This 600-year-old citadel was the jewel in the crown of the Inca world and is a regular feature on many people’s travel bucket lists, even earning a place among the New Seven Wonders of the World. Yet there’s much we still don’t know about Machu Picchu, from its true purpose – royal retreat, ceremonial site or even a kind of convent – to when it was built or why it was abandoned by the Incas only a century after its construction.
Click through the gallery to find out the true story of Machu Picchu, from how this ‘lost city’ was rediscovered to how the role of local people was written out of history…
The Inca people were an early civilisation in what is now Peru. Although there were no written records of their existence, the Inca first emerged among the many tribes living in the Andes in the late 1100s or early 1200s, settling around modern-day Cusco. They would go on to dominate a vast kingdom stretching 2,500 miles from the north of Ecuador to the centre of Chile, with more than 100 different ethnic groups, a population of up to 12 million and an advanced social structure.
By the 15th century, the Inca Empire was flourishing as ruler Viracocha Inca expanded into the Urubamba Valley and his son, Pachacuti – one of the Incas’ most influential leaders – pushed south to Lake Titicaca and north to modern-day Quito. The empire was known as Tawantinsuyu, or Land of the Four Realms in the local Quechua language. It was renowned for military prowess, advanced agricultural and road networks and centralised religion – though the threat from Spanish invaders would soon put it to the ultimate test.
It was during the Incas’ 15th-century heyday that the mountaintop citadel of Machu Picchu was built. The site is nearly 7,970 feet (2,430m) above sea level – though at a slightly lower altitude than nearby Cusco – and occupies five square miles (13sq km) of mountain slopes and valleys at the point where the Peruvian Andes meets the Amazon Basin. Advanced engineering was used to combine natural rock escarpments with hardy building materials that would stand for centuries to come.
Love this? Follow our Facebook page for more travel inspiration
For many years, historians believed that Machu Picchu had been built sometime between 1440 and 1450 by emperor Pachacuti, who took power in 1438 – based on the written accounts of Spanish conquistadors at the time. But in 2021, Yale University researcher Richard Burger carried out radiocarbon dating on human remains uncovered at the site, and discovered it could in fact have been occupied as early as 1420 – at least two decades earlier than previously thought.
The well-planned site is made up of 200 buildings divided into an upper and lower town and split by urban and agricultural areas. Highlights include the Temple of the Sun (pictured); Temple of the Condor, which uses the natural shape of the rock to resemble the bird in flight; and the Intihuatana stone, which is believed to have acted as a solar clock or calendar. Each stone was precision-cut by hand to fit together without mortar, so if an earthquake hits – as it sits on two fault lines – the stones absorb the impact without crumbling.
That question has stumped scholars for more than a century, with theories varying wildly from a prison or astronomical observatory to a religious complex or testing ground for growing new crops. The most widely accepted idea, however, is that it was a royal retreat for Inca emperors and nobles, offering a mountain escape from the hustle and hubbub of the city.
The Incas had reigned supreme over this region for years, but the arrival of Spanish explorers in the 15th century – bringing with them influenza and smallpox – would spell the end for this thriving civilisation. Disease wiped out huge swathes of the population and when emperor Atahualpa was kidnapped and executed, it opened the way for the Spanish to seize control of Cusco in a raid in 1533.
While the rest of the Inca Empire crumbled and fell under Spanish control, the conquistadors never discovered Machu Picchu and it was abandoned to the elements. There are 16th-century references to Indigenous locals going back to ‘Huayna Picchu’, the name then given to the site. Although it would be years before excavations began, the 19th and early 20th century saw German explorers Augusto Berns and J M von Hassel and British missionary Thomas Payne visit the site, which was also documented on a handful of maps.
The most famous ‘discovery’ of Machu Picchu was still nine years away when Peruvian farmer Agustín Lizarraga Ruiz (pictured) and his cousin, Enrique, came across the site. They had been searching the Urubamba Valley for new, fertile farmland but instead stumbled upon the complex of temples and terraces weathered by time but still in surprisingly good condition. Lizarraga even inscribed his name and the date on the Temple of the Three Windows to prove his find.
After clearing some areas of the site and replanting its ancient terraces with corn, beans and squash, Lizarraga and a few fellow farmers brought the abandoned citadel back into regular use – although it still remained under-the-radar for archaeologists or the local authorities. Visitors were limited to just a handful of in-the-know locals, though he also arranged a trip for friends and family – perhaps the first tourism expedition to the historic spot.
The explorer most often credited with ‘discovering’ Machu Picchu is American politician and archaeologist Hiram Bingham III, who was teaching South American history at Yale when he set out to uncover the last strongholds of the Inca Empire. He journeyed through the former settlements of Vitcos and Vilcabamba, but remained convinced the ‘lost city’ was still to be found. After hearing rumours of a grand city tucked away among the dense jungle and arduous mountain paths, Bingham (pictured) followed local guide Melchor Arteaga to the citadel on 24 July, 1911 – and was amazed by what he found.
The archaeologist returned a year later with a team to start excavating the site using funds from the National Geographic Society, and the first in-depth study of Machu Picchu began. Between that venture and a subsequent expedition in 1915-16, Bingham and his team took thousands of artefacts, including human remains, to Yale for further research – a move that caused a public outcry in Peru and sparked a century-long effort to retrieve the lost treasures.
All this time, Bingham was under the mistaken impression that he was exploring the final bastion of Incan independence – not realising he’d already come across Vilcabamba on the way. The misconception, fuelled by Bingham’s own books including the popular Lost City of the Incas in 1948, persisted until it was debunked by another American archaeologist, Gene Savoy, in 1964.
Faces of the ancients: fascinating portraits from the 'Inca Ice Maiden' to the frescoes of Pompeii
The idea of uncovering a lost city hidden in the depths of the South American jungle was too good a tale to be left to the history books alone. In 1954, adventure film Secret of the Incas was released in cinemas, heavily influenced by Bingham’s account in its story of an American adventurer living in Peru and searching for a forgotten city and an ancient Incan treasure. Charlton Heston played the lead – said to be based on Bingham himself, and later an inspiration for the whip-cracking archaeologist Indiana Jones – and it was filmed on location in Machu Picchu.
Surprisingly, it took until 1983 for Machu Picchu to be inscribed on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, calling it ‘a masterpiece of art, urbanism, architecture and engineering of the Inca civilisation’. With its rich biodiversity and beautiful location, the wider area that makes up the ‘historic sanctuary’ of Machu Picchu was also noted as an outstanding example of the harmonious relationship between nature and human culture.
The Intihuatana stone was a source of pride for the people of Peru, as Spanish colonialists had destroyed every megalith they could find to Inca sun god Inti, but having never reached Machu Picchu, this was the only one to survive intact. That is, until the filming of a beer commercial for local Cusquena lager in 2000. A crane hoisting the cameraman into the air collapsed onto the rock, breaking the southern corner of the granite pillar into a dozen fragments. Needless to say, filming permits were soon tightened up...
As Machu Picchu’s star rose, so too did the stars who came to see this wonder for themselves. From Chilean poet-politician Pablo Neruda in 1943 and Charlton Heston a decade later, to more recent visits from Cameron Diaz in 2007, Susan Sarandon in 2010, Jim Carrey and Mick Jagger a year later, and teen heartthrob Zac Efron in 2013 (pictured). Efron visited with his father and posted his adventure on social media platform, X (then Twitter).
Machu Picchu has remained a source of fascination for film and TV directors in the 21st century, most notably in Che Guevara biopic The Motorcycle Diaries, starring Gael García Bernal (pictured), which filmed pivotal scenes at the citadel. It was even recreated in cartoon form with Disney film The Emperor’s New Groove in 2000 and a memorable appearance in a 2008 episode of The Simpsons.
Scenic helicopter flights abound in popular tourist spots such as the Grand Canyon or Uluru – but you won’t find them in Machu Picchu. The Peruvian government declared the whole 125 square-mile (324sqkm) sanctuary a no-fly zone in 2010 to help protect endemic wildlife and avoid potential damage to the buildings below. You should also leave your selfie sticks and novelty costumes at home, as there are strict rules on behaviour to protect the sacred site.
When Hiram Bingham excavated Machu Picchu in 1912, he took thousands of artefacts – including ceramics, stone tools and human and animal bones – back to Yale for further study. Nearly a century later, the Peruvian government filed a lawsuit to secure their return, accompanied by large-scale protests and a direct appeal to then-president Barack Obama. In 2011, Yale University relented and agreed to return 5,000 items to be displayed in situ at a new International Centre for the Study of Machu Picchu and Inca Culture.
While Machu Picchu’s historical significance can’t be underestimated, its setting amid the cloud forest makes it a haven for endemic wildlife and plant species to flourish. Its famous llamas and alpacas dominate social media posts, but you can also spot other members of the camelid species, guanacos and vicunas; spectacled bears; and birds such as the Andean condor and cock of the rocks. There are thousands of plant species to spot too including more than 400 types of orchid, with the pretty Masdevallia and Winay Wayna orchids among them.
Machu Picchu is Peru’s most popular tourist attraction by some distance, bringing in 1.5 million tourists in 2019. But when the pandemic swept across the globe in early 2020, that number fell to zero as the site was closed for nearly eight months. When it reopened in November 2020, authorities organised a special Incan ritual to pay tribute to the gods and welcome tourists back to the site.
While Machu Picchu was closed to visitors for much of 2020, one lucky Japanese tourist had an experience few could ever dream of as he got special permission to enter the site and see it completely crowd-free. Jesse Katayama had a ticket to visit Machu Picchu on 16 March 2020, but the abrupt closure by the Peruvian government thwarted his plans. The 26-year-old decided to stay in Aguas Calientes, but seven months later he was running low on cash and would have to leave – until local company Andean Roots Peru managed to negotiate exclusive access and he finally achieved his dream.
The thorny topic of overtourism has plagued Machu Picchu for decades, as more and more people set out to tick it off their bucket lists, leading to fears of crowding and environmental or structural damage to the priceless ruins. Since 2019, visitors have had to stick with a guide on one of four or five circular paths in an effort to keep people moving through the site, and as of 2024, visitor numbers were limited to a maximum of 4,500 per day, requiring tickets booked in advance.
The Inca Trail is by far the most famous way to reach Machu Picchu on foot, typically trekking around 26 miles (43km) and reaching the Sun Gate for that picture-perfect view by day four. There are shorter versions where you just do part of the trail, though whatever option you choose requires a permit, which sell out many months in advance. For a quieter experience or if you’ve missed out on permit allocations, the Salkantay and Lares Trails offer a different but equally fulfilling experience.
Hiking boots and hard work aren’t the only way to get to Machu Picchu – for anyone who wants to get there without breaking a sweat, there are trains from Cusco (the station is actually in nearby Poroy) or the Sacred Valley town of Ollantaytambo, which all take you to the Machu Picchu town of Agua Calientes. Inca Rail and Peru Rail offer the most affordable options, or there’s a chance to splash out on the luxury Belmond Hiram Bingham train (pictured) that recalls a glamorous age of rail travel along with the famous explorer’s exploits.
Machu Picchu has been a magnet for tourists for over a century – around the same amount of time it was in use by the Incas – but there are hazards on the horizon. Political unrest, fear of overcrowding, or the opening of a new airport in nearby Chinchero present challenges for the future of the World Heritage Site. Yet with new trekking routes being developed by responsible tour operators and recent improvements to porters’ rights, there are moves to make Machu Picchu more sustainable so the crowning glory of the Inca civilisation can be seen for centuries to come.