Machu Picchu, Peru, Cusco Luxury Tour Ideas

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 a must see attraction for anyone travelling to Latin America as it is one of the most impressive and best preserved of all of the Incan buildings and monuments. The actual buildings that make up the extensive site show off some of the very best of the Incan stone work and engineering, but when you couple this with the scenery of the location you have a winning combination.

The site of the citadel is 2430 meters above sea level set amid other jungle covered mountains all around it. When you take in the location, it is instantly clear why the Incas found the site religiously important. Today people report that holding your hands above the altar stone Intihuatana you can feel a charge of energy being emitted. Certain points of the site also align with the sun during the summer solstices and other important dates on the solar calendar.

There are many theories about why the city in the cloud forest was constructed, but no one knows exactly what it was built for. It is known that the Spanish never visited the site and they most likely never even knew that it existed. Most historians now seem to agree that the site was built for the Inca Pachacuti as a summer estate and sacred religious sanctuary.

It is likely that the site was deserted around the same time that the Spanish arrived in Peru. There are theories surrounding why it was deserted at this time. Some believe the site was abandoned during a time of civil upheaval when there was infighting in the Inca royal class about succession to the throne. Other theories state that it may have been abandoned when small pox claimed the residents of the site.

For several centuries the site was lost, taken over by the cloud forest, and forgotten to all but a handful of local people. In 1911 Hiram Bingham, a Yale based historian and adventurer led an expedition into the jungle and rediscovered the site. From there he introduced the incredible Incan ruins to the rest of the world and spent many years restoring the site and claiming back from the encroaching forest.

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 will help you to get the very best from your visit and enjoy every single moment of your memorable trip. Find out more about visiting this must see Latin American pre-Columbian marvel today.

By: Allan Ryckman

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