We rose while it was still dark, clumsily pulling on warm clothes in the tent before emerging into the crisp air and checking flashlights while we sipped coca tea. As in a pilgrimage line, we followed the guide single file, climbing up and up, until we reached the Gate of the Sun. As the gray sky turned pink and orange, there was the object of our quest: the Inca stone complex of Machu Picchu.

Long before the Machu Picchu citadel in Peru won as one of the new Seven Wonders of the World, it was already on most travelers’ bucket lists. The scene my wife and I viewed that morning, the Huayna Picchu peak behind terraced buildings spilling down a steep slope, has been one of the world’s most famous travel images for decades. For anyone already traveling to Lima on business, tacking on a few days to make it here seems like a given.

To keep the precariously placed buildings from being loved to death, a quota system is now in place and admission is capped at 2,500 visitors per day. For travelers not on an organized tour, this means logging on to the Machu Picchu ticket site and getting set up in advance to be sure of a spot.

Hiram Bingham brought Machu Picchu to the world after local farmer Melchor Arteaga showed him the site in 1911. After two subsequent visits with photographs and archaeological digs, his pictures and descriptions enraptured the public. This lost city in the mountains was a mysterious hidden Incan empire outpost, lost to all but a few locals farming the land. Theories of what the complex was for faded in and out of acceptance over the next century, ranging from the crackpot to the credible. The prevailing one now is that it was a country estate for the Incan emperor Pachacuti and not any kind of fort, power base or alien landing pad. Because it stayed unknown to the Spanish, it wasn’t ransacked for building materials to make a Christian church or homes.

Part of the appeal of Machu Picchu is this isolation, an improbable setting on a mountaintop ridge, surrounded by higher peaks. In some months of the year clouds can move in quickly and turn it all into a spooky landscape seemingly designed for the ghosts of Incan warriors.

What really amazes most visitors, though, is the advanced, hard-to-fathom workmanship. With no beasts of burden, this civilization erected palaces made from giant boulders sometimes weighing several tons. The stones are so finely carved and fitted it’s impossible to stick a credit card between them. Yet it was probably built, used and abandoned over a period of about 100 years.

When my business was finished in Lima, my wife met me for our initial trip to Machu Picchu. We had our first glimpse of the vast complex from a distance after a four-day hike on the famed Inca Trail. We sat on folding chairs at mealtimes and zipped ourselves into tents at night. Porters carried and set all this up, however, including big propane tanks for cooking. With another paid to carry our bags, we walked along with just a small backpack for the camera, water and layers we shed as the day went on.

The scenery is spectacular, and this slow road to Machu Picchu that the Incas themselves used to travel on seems natural: There’s effort involved to reach the once-hidden city. Plus, there are other stone complexes along the trail, accessible only by foot. Some are grand enough that in lesser countries they would be a star attraction.

The Salkantay Trail © Tim Leffel

Many years later, when business again found us in Lima, a little older and a little more concerned about comfort, our second journey to Machu Picchu was with Mountain Lodges of Peru. This company set up comfortable lodges spaced a day’s hike from each other along the alternate Salkantay Trail and is a good choice for business travelers with extra time. On this route, mules take the place of porters and the scenery is much different. Snowy mountains loomed right above us, and we skirted a glacial lake before going through a cloud forest and humid jungle on subsequent days.

The lodges along the way have features that seem downright decadent compared to what’s available on the Inca Trail. There’s fresh food coming from a real kitchen, fireplaces in sitting rooms with comfy couches, and a heated foyer where boots can dry overnight. Nice toiletries accompany hot water showers, and you drift to sleep on real mattresses in heated rooms.

On our walk around the citadel with a guide, we toured the “Hitching Post of the Sun,” the “Temple of the Sun” and the “Room of the Three Windows” again, catching a few things I missed the first time around when my mind kept drifting to the scenery instead of the guide’s speech.

After a few morning hours of exploring, we headed to the nearby restaurant at Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge for lunch and dined on fancier versions of traditional Andean food. During my two visits, I’ve heard a lot about potatoes in the region where they originated before their post-Columbus march to Ireland, Germany, Russia and McDonald’s. There are 80 kinds of potatoes in Peru. Or 200. Or maybe 400. It all depends on which tour guide you get. What is undeniable is that there is an incredible variety of them, including some that are purple, orange or red. We also ate quinoa, drank Pisco sours and tried desserts made with Peruvian chocolate, shunning the international dishes that could wait until we were home.

As we descended by bus on the zigzagging dirt road to Aguas Calientes — Machu Picchu Town — I imagined how easily this awesome set of ruins stayed hidden. Getting up here by foot in the days before the railway would have been a tortuous affair. The town is on the only bit of flat land in this narrow gorge by the Vilcanota River, though now from some spots you can see the cleared ruins in the distance.

Aguas Calientes © Tim Leffel

It took Hiram Bingham seven days to get here from Cusco with his seven companions and several mules. It took two hours and occasional machete whacks after leaving camp to reach the place he would make history for finding. Now, on the Orient-Express train that bears his name, tourists get here in a few hours, dining and drinking along the way. The cars on the Hiram Bingham luxury train look like something out of a classic movie, with fine wood paneling, polished brass and fancy light fixtures above dining tables. Uniformed, bilingual attendants make sure everyone is comfortable while the mountain scenery goes by outside the curved glass roof.

We spent an extra night in Aguas Calientes after the treks, not to revisit the ruins another day but to recover at the local hot springs and spend some time on relaxation instead of hiking. Although I’m normally reluctant to indulge in expensive spa treatments that last an hour or less, this time it didn’t take much effort for my wife to talk me into massages at the Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel. Afterward, we strolled the grounds, admiring the hundreds of kinds of orchids that grow here, watching hummingbirds and butterflies of seemingly every color flit between the flowers.

Although this great wonder of the world takes some effort to reach, it’s not a major expedition to tack it onto the end of a business trip in Lima. Several airlines fly between the capital and Cusco daily. You can journey by train to Machu Picchu in one day from Cusco, even making it a roundtrip on the Orient-Express Hiram Bingham if time is tight. Just understand your body may not agree with what your mind has planned: Lima is at sea level, while Cusco is higher than the Rockies. If possible, build in some downtime in the region, which has some of South America’s best hotels and resorts.

For a place this awe-inspiring and unique, in a setting as beautiful as the jagged Andes Mountains, to us it seemed a shame to come here and immediately skip out of town. So we decided to linger in the Sacred Valley town of Urubamba before taking the final train back to Cusco, adding hundreds of photographs to our glorious memories.

Machu Picchu Info to Go

Daily flights arrive at Cusco (CUZ) from Lima (LIM). PeruRail trains travel from Cusco to Machu Picchu in about three hours; since train tickets to Machu Picchu sell out quickly, make reservations as far in advance as possible. Also order entrance tickets in advance from the Machu Picchu ticket website. The bus from Aguas Calientes up to Machu Picchu takes about 20 minutes to wind its way up the mountainside. The Orient-Express Hiram Bingham train is the most luxurious way to journey between Cusco and Machu Picchu and includes bus transfer from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu and a Machu Picchu entry ticket.

Where to Stay in Machu Picchu

Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel Tucked into a serene 12 acres between the river and mountains, this nature-focused luxury hotel is a welcome retreat from the chaotic town. Aguas Calientes $$$$

Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge You can’t get any closer to the ruins than this small-roomed but refined Orient-Express luxury lodge at the top of the mountain. Next to Machu Picchu $$$$

Sumaq Machu Picchu Hotel A more traditional-style hotel with views, Sumaq has a strong sense of place and friendly service. Avenida Hermanos Ayar Mz.1 Lote 3, Aguas Calientes $$$$

Restaurants in Machu Picchu

Indio Feliz At the most award-winning restaurant in town, the French husband/Peruvian wife owners bring the best of both worlds together in a romantic atmosphere. Lloque Yupanqui St. 103, Aguas Calientes $$

Qunuq Restaurant This gourmet must-stop restaurant is one of the best outside Lima, offering high-level fusion cuisine incorporating the best Peruvian ingredients. Sumaq Machu Picchu Hotel, Avenida Hermanos Ayar Mz. 1 Lote 3, Aguas Calientes $$$$

Tampu Restaurant Inside the Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge, with a mountain view outside the walls of glass, this is the ideal lunch or dinner stop after touring the ruins. Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge, next to Machu Picchu $$$

Read more about Peru’s Sacred Valley.