Machu Picchu tickets cost S/152 for a foreign adult in 2026, or S/200 if your route climbs Huayna Picchu, Machu Picchu Mountain or the Great Cavern. Since 1 May 2026 a S/11 SERNANP conservation fee is added on top, so most adults pay S/163 (about US$47) or S/211 (about US$61). Tickets are sold only on the Ministry of Culture’s platform, tuboleto.cultura.pe, and in person in Aguas Calientes, 1,000 a day. Each ticket covers one route, one date and one entry hour, in the name and passport number you will show at the gate.
Every price and rule on this page was checked on 8 October 2026 against the Ministry of Culture’s tariff schedule, the SERNANP resolutions and the official ticketing terms. The resolution numbers are listed under Sources, so you can check them yourself. Prices are in Peruvian soles (S/), the currency the official site charges in; dollar figures use the bank selling rate of S/3.437 per US$ published by Peru’s central bank for 6 October 2026, and your card will convert at its own rate.
Machu Picchu ticket prices 2026 by circuit and route
Machu Picchu has 3 circuits split into 10 routes, and you buy one route. Seven routes cost the standard price. Three cost more because they add a climb: 1-A (Machu Picchu Mountain), 3-A (Huayna Picchu) and 3-C (the Great Cavern, reached past Huayna Picchu). These are the general prices for foreign visitors under the Ministry’s tariff schedule (TUSNE), which is still in force for 2026.
| Circuit and route | Adult | Student | Child (3 to 17) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Circuit 1, Route 1-A: Machu Picchu Mountain | S/200 | S/125 | S/118 |
| Circuit 1, Route 1-B: Upper Terrace | S/152 | S/77 | S/70 |
| Circuit 1, Route 1-C: Inti Punku (Sun Gate), high season only | S/152 | S/77 | S/70 |
| Circuit 1, Route 1-D: Inca Bridge, high season only | S/152 | S/77 | S/70 |
| Circuit 2, Route 2-A: Designed route (classic city loop) | S/152 | S/77 | S/70 |
| Circuit 2, Route 2-B: Lower Terrace | S/152 | S/77 | S/70 |
| Circuit 3, Route 3-A: Huayna Picchu | S/200 | S/125 | S/118 |
| Circuit 3, Route 3-B: Designed route (lower city) | S/152 | S/77 | S/70 |
| Circuit 3, Route 3-C: Great Cavern, high season only | S/200 | S/125 | S/118 |
| Circuit 3, Route 3-D: Huchuy Picchu, high season only | S/152 | S/77 | S/70 |
The SERNANP fee: what you actually pay at checkout
Machu Picchu sits inside the Machu Picchu Historic Sanctuary, a protected area run by SERNANP, Peru’s protected-areas service. SERNANP’s 2026 rate is S/11 for foreign adults (18 and over), S/5 for foreign children aged 3 to 17, and nothing for children under 3; Peruvians pay S/5 (S/3 for minors). The charge started on 1 May 2026 after a postponement from January. It does not apply to visitors who enter through the Inca Trail network.
| Foreign visitor | Standard route | Mountain route (1-A, 3-A, 3-C) |
|---|---|---|
| Adult | S/163 (about US$47) | S/211 (about US$61) |
| Adult student | S/88 (about US$26) | S/136 (about US$40) |
| Child 3 to 17 | S/75 (about US$22) | S/123 (about US$36) |
| Child under 3 | Free | Free |
The official platform’s terms add that the final amount carries “the corresponding administrative charges”, so expect a small card-processing amount on top of the totals above. The platform takes Visa and Mastercard only; American Express and Diners cards are refused.
Prices for Peruvians, foreign residents and Andean Community citizens
Peruvian nationals, foreigners resident in Peru and citizens of the Andean Community (Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador) pay a promotional rate approved for the whole of 2026. You need a DNI, a carné de extranjería or a valid passport that proves that status.
| Route type | General | Student | Child (3 to 17) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard routes (1-B, 1-C, 1-D, 2-A, 2-B, 3-B, 3-D) | S/64 | S/32 | S/32 |
| Mountain routes (1-A, 3-A, 3-C) | S/112 | S/80 | S/80 |
Student, child and other reduced rates
- Students: undergraduate only. Foreign students show the original, valid student card of their university or technical institute, with their name, photo and expiry date on it. The tariff does not mention ISIC; it asks for your institution’s own card, so bring that. Postgraduate students pay the adult price.
- Children 3 to 17: pay the child rate, counted by age on the day of the visit, and must be with an adult who takes responsibility for them.
- Under 3: free entry, and no SERNANP fee.
- 50% special rate: the schedule lists half price for people aged 60 and over, people in voluntary military service, teachers and people with disabilities, under Peruvian laws, with the matching document. It does not say whether non-resident visitors qualify. If the checkout does not offer it to you, don’t count on it at the gate.
Whatever rate you buy, the gate checks the document behind it. A student ticket with no student card, or a child ticket with no passport showing the date of birth, can be refused.
Which Machu Picchu ticket to buy
The price only separates standard routes from mountain routes; the circuit decides what you see. Circuit 1 stays on the high terraces and looks down on the city. Circuit 2 is the full classic loop through the city. Circuit 3 covers the lower city and is the only way onto Huayna Picchu. Four routes (1-C, 1-D, 3-C and 3-D) open only in high season.
- First visit, one ticket: Route 2-A or 2-B, at S/152.
- The postcard photo from above: Route 1-B, at S/152, or Route 1-A if you also want the climb.
- A climb: Huayna Picchu is Route 3-A; Machu Picchu Mountain is Route 1-A. Both cost S/200, and one ticket cannot include both, because they sit on different circuits.
Our Machu Picchu circuits guide walks through all 10 routes with their time limits, and the Huayna Picchu vs Machu Picchu Mountain guide compares the two climbs.
Daily caps: how many Machu Picchu tickets exist
Ministerial Resolution 000285-2025-MC caps visits at 5,600 a day on 1 January, 2 to 5 April, 19 June to 2 November, and 30 and 31 December 2026. On every other day the cap is 4,500. From 3 November the lower cap returns, which means 1,100 fewer places a day. We covered the high-season increase in Machu Picchu’s 5,600 daily visitor cap.
Of each day’s places, 1,000 are sold in person in Machu Picchu Pueblo (Aguas Calientes). Peru’s state news agency Andina published how those 1,000 are split by route, and the split shows how small the climbing quotas are:
| Route | In-person tickets per day |
|---|---|
| 1-A Machu Picchu Mountain | 50 |
| 1-B Upper Terrace | 100 |
| 2-A Designed route | 300 |
| 2-B Lower Terrace | 300 |
| 3-A Huayna Picchu | 50 |
| 3-B Designed route | 200 |
Routes also close for maintenance. Resolution 000317-2025-MC shut Huayna Picchu (3-A) for all of June 2026, and the Great Cavern (3-C) and Huchuy Picchu (3-D) from 19 to 30 June. If a route you want shows no dates at all, check for a closure before assuming it sold out.
How to buy Machu Picchu tickets online
The official seller is the Ministry of Culture’s platform at tuboleto.cultura.pe/llaqta_machupicchu. The Ministry’s own Machu Picchu site sends buyers there too. Other websites selling “official tickets” are resellers or agencies buying on the same platform.
- Create an account. The platform asks for your full name, ID type and number, and an email address; the password is sent to that email.
- Choose circuit, route, date, entry hour and number of tickets. One purchase holds 1 to 5 tickets, all for the same route and hour.
- Start the purchase. A 15-minute timer starts; if it runs out, the hold on your tickets is released.
- Enter each visitor. Pick origin, country, rate (adult, student, child) and document type, and type the passport number. These details are printed on the ticket and checked at the entrance.
- Pay by Visa or Mastercard. The charge is in soles, so your bank applies its own exchange rate.
- Download the ticket. The PDF goes to the account email and stays in your purchase history.
Check the date, hour, route and every passport number before you pay. The terms say that once a card payment is processed it cannot be cancelled, and that there are no changes, refunds or reimbursements.
Buying Machu Picchu tickets in person in Aguas Calientes
The Ministry of Culture’s Cusco office (DDC Cusco) sells 1,000 tickets a day at its ticket office in Machu Picchu Pueblo. Under the standing rule, a ticket bought there is for the following day. The office publishes live availability of those 1,000 tickets at tuboleto.cultura.pe/disponibilidad/llaqta_machupicchu.
Since 7 May 2026, as an exceptional high-season measure, the office has also sold in-person tickets up to three days ahead, opening each later day only once the earlier one sells out. No end date was announced. Details are in our post on in-person tickets up to 3 days ahead. In-person tickets are a fallback, not a plan: each route has a fixed share, Huayna Picchu has only 50, and a night or two in town costs more than booking online. Our Aguas Calientes hotels guide covers where to stay if you go this way.
The platform’s terms also list in-person sales at the Ministry’s Casa Garcilaso office in Cusco (Calle Garcilaso, Monday to Saturday, 07:00 to 13:00 and 14:00 to 19:30), subject to availability. Ask there before relying on it for Machu Picchu.
When to buy
The Ministry releases a year’s tickets in stages around the turn of the year. For 2026, Andina reported that bookings opened on 17 November 2025 and that visits from 6 January to December 2026 went on sale in windows between 3 and 19 January 2026. As of 8 October 2026 no schedule has been announced for 2027. Once your dates are fixed, buy the route with the smallest quota first. If you want Huayna Picchu or Machu Picchu Mountain, that ticket decides your date; book the train and hotel around it, not the other way round.
Machu Picchu tickets sold out: what to do
“Sold out” on the platform usually means one route at one hour is gone, not the whole day. Each route has its own quota, so work through these in order:
- Try another hour and another route on the same day. Routes 2-A, 2-B and 3-B carry the largest in-person shares, and afternoon entry hours are worth checking when the morning ones are gone.
- Move the date by a day. On a fixed train or trek, ask whether the day before or after works; caps reset daily.
- Use the in-person quota. Arrive in Aguas Calientes a day early and buy at the DDC Cusco office for the next day, or up to three days ahead while the high-season measure lasts. Check the live availability page first.
- Be wary of a premium for a sold-out slot. Agencies buy on the same platform and see the same availability you do. Anyone offering a ticket for a route and hour the platform shows as sold out should explain how, and name the route and hour before you pay.
- Don’t buy a ticket in someone else’s name. The terms forbid changing the name on a ticket, so a resold ticket issued to another person will not get you through the gate.
Arriving on the Inca Trail does not get around a sold-out day either: trail permits are a separate, smaller quota of 500 people a day including guides and porters, and they sell out further ahead. Our Inca Trail permit availability page shows open dates.
ID rules, name changes and refunds
- Bring the original document. Entry requires a valid DNI, carné de extranjería or passport. For foreign visitors that means the passport whose number is on the ticket, not a photocopy or a phone photo.
- The ticket is valid only for its date and hour. Date changes are not allowed, except for force majeure under the applicable rules.
- The name cannot be changed. The only correction allowed is to the passport number, when it was entered wrong by mistake. If you renew your passport after booking, write to the platform at tuboleto@cultura.gob.pe before you travel; the terms only provide for correcting a mistyped number, so don’t assume a new passport will be accepted at the gate.
- No refunds. The terms rule out changes, refunds and reimbursements once paid.
Entry hours and how late you can arrive
Entry hours run every hour from 06:00 to 15:00, timed at the main gate. The DDC Cusco entry-hour table gives 30 minutes of tolerance after your hour, or 45 minutes from 1 June to 15 October and on 30 and 31 December. The checkpoints for Machu Picchu Mountain, Huayna Picchu and Huchuy Picchu allow no tolerance at all, so on a climbing ticket plan to reach the trail checkpoint on time, not just the gate. Our guide to getting to Machu Picchu covers the trains and the bus up from Aguas Calientes, so you can work back from your entry hour.
Inca Trail hikers: your entry comes with the permit
If you hike the Inca Trail you do not buy a Machu Picchu ticket on tuboleto. The trail permit, which only licensed operators can book, includes your arrival through the Sun Gate onto the upper terrace (Route 1-B); the classic route from Km 82 costs S/292 for a foreign adult under the same tariff schedule. The guided visit of the city uses Route 3-B tickets that licensed agencies reserve for trekkers. The SERNANP fee does not apply to entry through the Inca Trail network.
On our 4-day Inca Trail and 2-day Inca Trail, the permit, the Machu Picchu entry and the guided tour are booked for you with your passport details. What the whole trek costs, and why, is in our Inca Trail cost guide.
Booking Machu Picchu tickets through us
We are a Cusco-run operator, and we buy Machu Picchu tickets on the same official platform as everyone else. Entry is included in our Inca Trail tours and in the Machu Picchu full day tour from Cusco, which adds the train, bus and guide. If you only need an entrance ticket, or a route is sold out on your date and you want a second opinion, write to info@incatrailreservations.com with your dates, the route you want and how many travellers. For the rest of your visit, start with our Machu Picchu guide.
Sources
- Ministry of Culture, tariff schedule (TUSNE) annex, RM 000451-2024-MC, amended by RM 000099-2025-MC and RM 000317-2025-MC
- Ministry of Culture, 2026 promotional rates, RM 000284-2025-MC
- SERNANP, 2026 Machu Picchu Historic Sanctuary rates, RJ 000004-2025-SERNANP/SHMPI-SGD, and the Inca Trail exemption, RD 000022-2025-SERNANP/DGANP-SGD
- DDC Cusco, circuits and routes, in-person ticket sales and entry hours
- Tu Boleto, terms and conditions and visitor manual
- Andina, 2026 measures for Machu Picchu (daily caps, in-person split by route)
- Infobae, SERNANP fee from 1 May 2026