Machu Picchu, Peru, Cusco Luxury Travel Tips

Machu Picchu is well known as one of the most famous and impressive of the world's historical sites. It has recently been listed as one of the new world's seven wonders and it has been a UNESC World Heritag Site since 1983. There is such good tourism infrastructure in place around the site and the surrounding area of Peru, that Machu Picchu luxury tours help you to see the location in true style.

Machu Picchu is one of the most famous and best preserved of all the Incan buildings and monuments. While the engineering and design that created the buildings that you see today was impressive in its own right, when it is coupled with the spectacular geographical location of the mountain setting, you have a destination that is truly breathtaking.

The 2430 meter above sea level site is atop a mountain in the Urubamba Valley, but it is surrounded by verdant, jungle covered mountains. It is easy looking around you to understand why the Incas believed that it was a site with special religious significance. The Incas were sun worshipers and from certain points at the site, the land formation matches perfectly with times in the solar calendar, particularly the summer and winter solstices.

Over time there have been many theories about who constructed it and what it was used for. The exact origins of the site remain a mystery since the Incas did not have written records and the Spanish never visited or knew about it. However, it is generally thought that it was constructed sometime between 1400 and 1450 by the Inca Pachacuti.

Many historians believe that Pachacuti ordered the site to be built as a royal estate and religious retreat. It is thought that the site was deserted around the time of the Spanish conquest and was never fully completed. It is likely that the site was eventually abandoned because a war of succession between potential Incas emptied the royal coffers.

Once the site was abandoned it was left to the jungle for several centuries. Local farmers and shepherds knew of the site, but to the outside world it did not exist. That is until in 1911 an American explorer named Hiram Bingham located the ruins in the thick jungle and announced his find to the world. Bingham stayed to assist with the restoration work on the great Incan citadel.

Machu Picchu is today one of the world's best loved historical sites and it has been protected by UNESCO for its importance to world patrimony. You can visit the site arriving along the Inca hiking trail; by train, arriving from Cusco at local town Aguas Calientes or stay at nearby accommodation.

A Machu Picchu luxury tour can deliver you to the site and show you around in style to ensure that you get the most out of the experience.