Most people take the train from Ollantaytambo, spend a few hours at the citadel, and leave — but I always tell my clients to do it differently. Stay in Aguas Calientes the night before, enter the site at 6am before the tour groups arrive, and climb to the Sun Gate or Huayna Picchu peak. No guidebook photo does that view justice.

I love routing clients through the Urubamba River valley between Cusco and Machu Picchu — it's threaded with Inca sites like Pisac, Ollantaytambo, and Moray, each remarkable on its own. I usually book my clients to stay in the valley rather than Cusco, so they're closer to the mountains and the communities still practicing traditions unbroken for centuries.

Cusco itself is worth slowing down for — I always send clients to the cathedral built atop Inca foundations, the artisan markets of San Blas, the street food at Mercado San Pedro. And if there's time, I love adding on Lake Titicaca and the floating Uros islands — nothing else on earth is quite like it.

My advice: go May–October for the dry season and clearest skies. June and July are peak months, so I always tell clients to book Machu Picchu tickets weeks ahead and spend 2–3 days in Cusco to acclimatise.