Regulating the back door entrance to Machu Picchu

Plans are afoot to build a ticket gate, security post, rest rooms and facilities for guide services along the previously unregulated western route from Santa Teresa to Machu Picchu.

José Carlos Nieto, Machu Picchu’s chief of Peru’s National Service of Protected Natural Areas (Sernanp), said that the formal multi-sector plan will be released in October, in accordance with Peru’s new Machu Picchu Master Plan and recent agreements with UNESCO.

Approximately 100,000 tourists reach Machu Picchu each year from Santa Teresa instead of taking the train from Poroy-Ollantaytambo into Aguas Calientes, Nieto told state-run news agency Andina.

The alternative Santa Teresa route involves boarding the train at the Hydroelectic Station, or walking the six mile-plus distance along the tracks.

It would be along this stretch where a control booth would be erected and a entrance fee collected, although no set rate has yet been determined, he added.

“It is not possible (that visitors are allowed to) enter via this route to Machu Picchu at whatever time they like. They’re even coming in at 10 at night or 2 in the morning,” Nieto said. “This has to be regulated.”

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