Hope you're sitting down. If you can't get an entry ticket to Machu Picchu in 2024, you're not doing it right. The number of Machu Picchu tickets available each day exceeds a jaw dropping 10,000.. I'm not making this up. Stay with me. I'll show you my work. The new Machu Picchu ticket platform shows the number of tickets available by the hour for each category and each route. Anyone can see this information. What I did was searched for tickets in each category later in the year where tickets are not selling yet. This showed the maxiumum number of tickets available each hour. After listing all the numbers for each route, it was a matter of adding everything up. (some smarty pants math nerd could use my numbers to calculate the revenue from the sales of all those tickets, if they were to sell out.) Here's something fun to think about. If roughly 10,000 people per day pay 2 soles each to powder their noses at the one and only toilet at Machu Picchu, what is the yearly revenue on that? Let me know what you come up. It boggles my mind.

Why is there such a discrepancy between the real number of Machu Picchu tickets available every day, and the reported numbers?

I've seen reports stating that there's a massive "4500 Machu Picchu tickets avaiable every day!" Or numbers to that effect. So why are my numbers so high and the numbers floating out there in the internet so low? I believe that publishers are cherry pcking the numbers they want to feature based on their target audience.. Here's what I mean. There are literally 3500 tickets available for foreigners every day and 3500 tickets available for Peruvians and CAN citizens.(not including hikers). If you're reporting to an audience that is primarily foreigners to Peru, then the number of tickets available solely to that demographic might matter. But it's also misleading to ignore how the total number of visitors at the national park might affect everyone's overall experience. Can you imagine 10,000 people every day using the one and only restroom at Machu Picchu? How will the availability for trains and buses be affected by all these people? No matter if you're a foreigner or CAN citizen, you sitll have to take the train and the bus. That's all I'm saying. Let's at least try to get the condor view of the scene. 

There are 3 ticketing categories, General rate for foreigners, Promotional rate for Peruvians and CAN citizens (of Andean nations), and Cusquenos. 

There's no category for hikers. Each hiking permit comes with 1 entry ticket to Machu Picchu lower circuit. There are 500 permits per day for 4 day hikers. (Permits for hikers who do the 5 day Inca Trail come from the same pool) Most of the 500 permits are for porters who don't enter Machu Picchu. Let's say there's an average of 200 hikers per day from the 4-day hike, plus up to 250 per day for the short 1-day Inca Trail hike. That's the potential for another 450 people in Machu Picchu. Every. Day.

And. Let's not forget that there are still 1000 tickets available every day to anyone who chooses to show up in the village of Aguas Calientes in person. I'm told you show up one day, and your tickets will likely be for entry on the next day. This system is direct sell to visitors. Tour operators can't use it so I don't know much about the details. 

Machu Picchu increases the number of entry tickets to over 10,000 per day in 2024.

When the new tickets were released I was able to nail down the total number and the hourly distribution of various tickets. Since I did the initial counting, they have already added more tickets and adjusted the distribution of tickets. Here's what it looks like based on my latest figures.. 

Category: General Rate / Foreigners

• Route/Ruta Machu Picchu Llaqta entry tickets. There's a total of 2170 available per day. (that's a lot guys!)
  6-7AM - 340
  7-8AM - 340
  8AM-1400 - 190 each hour
  1400-1500 - 200
  1500-1600 - 150  (entry between 3-4pm is new in 2024)
• Route/ruta Circuit 1 or 2 + Inka Bridge - Total 280 per day
  7-8AM / 8-9AM / 9-10AM / 10-11AM /11AM-12PM / 12-1PM / 1-2PM / 2-3PM - 30 each hour (Llaqta entry 1 hour earlier)
  3PM-4PM- 40  (Llaqta entry 1 hour earlier)
• Route/Ruta Circuit #4 + WaynaPicchu Mountain - Total 325 per day
  7-8AM - 100 (Llaqta entry 6-7AM)
  8-9AM - 75 (Llaqta entry 7-8AM)
  9-10AM - 75 (Llaqta entry - 8-9AM)
  10-11AM - 75 (Llaqta entry - 9-10AM
• Route/Ruta MachuPicchu Mountain + Circuit 3 - 300 per day
  7-8AM - 100 (Llaqta entry 6-7AM)
  8-9AM - 100 (Llaqta entry 7-8AM)
  9-10AM - 100 (Llaqta entry 8-9AM)
• Route/Ruta Circuit 4 + Huchuy Mountain - 425 per day
  7-8AM and 11AM-12PM - 100 each (Llaqta entry 1 hour earlier)
  8-9AM / 9-10AM / 10-11AM - 75 each hour (Llaqta entry 1 hour earlier)
• Inca Trail Hikers - 450 per day (which can be mix of foreigners and CAN citizens)

Grand Total per day for this category comes to 3500 (this does not include tickets available for CAN citizens - Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, which is listed separately below. Or hikers)

Category: PROMOTIONAL Rate Peruvians and CAN Citizens - Cost of tickets is 64/s. per adult
(additional discounts may apply for entry from 6-7AM and 3-4PM)

• Route/Ruta Machu Picchu Llaqta entry tickets. Total 2170 per day
  6-7AM - 340
  7-8AM - 340
  8AM-1400 - 190 each hour
  2PM-3PM - 200
  3PM-4PM - 150 (entry after 3PM is new in 2024)
• Route/Ruta Circuit 1 or 2 + Inka Bridge - Total 280 per day
  7-8AM / 8-9AM / 9-10AM / 10-11AM /11AM-12PM / 12-1PM / 1-2PM / 2-3PM - 30 each hour (Llaqta entry 1 hour earlier)
  3PM-4PM- 40  (Llaqta entry 1 hour earlier)
• Route/Ruta Circuit #4 + WaynaPicchu Mountain. Total 325 tickets per day
  7-8AM 100 tickets,, 8-9AM, 8-10AM, 10-11AM  75 tickets per hour (Llaqta entry 1 hour earlier)
• Route/Ruta MachuPicchu Mountain + Circuit 3 - Total 300 tickets per day
  7-8AM, 8-9AM, 9-10AM - 100 tickets per hour (Llaqta entry 1 hour earlier)
• Route/Ruta Circuit 4 + Huchuy Mountain - 425 per day
  7-8AM and 11AM-12PM - 100 each (Llaqta entry 1 hour earlier)
  8-9AM / 9-10AM / 10-11AM - 75 each hour (Llaqta entry 1 hour earlier)

Grand Total per day for this category is also 3500. (not including up to 450 hikers in both categories)

Category: Cusquenos. These are free tickets for residents of Cusco. They only have 1 choice for Llaqta tickets. 

• Route/Ruta Machu Picchu Llaqta entry tickets. There's a total of 2170 available per day.
  6-7AM - 340
  7-8AM - 340
  8AM-1400 - 190 each hour
  1400-1500 - 200
  1500-1600 - 150  (entry between 3-4pm is new in 2024)

Adding up all the categories and hikers, get ready for this. My calculator is smoking. It's possible that 9620 tickets to Machu Picchu are available over the course of one day. But there's more. Remember the 1000 tickets available to buy in person in the village of Aguas Calientes? Don't forget to tack that on. That makes the new total 10,620 possible souls walking through the main gate every day. This does not mean everyone is there at the same time. And it's possible that some visitors may buy more than 1 entry ticket on the same day which has been reconfirmed for 2024. 

Last year I didn't get a good tally on the total tickets available. But my eyeballs can tell from the number of tickets available for each route, that there has been an increase this year. Let me know what you come up with if you decide to do your own reckoning.

Are there any other changes to Machu Picchu entry tickets in 2024?

You bet your sweet baby bumpkin there are. How they plan to enforce these new rules is not clear. Even our manager, Vidal, in Cusco doesn't know how they will do it.

• Get ready for 30 minute tolerance limit for lateness to the Machu Picchu Llaqta main gate entry. (Checkin for the hikes is different. Up to now, zero tolerance has been selectively enforced at the checkpoint for each hike) I noticed that the landing page on the new ticketing platform has an "Important Information" message reminding people to take into account their transportatoin schedule and arrival times before buying tickets.
• Be prepared for a 2 hour/30 minute limit per visit. It used to be limited by how long you could "hold" it. I'm not kidding. As long as you stayed on your one-way circuit you could dilly-dally for 3-4 hours on your way to the exit. But heaven help those with overactive or tiny bladders. Here's a link to read more about the toilet situation at Machu Picchu
• Be careful when buying your Machu Picchu Llaqta tickets. On one side of the landing page on the new booking platform it shows that Llaqta tickets let you choose from one of any of the 4 circuits. Just like last year. But when I go to buy the ticket, the Llaqta tickets only show upper circuits 1 or 2. We don't know which version is correct. It only matters for people who think they want to do the upper circuits and then when they get there, they may discover that they would rather go to the lower circuits. To get to the upper terrace where the upper circuit tour begins requires a bit of huffing and puffing.. The path is steep with uneven stone steps and tight switchbacks. It's one way up, so you don't have to worry that you're blocking people coming down. And technically there's no time limit, unless they come up with some way to track how long you're inside the park. You probably would not want to spend the entire 2.5 hours on that path. 
• You're going to love this! Not really, but we have no say in the matter. Another NEW platform for buying Machu Picchu tickets virtually is in the works. The baby platform is still cooking in the oven and has not been named yet. It's a long story. Keep checking back. 

I'll try to keep this page updated. But I'm also really busy keeping this page updated. "Changes to Machu Picchu Entry Tickets in 2024" Not to mention I try to reply to every single email, text and phone call from folks who are at their "Whitt's" end. (pun intended) Are we having fun yet?