But now, the trains leave from Poroy, a 15-minute drive from downtown Cuzco, and descend into the Sacred Valley of the Incas. The train chugs by patchworks of fields being tilled as they were a hundred years ago, and towns where many inhabitants wear the type of colorful hand-woven clothing their parents did before them. The vast plain you’re traveling on narrows as the track enters a deep gorge and runs alongside a rushing river that flows into the Urubamba River, which is a source of water for the crops in this region.
Keep your eyes peeled for terraces etched into the landscape, which is still decorated with remnants of ancient Inca fortresses. When you stop in Ollantaytambo, take a look at the handwoven fabrics and other crafts sold by natives on the platform. From here, the train travels through the Urubamba Gorge then into a microclimate where Incas once grew crops on land fed by a waterfall. Finally the train passes Km104, where the one-day trek to Machu Picchu begins.
The tracks end at Aguas Caliente (which some people now call Machu Picchu Town), This tiny town has lodging, restaurants and lots of stalls near the station to capture visitors’ dollars as they wait for the train back to Cuzco.
Machu Picchu, one of the world’s new Seven Wonders, is still two kilometers away. Most people take the bus up (although some hike from town), to this sanctuary that the Incas started building around AD 1430 on slopes surrounded by jagged peaks. While you’ll enter through a gate near the middle of the ruins, the hikers who have trekked the Inca Trail enter high up at the Sun Gate at dawn, for a spectacular view of the ruins.
