Machu Picchu Full Day Tour from Cusco

WARNING!!!! Think you have tickets to Machu Picchu, guess again. This listing is not very clear at all. It hints that you will have tickets to enter Machu Picchu, but in fact you will get a ride to Aguas Calientes to wait 6 to 8 hours in line at the Ministry of Tourism to buy entry tickets. AND, those tickets may be for 2 days out, so be prepared for to stay there a couple nights. Nixon and associates do not want to communicate with you on the Viador or any other 3rd party messaging system where they are overseen. They will ask that you contact them via Whatsapp for a meeting where they will ask you for an extra $75 per person or more. I paid this and still did not have tickets to Machu Picchu. DO NOT PAY!! Contact Viator and ask for a refund. Only go along if you have plenty of extra days and do not mind staying. My advise it to buy your tickets from the government website 6 months out to get your tickets. Then book your own train tickets and your own taxi from Cusco and then book the shuttle for the last part to Machu Picchu. I am sorry I did not do this and trusted this company. We came all the way to Peru and Cusco and missed Machu Picchu.

We booked a Machu Picchu tour and there was a slight issue with obtaining tickets due to changing policies. However, Nixon was very accommodating and was able to change our booking to a tour of Sacred Valley and a tour of Rainbow Mountain. It was a wonderful experience! Clever was a great tour guide and our expectations were met! We had a lot of fun during both tours!! One of my favorite things was hiking Rainbow Mountain and trying alpaca meat at the top!! And one of my friend's favorite things was learning about the Inca history from the 5 destinations in Sacred Valley.

Having never traveled to Peru or any of the places we didn’t know what to expect. After booking the tour with Nixon and his team, they took very good care of us in helping us understand what to expect and also to help answer our questions. Nixon and his team outline all the details and stay in constant touch to make sure every is good and proceeding as planned. We felt very comfortable and assured with the help of Nixon’s team. We very much enjoyed the tours we booked with Nixon and they met and exceeded all our expectations. Looking back I am very happy we were able to connect with Nixon and his team to achieve the objectives of our trip - seeing Machu Picchu etc. with no surprises. I definitely recommend using Nixon’s tour services. Great cost and unforgettable positive experiences!

We had return tickets from Aguas Calientes to Cusco at 6:20 PM, we arrived on time, and when we wanted to board, we were told that our tickets were canceled because they had been changed to 3 PM. We filed a complaint with both the contracted operator (Nixon Expeditions) and at the Peru Rail ticket office, and they did not provide a solution. We had to buy tickets on Inca Rail, paying almost 400 USD. I filed a complaint with Nixon Expeditions, with Peru Rail, and they blamed each other; I made a formal complaint to Indecopi, and it did not yield results. Evidently, they do not care about tourists

the service was not executed, and I had to travel for 3 more days promising service that also did not happen. Very poor service

Circuit 2 is the most in demand. Unfortunately, we have to pay more than expected for the tickets because there are arrangements made "off the record"; otherwise, you have to stand in line and wait 2-3 days if you are lucky enough to find a spot. On the other hand, there were unclear details; for example, for the return from Machu Picchu to Aguas Calientes, we had to pay an extra bus ticket; otherwise, we would have to walk down, which is crazy. On the return from Cusco, the van dropped us all off at Plaza Mayor; there was no drop-off at the accommodations. If it weren't for these significant details, the tour would be wonderful. Nevertheless, it is a must-do excursion in Cusco; the place is magical. I recommend that the organizers show attitude and willingness to improve the issues mentioned above.

Machu Picchu is a really amazing place to visit, but unfortunately now in high season it is really overcrowded and the new restrictions with amount of daily tickets has made it impossible to visit in one day. We booked a one day tour, but in the end had to go there in person to buy tickets that were two days ahead. Viator never should have offered this tour. They tried their best to save the situation but we ended up paying double what we originally were supposed to. The experience was somewhat stressful because you couldn’t rely on the information and organizers all the time.

Troubles with this tour agency started way before we went to Cusco. First the guy called Nixon told us that circuit 2 tickets were sold out so we can either do circuit 1 or circuit 3 or buy both just in case. Not to risk anything we wanted to buy bought tickets. Nixon told us that in that case we need to make extra payment of 150 us dollars for buying extra tickets, he sent us a payment link and we made the payment on 18 February 2026. On 16 March 2026, he sent only tickets for circuit 1 and sent a voice memo explaining he did not realize that circuit 3 tickets were also sold out so he will refund the full amount to us. However, after several attemps he still to this day did not refund the money. I asked him 3 times to repay and only reply I got from him was let me check your details and zero follow up. So he is just a big scammer. On the day of the tour every single possible step was disorganized, not thought through. On the actual day of the tour, the day started extremely early at 02:30, as we were instructed to be ready for pickup between 03:00 and 03:30. We were at the hotel gate on time, but no one arrived. It was around 04:00, there was still no communication, which already created confusion and frustration given the early wake-up time. Only around 04:30 did we receive a WhatsApp message saying the driver was actually waiting at a church, not our hotel, information that should have been shared much earlier. After finally being picked up in a very old vehicle, we were transferred to a bus at an unclear location with little explanation. The journey itself was quite uncomfortable due to winding mountain roads, poor road conditions, and a driver who did not speak English, which made communication difficult. Once dropped off in a busy town, we had to figure things out mostly on our own. The train station was chaotic and overcrowded, with limited guidance. We had to repeatedly ask staff for help and show our tickets multiple times before being allowed onto a train, as several departures did not accept us. The train ride itself was a welcome break and the most enjoyable part of the journey, as it was calm and scenic. However, upon arrival near Machu Picchu, the guide was not present and was unreachable for some time. Communication from the tour operator was also delayed, which created uncertainty in a very crowded and overwhelming environment. The next stage taking the bus up was also poorly organized, with unclear instructions and long queues. We were sent back and forth between different points, which made the process feel unnecessarily complicated. Eventually, we made it up the mountain, but by that point the experience had been quite exhausting due to the lack of coordination, communication, and clear structure throughout the day. All day long they just promised us things made sure that there will be someone waiting for us with a name card but there was no-one nowhere waiting for us and we figured everything ourselves. The only luck we had was our guide inside the Machu Picchu who we later learned was outsourced and no connection with this tour agency. Considering his knowledge and kindness it did not come up as a surprize. Kosmos was amazing and he helped us relaxed after this terrible morning and gave plenty of information about the place and Inka history and culture. Machu Picchu itself is an amazing location and a dream of us for long years but this thanks to this terrible tour agency and Nixon we ended up having a terribly stressful and disorganized day and scammed 150 us dollars.

Plan your journey to minimize traveling hours so you'll can fully enjoy visiting this magnificent location.

We booked a one day tour for three people at a cost of $300 each totaling $900. After it was all said and done we ended up paying over $1500.00 dollars as the tour company said that we couldn’t do it in one day due to tickets to enter the park had to be purchased three months in advance so it now became a two day tour at a cost of $452 dollars more. So we paid it $900 + $452. Fine thought we were going Received another call said no two days was not going to work we needed to add another day and needed another $75 dollars each at a total cost of $225 plus $9.35 service fee for a total of $234. Received another call that $75 was a mistake and should be $92 per person so they needed another $17 dollars plus fee for a total of $52. In the meantime we had already booked a hotel in Cusco at the Holiday Garden Inn for a total of $638 dollars. We stayed there a total of four hours as the tour operator said we were being picked up at 1:30 in the morning as to be able to get in line for tickets for Machu Pichu on Saturday May 9th. The driver finally showed up at 3am and on the way had to backtrack three times cause he failed to get gas and no one was open at that time. Barely made the train to Aguascalientes. So $900 + $435 + $235 + $52 + $638 (Hilton) we are in Machu Pichu for the tour on Saturday May 9th. Was it worth it yes was the tour booking experience worth it NO expensive and we should have been told from the very beginning about the ticket experience, needing to book tickets in advance on line three months. We waited in line for six to seven hours to wait for tickets because the ministry department only issues a certain amount per day. I would like to be reimbursed the total tour changes $779 plus the three days hotel paid in advance in Cusco $638. Hopefully this will reach someone’s ears who will be able to act on this. A bit disappointed to say the least. Will we use Viator in our future world traveling very doubtful and potentially not likely to provide you with positive recommendations. Montoya’s