Packing list for Cusco, Machu Picchu and altitude
What to bring for Cusco, the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu: layers for 70°F (21°C) days and 36°F (2°C) nights, SPF 50, a daypack that fits the 40 x 35 x 20 cm gate rule, the passport named on your ticket, and a first night lower than Cusco.
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Checked October 10, 2026.
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0 of 18 packed
Altitude
0/3Clothes for 70°F (21°C) days and 36°F (2°C) nights
0/5At the Machu Picchu gate
0/5Health, money and the small stuff
0/5What the weather is like
Cusco in the dry season is 70°F (21°C) by day and 36 to 39°F (2 to 4°C) at night in June and July, with frost some weeks, and 3 to 7 mm of rain a month from May to August against 150 mm in January. Machu Picchu is 1,000 meters lower at 2,430 meters: warmer, 68 to 77°F (20 to 25°C) by day, cloudier, and a shower is possible any month. Lima stays gray and 64°F (18°C) from June to September.
- A big camera tripod, a selfie stick or an umbrellaAll three are banned inside Machu Picchu, and so is a small pocket tripod. The shell jacket handles the rain.
- Walking poles with metal tipsThey are refused at the gate; only rubber-tipped medical canes get in.
- Coca tea and coca candyHotels pour it free and every shop sells the candy for a few soles; it is not allowed through customs at home, so finish it in Peru
- An alpaca sweater, hat and glovesSan Pedro market and the Pisac stalls sell them for a fraction of the airport price, and the Cusco nights make you glad of them
- Water and snacks in Aguas CalientesFill the bottle at the hotel and buy fruit and nuts the evening before; nothing is sold past the gate and the cafe outside charges accordingly
Worth knowing
- Fly into Cusco and go straight down to the Sacred Valley for two nights, then Machu Picchu, then back up to Cusco at the end. Doctors advise against sleeping above 2,750 meters on the first night, and Urubamba and Ollantaytambo sit at 2,800 to 2,900. You see the same places and your body meets 3,400 meters on day four instead of day one. Ask Waystop's Chat to put the valley days first and it proposes the new order as cards.
- Buy Machu Picchu tickets on the official site weeks ahead and screenshot them; the circuits sell out in the dry season and the entrance checks the name against the passport, so book in the name on the document.
- Eat light and early at altitude: soup, quinoa, grilled trout and a small dinner. Skip canned oxygen and the over-the-counter soroche pills, which give a minute of relief or are mostly caffeine and aspirin. A slow first day, no alcohol for 48 hours and plenty of water do the work. Coca tea from the hotel lobby is comforting but does not prevent altitude sickness, and it can show on a drug test.
Trips to pack this for
Never leave the charger in the hotel again.
Waystop keeps a list for each bag and each person. On the morning you change hotels it walks you through a quick pack-up check, and Chat can suggest items to add when you ask what to bring.