How To Visit Peru With Very Little Planning and Score Last-Minute Machu Picchu Tickets

When the limited number of advance tickets for Machu Picchu sells out online, airlines sometimes slash fares to Peru for those dates. This is how I ended up with dirt-cheap tickets from Austin to Lima in July, with no real plan other than to escape the summer heat for a few weeks and hope to nab in-person tickets for Machu Picchu. In the spirit of adventure, my two grown sons and I hopped on a plane with a loose itinerary and shiny optimism that everything would work out. And it did. We snagged last-minute Machu Picchu tickets and toured the 15th-century Inca citadel right alongside the more organized tourists. Here’s how we did it. Cusco Cusco, Peru (Heidi Gollub) First stop: Cusco. We flew straight through Lima to Cusco to spend a few days acclimating to the high elevation before heading to Machu Picchu. Through dumb luck, we were in town for the Paucartambo Festival, held every year from July 15 to 19. I highly recommend visiting during this time. Whenever we stepped outside, there was a new parade filling the streets. The city was alive with costumes, music, dancing, and festivities. Peruvian woman and baby alpaca in Cusco (Heidi Gollub) While staying in Cusco, we joined severa...