The "Lost City of the Incas" is a well-preserved pre-Columbian Inca ruin located at 2430 m (7970 feet) on a mountain ridge. Machu Picchu is above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, about 70 km (44 miles) northwest of Cusco. Forgotten for centuries by the outside world, it was brought back to international attention by archaeologist Hiram Bingham who rediscovered it in 1911. Since 1983 the site has been designated as a United Nations Educational World Heritage Site.

It is thought that the city was built by the Sapa Inca Pachacuti, starting in about 1440, and was inhabited until the Spanish conquest of Peru in 1532. Archaeological evidence (together with recent work on early colonial documents) shows that Machu Picchu was not a conventional city, but a country retreat town for Inca nobility. The site has a large palace and temples dedicated to Inca deities around a courtyard, with other buildings for support staff. It is estimated that a maximum of only about 750 people resided in Machu Picchu at any one time, and probably only a small fraction of that number lived in the town during the rainy season and when none of the nobility were visiting.

All visits to Machu Picchu leave from Cusco. Taking the tourist train from Cusco which takes 3.5 hours to get to Machu Picchu. The most common way is to take that train in the morning, explore the ruins for a few hours and return to Cusco in the afternoon.