this candle!
7:22AM… Hello Inti!!!
Our viewing location for the June 21st, 2025 Winter Solstice sunrise at Machu Picchu was on the terraces just BELOW the Temple of the Sun. This was dictated by the fact that our Circuit 3 tickets guide you on a restricted path via a lower route — compared to our Circuit 2 tickets in 2022 that gave us an overhead view of the Temple of the Sun.
From this vantage point, we experienced the sun’s appearance above the peaks to the east and the corresponding shadows appearing on the walls. The mostly clear skies were extremely helpful too, which was a bit unusual for this rainforest region where there is usually some mist and clouds — especially in the early morning. Guess Inti feels bad for throwing a giant snowstorm at us a couple days ago. Huge round of applause to Brai and Luis who helped us pull off this mission on short notice!
LIVE LOOK inside the Temple of the Sun at 7:22AM (probably)
Confirming the astronomical observations
One task down, one to go!
Proceeding onward from the Sun Temple, Brai showed us around the Curcuit 3 route and explained the rooms and history along the way… Rooms with the best-carved rocks were the most important living quarters… Larger nearby terraces were used for agriculture… And smaller buildings were kolkas used to store the food. So on and so forth.
Eastern side of Machu Picchu
Close up of Temple of Sun and royal living quarters
Fun fact: In 1978, the king and queen of Spain came to visit and wanted to land their helicopter right in the middle of the Machu Picchu ruins (even though there is plenty of landing space on the grassy lookout areas right next to it). In order to make room, they removed a tall stone pillar from the site. They put it back after they left, but then in 1989, a group of Andean Nation leaders wanted to do the same thing. And this time, it broke. Well, duh. So now there is a grassy platform sitting there instead.
Shadows and former heliport shenanigans
Shadows and group photo shenanigans
Once we were done with the circuit inside Machu Picchu, we started on the Huayna Picchu hike. Again, Huayna Picchu is the tall green mountain right behind Machu Picchu in all of the pictures. It looks very daunting from Machu Picchu, but it wasn’t too bad (most of the time). There is a path to get to the top, where additional Incan ruins are found. We had to check in at the gate and were on our way.
Brai leads the way to Huayna Picchu
Most of the trail (which takes about 45 minutes to get to the top) is stairs fashioned out of very well-worn stones. The path was (usually) wide enough for people to pass on each side, which was helpful because it’s the same route up and down. Closer to the top, the stairs became steeper and more narrow. It becomes easier to think of them like a ladder, and use your hands to keep steady. The path then leads you up a series of steep terraces, some stairs with the edge of the cliff on your left, and some buildings on the right. The brave people ventured into the buildings. Jo focused on the stairs in front of her until reaching solid ground at the top.
Steep stairs
Steep terraces
It was fortunate that today’s weather was not rainy. The one thing that would really make this hike dangerous would be wet stones. Brai said they won’t hesitate to close the route if there is too much rain. Heck, even the morning dew made certain spots tricky (especially since the trail is almost exclusively in the shade on the western face of the mountain.
Soon enough, everyone made it to the top! Even Britt who has a legitimate fear of heights. Nothing like intense exposure theory, am I right? According to Nan, there were 1,986 stairs to get to the top.
Huayna Picchu summit arrival
The Huayna Picchu view of Machu Picchu
The climb was 100% worth it and the views were amazing. We could see the Andes mountains surrounding the area as well as the entire Machu Picchu complex below. We jockeyed with the crowd for prime picture spots and realized we weren’t technically all the way at the top. So we took care of that by climbing up the final steep rocks. Jo made it mostly there. Britt opted out entirely. Pictures were taken and we scooted back down.
Jo took this picture…
From over here!
It was nice having Brai help us navigate where to go at the peak — or as one girl shouted to the crowd, “Can somebody please tell me how to get off this mountain!?!” Turns out there is a small loop to the path that leads back down, but that path goes over those final steep rocks mentioned above.
Instead, Brai got permission from one of the rangers to help us through a “shortcut” to meet up with the correct path. It was heavily covered in vegetation, and most of us ended up with prickly plant spikes in our hands, but hey, it worked! We were back on the main trail in the correct direction. Matt thought this shortcut meant we bypassed the “cave” portion of the path he read about. Unfortunately, he was wrong.
The real stairs of death
It’s not really a cave. More of a tunnel created by rocks laying on each other. But still, it was dark, low and narrow, which may be fine for Incan-sized humans, but not so much for Matt. Fortunately, he made it through without getting stuck. A few more narrow stairs (with solid ground on both sides) and we were back on the main two-way trail. From there, it was an easy (but cautious) downstairs walk back to the beginning. We went slow and steady at first, but soon found our balance and were cruising. We made it back safe and sound and waited for the rest of the group at the control booth.
Once everyone arrived, we finished our Circuit 3 route thru Machu Picchu — passing a few more fun locations such as the Temple of the Condor. We exited and went straight to Tampu, the restaurant in the Belmond Hotel that is right outside the entrance/exit gates. We had a huge buffet lunch with excellent food, subpar desserts, and limited WiFi. BUT! There was a soda fountain where we discovered that mixing Fanta and Inca Kola is delicious.
It’s the Picasso section of Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu Yelp review still good
Huayna Picchu hike details
Mid-day outside Machu Picchu is a madhouse
Next on the agenda was catching a shuttle bus down the mountain to catch our train in Aguas Calientes. The bus line was VERY long because something had temporarily halted the usually reliable stream of busses. After about 20 minutes, Luis was starting to look worried. Finally, a bus arrived! And then several more. We were close enough to the front of the line that we got on that first bus. When we got to the bottom, we speed-walked to the train station.
When we got to the train station gate, we confirmed that Inka Terra successfully delivered our bags. The station is located within a large craft market. Luis and Brai said we had 15 minutes to wander around before we needed to be back at this exact spot in 15 minutes to board the train in 15 minutes. Did I mention the part about 15 minutes???
So we went on an immediate mission to find the souvenir coin machines on the street next to the bus stop. We found one, negotiated the proper change from a nearby shop, and acquired a shiny GOLD Machu Picchu coin soon to become our next fridge magnet. SUCCESS! We hoofed it back to the train station with a few minutes to spare. Nan and Britt were also there, but… where was Qi?
We waited a few minutes, but Peru Rail does not suffer stragglers, and we eventually boarded the train without Qi. Luis stayed back to wait/search for Qi. I was pretty sure we weren’t gonna see Luis or Qi again until later that night (or who knows when!).
Thankfully, with literally seconds to spare, Luis and Qi boarded the train. In retrospect, this story is funny — especially later at dinner when it was revealed why Qi was late. Turns out, she was negotiating at killer deal at one of the booths. Or, more likely, one of the booth merchants had paralyzed Qi’s decision-making speed with an avalanche of “special offers!” and “just for you!” pricing on an ever-growing bundle of items. Then Qi’s phone rang. It was Luis, calling her like the banker in “Deal or No Deal.” “Hey Qi, we NEED to leave NOW!” Qi said “NO DEAL” and thankfully finished her negotiations. Great stuff.
The train ride back to Ollantaytambo isn’t quite as exciting as the ride to Aguas Calientes, but they do put on a fun fashion show of (overpriced) Alpaca clothing items and they served us more traditional Peru Rail quinoa snacks. Quinoa cookies A+! We arrived back in Ollantaytambo and met our driver in the parking lot. One the ride back to Explora, Matt re-established his Bluetooth connection and played DJ once again. Mostly soothing 80s songs as most of the van was sleeping — until our arrival with Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO to get everyone pumped up for the rest of the night! Brai simulated flashing lights with his phone and asked if we were back in the 20s (aka. the early 2000s). To be fair, he was 14 when this song came out.
As we were (re)checking-in and being shown our new room, we discovered that we were allowed to go on a half-day exploration in the morning! YAPA!!!!!!!! We asked Brai which exploration he would suggest for the morning. He recommended one called Parcco. (Spoiler Alert: Brai completely understood the assignment. It was amazing.) We quickly agreed and also asked Brai (half jokingly, but also quite seriously) to go tell Mati Weber to drop all of his previous plans and be our guide. Check back tomorrow for more on that.
Before dinner, we gathered at the bar and sat down for our final Expedition team meeting. Luis read us an amazing farewell letter he wrote for us. In return, we all wrote our messages to Luis on the Peru flag we’d been carrying around with us the whole time and presented it to him.
THANK YOU LUIS!!!
Then we feasted! Luis called ahead to make sure this final meal included ALL the items we’ve been talking about trying the last few days. We had Aji de Gallino with shredded Parmesan Cheese for the main course, Lucuma-flavored Suspiro a la Limeña for dessert, and a bonus birthday cake for Nan (her birthday is in two days).
Tomorrow will now be another early morning for us to go on our Parcco exploration before we leave for Cusco. Luis took care of getting us a late check out, so we will be able to hike, eat lunch and worry about packing our bags before 3pm. We also planned to see Luis (and his dogs!) once more tomorrow afternoon before we depart, but, as it turned out, Luis cleverly pulled a Michael Scott on us, making tonight our last goodbye. That’s ok, you’re still the best! 🙂
