Cable car to Machu Picchu?

Over the past years Machu Picchu has seen an increasing number of local and foreign visitors. Today Peru’s most popular tourist attraction receives on average about 4000 people per day, during peak season this number goes up to more or less 7000.

To better manage the growing influx of visitors and to improve the conservation and preservation efforts, since July Machu Picchu has new entrance times with two specific time periods - one in the morning and one in the afternoon time - and a stricter code of conduct.

But it seems that’s not all that’s gonna change. According to Eduardo Ferreyros, Peru’s Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, his ministry in collaboration with the ministry of culture and the ministry of environment are working on plans to significantly expand Machu Picchu’s visiting area and create additional access routes and entrance points.

He informed that potential alternatives to reaching Machu Picchu by bus and on foot on the Inca Trail are studied and the possibility of building a cable car, as successfully done up to the archaeological complex of Kuelap, is assessed.

While the minister didn’t provide more information about the possible Machu Picchu cable car, he pointed out that it surely won’t be located in the area of Aguas Calientes to not obstruct the view to Machu Picchu.

We are excited to hopefully hear more concrete details in the near future.