The Perfect Machu Picchu Packing List (2023 Update)

1. Intro
2. Things You Need on Your Machu Picchu Packing List
3. Things You Should Consider Bringing to Machu Picchu
4. Things to Leave at Home When Packing for Machu Picchu
5. Peru Travel Podcast: What to Bring and not Bring to Machu Picchu

David Kosloski: 00:17 Hello and welcome to the podcast. I’m your host, David Kosloski alongside of me is six foot seven Charlie Thompson, and today we’re both going to be digging into what to bring and not to bring to Machu Picchu. Charlie, I just want to point out you are a very, very tall man.

Charlie Thompson: 00:36 You missed a half an inch actually, according to the doctor, six-seven and a half with my shoes on, six-eight, and no, I don’t play basketball. See, as all, you guys are wondering out there,

David Kosloski: 00:46 People do that. You know what I mean, I gotta get that extra inch, that extra inch, but here’s the thing, when going into Peru, we’re hoping to hook you up with no extra inches, no fluff numbers like that extra half-inch that he’s talking about. We’re going to go direct. We’re going to get you exactly what you need to know about what you can bring into Machu Picchu and what you can’t bring into Machu Picchu. How do you feel about that, Charlie?

Charlie Thompson: 01:08 Well, the thing is anywhere you go, you don’t want to walk in somewhere and be like, ah I can’t have that. In fact, I’ve even thought like when you go into an arena or anything like that, you know how they valet cars. There should be people valeting belongings. I mean, isn’t that a good idea?

David Kosloski: 01:22 That’d be neat. I’d be down with that.

Charlie Thompson: 01:25 Unfortunately in Peru, that doesn’t exist. It doesn’t exist at Machu Picchu. So what you need to do is listen closely and we will tell you everything you need to bring into Machu Picchu and what specifically you cannot bring. Otherwise, you will have to pay for a locker.

David Kosloski: 01:41 That’s right. And believe it or not, the first thing on the list is a ticket. No Way. Yeah. Dude, can you believe it? You need a ticket. You need the golden ticket to get into March Picchu. Now you need a ticket and you need your passport. A lot of people don’t realize that you need your passport. You’re going to make it? I thought you were about to sneeze. Sorry. I just literally looked over and I’m, he’s about to blow a gasket. You need your ticket and you need a passport, they check your passport at the gate, you actually need your passport in order to book it. So a lot of people want to book their tickets the day of, in fact, that is really not possible. Usually, I guess there’s probably special circumstances but typically need to book that in advance and you need a passport to do that. So most companies, if they’re legitimate, are gonna ask for your passport in advance to get that. Speaking of companies before we continue, we should probably do a plug for what it is we are. This podcast is brought to you by cachilife.com, bringing you all your Peru travel needs, uh, that being the Inca Trail, Machu Picchu Day Trips, Salkantay Trek, and of course the Sacred Valley. Did I do a good job with that? I’m not Vanna White or anything.

Charlie Thompson: 02:54 Vanna White, just presses buttons, fakely.

David Kosloski: 02:57 I feel like she should talk though.

Charlie Thompson: 02:58 She should. She should.

David Kosloski: 03:00 I think she has a beautiful voice.

Charlie Thompson: 03:01 Pat Sajak just hijacks the whole thing until the very end.

David Kosloski: 03:06 He holds that attention. Number two on the list.

Charlie Thompson: 03:09 Wait. I want to throw something in real quick because this is something that not a lot of people know, but they do not sell MAPI tickets. MAPI meaning Machu Picchu at the door, at the entrance, they’re not sold there. So what David was saying earlier is you could possibly get one the day of probably very difficult, but you would still have to get it through a tour operator in Peru. You would not be able to purchase at the door. They don’t have a box office at Machu Picchu. So keep that in mind. Everybody loves going to this place. It’s absolutely beautiful and breathtaking. So don’t forget your ticket ahead of time.

David Kosloski: 03:46 That’s right. Number two on the list that you probably should have is a backpack, like a day pack, something small. There are some measurements. 15.7 centimeters by 13.7 centimeters by 7.9 centimeters. You might need to get a ruler or just read the blog posts that we have up to about what not to bring into Machu Picchu and what to bring in. You know, at the same time I always like to bring snacks, things like that and places and I like to have some water with me. And so I bring it back to kind of carry my camera and things like that. So you can obviously opt-out of that option, but I’m not an octopus. I can’t carry eight things into Machu Picchu.

Charlie Thompson: 04:27 And for those that live in America who are listening right now, in case you don’t want to pull out your phone that has a calculator on it. I went ahead and did the math for you. 15.7 centimeters is roughly seven inches by six inches by three inches. So it’s kind of, it’s kind of a small pack.

David Kosloski: 04:48 So I want to make fun of myself right now. And if anybody’s listening, an octopus actually only has six legs. And, I said eight and then I went to 12, so I’m a dummy. But, just want to, for the record, clarify that. An octopus only has six. You did not hear it here that octopuses have eight or 12 legs.

Charlie Thompson: 05:07 And they’re tentacles, by the way.

David Kosloski: 05:09 They’re tentacles. See.

Charlie Thompson: 05:09 They’re not legs.

David Kosloski: 05:11 This has become like an animal show. We should talk about beavers next. And like hedgehogs and stuff. Those things are cool.

Charlie Thompson: 05:17 They do have some cool different animals in Peru we could talk about on one show, but we don’t have time for that right now. Dave. We got a lot to get to.

David Kosloski: 05:23 I just want to mention they have chinchillas and they’re the cute little fluffy fat little mice. Things that run around. And I saw one. It was adorable. All right, next one on the list is obvious. Bring your camera. Do you want to take photos? You don’t remember this magical memory for the rest of your life. You can’t actually film in Machu Picchu without a permit. But definitely take a bunch of different photos. You’re gonna want to remember that for the rest of your life.

Charlie Thompson: 05:43 There’s two things I’ve learned in this life. Well, I guess it’s one thing I’ve learned well two things that you always leave with are your wallet and your cell phone. If you have those two things when you leave the house or you leave your hotel or hostel or your Airbnb in Peru or in America or in Australia, wherever you’re at, you will make it. Because you got your phone, you get all your contacts, you’ve got an emergency if you need it, you got your wallet, you can pay for things. And guess what? Your phone has a camera.

David Kosloski: 06:15 That’s right. Take those pictures, snap, snap. Number four on the list is a raincoat, poncho, hat. So basically we’re trying to say here is sort of dress like an onion, if you will really bring layers because it gets cold. It can rain and you wanna be able to take those things off, throw em in your backpack that you brought because we told you to bring it. Boom, boom, boom. See what we’re doing here. And definitely bring those things just because the weather changes all the time in the mountains. It’s really hard to predict, I bet you the weatherman in Peru or in Cusco rather than probably make bank because it is probably a really difficult job.

Charlie Thompson: 06:46 I’ve got to steal a line from the blog post here because I love it, which means you need to go check out the blog and read this as a great blog cachilife.com/peru-travel-blog/. But in here, the weather in the Andes and Machu Picchu changes faster than Charlie Sheen can say, winning after three lines of coke. And if you don’t know who Charlie Sheen is, then you’re not winning.

David Kosloski: 07:08 That’s awesome. And then, and then lastly on the list is some extra cash. It’s hard obviously to figure out what takes a card, what doesn’t. We recommend bringing in some extra cash. There are places to eat at or right outside of Machu Picchu. Obviously, there’s restaurants in Aguas Calientes which just slightly off the road. Just bring that extra cash. You may also want to tip your guide. Your guide may want, you know, just your tours as good as your guide, right? We had a review that came in on Tripadvisor. Someone said that I love that line. And then being said, bathrooms also cost money. Ironically, I think it’s like fifty cents or something like that. Charlie may know the exact number, but they do cost some money and I’m definitely gonna bring extra cash for that. Alright, so now that we talked about what we can bring into Machu Picchu let’s go ahead and break down the nitty-gritty of what you can not bring in. And the first one is walking poles. You’re out of luck. So if you went through the Inca Trail, you got to ditch those hiking poles, you can’t bring them into Machu Picchu,

Charlie Thompson: 08:04 Although we do recommend them on the trail. It’s what’s one thing you do have to get rid of before you go in.
David Kosloski: 08:10 Third on the list is umbrellas. We talked about how it might rain. So you want to bring that rain jacket, but unfortunately, you can’t bring umbrellas into Machu Picchu, which could be a good thing for people like Charlie because if you don’t know this, the average height in Peru is actually quite small. I’m not judging here, but I’m just saying that if a bunch of Peruvians was carrying umbrellas I would have to say it’s safe to say Charlie would be whacked in the face by a bunch of umbrellas.

Charlie Thompson: 08:36 Might be getting whacked in the shoulders.

David Kosloski: 08:38 A fourth on the list is strollers, prams, and pushchairs. So basically if it comes on wheels, you can’t bring it in. It sucks. It’s unfortunate. But that is the nature of the beast. Fifth on the list is cigarettes and e-cigarettes. There’s no smoking in Machu Picchu. And unfortunately, that means you can’t bring in e-cigarettes. All you smokers out there, you better bite the dust. Charlie, kick the cigarettes, kick them out, get rid of them and never use them again. It even says no tobacco products. So chewing tobacco. Oh yeah, we’re here. We’re here in Nashville. So a lot of chewing tobacco going on around here.

David Kosloski: 09:16 Snuff, snuff. And there is a rumor. So we’ve been told there’s a rumor. We know it’s true, but we don’t know the extent of this rumor like exactly how far it goes, but we know that you cannot wear your country’s clothes in Machu Picchu. Now, let’s go ahead and exaggerate on that a little bit. That does not mean that you cannot wear a shirt that is made in the United States are made in China. What that means is that in you’re an Irish man, you can’t wear a kilt.

David Kosloski: 09:45 Ironic, weird. But that’s kind of how we’ve gathered and understood it. So that’s just what we’re telling you. Again, we don’t really understand the rule fully. We just know that it is there. So that’s everything that you need to know about what to bring into Machu Picchu and what you can’t bring into Machu Picchu. We tried to keep this one really quick for you guys, get you in and out, and get you up to date. So if you want to know more information, more in detail, again, it’s as Charlie had said, you can check out our blog post cachilife.com/peru-travel-blog.

Charlie Thompson: 10:14 You can also hit us up [email protected]. We respond to all of your emails. We can answer any questions you have. We’ve got some gear junkies, we’ve got some techie people, we’ve got some people that know everything you need to know about Peru. So hit us up. Guys thanks so much for joining us. We will catch you next time.