Machu Picchu Explorer

Everyone must go through the main entrance to have their ticket stamped.those arriving from the inca trail enter the park via a path leading past the guardhouse, away from the main antrance but they must exit the park, then enter again through the ticket booth. From there you work your way up through the agricultural areas and to the urban sectors.

There are almost no sings inside to explain what you´re seeing; booklets and maps are for sale at the entrance.Restrooms are outside the front gate, but not inside the ruins.

The english-language names to the structures within the city were assigned by Bingham. Call it inertia, but those labels have stuck, even though the late yale historian´s nomenclature was mostly offbase.

The Guardhouse is the first structure you encounter after coming through the main entrance.The inca carvet terraces into the hillsides to grow produce and minimize erosion, Corn was the likely crop cultivated.The semitropical climate meant ample rain for most of the year.

The House of the Terrace Caretaker and Funeral Rock

Are a 20- minutes walk up to the left of the entrance, and provide the quintessential Machu Picchu vista.You´ve seen the photos, yet nothing beats the view in person, especially with a misty sunrise.

Bodies of nobles likely lay in state here, where they would have been eviscerated, dried, and prepared for mummification.

The Temple of the Sun.

Is a marvel of perfect inca stone assembly. On June 22 (winter solstice in the southern hemisphere), sunlight shines through a small, trapezoid-shape window and onto the middle of a large, flat granite stone presumed to be an inca calendar. Looking out the window, astronomers saw the constellation pleiades, revered as a symbol of crop fertility. Bingham dubbed the small cave below the royal tomb, though no human remains were found here.