If you’re making your one big bucket list trip to Machu Picchu, you probably want to see it in the best light and with the least amount of people. Since the implementation of the circuit system and strict daily visitor numbers, the quietest time to visit Machu Picchu has changed.
Machu Picchu had been our on wish list for so long that when we finally made it to Peru, we decided to go ‘all in’. We spent three whole days at the site, walked every circuit, climbed two mountains and watched two sunrises and one sunset.
In this guide we’re sharing our thoughts on sunrise vs sunset at Machu Picchu.
Sunrise vs Sunset
Sunrise & sunset times throughout the year
Due to its relative proximity to the equator, the time of sunrise and sunset at Machu Picchu doesn’t fluctuate as greatly as it does in places like the UK.
You’ll find that sunrise is somewhere between 5:12am (in November) and 6.13am (in July).
Sunset doesn’t fluctuate much either, with the latest time being 6.24pm (in January) and the earliest being at 5.29pm (in June).
Things to know about sunrise at Machu Picchu
Sunrise light is the most glorious
There is no doubt in our minds that the light is the most beautiful at sunrise. Watching the sun slowly rise above the mountains and hit the top of the citadel is an experience I will never forget.
In fact, it was so utterly glorious that even though we were exhausted by this point in our trip, we got up and did it all again the following day. Getting up in time to reach the main viewpoints for sunrise isn’t easy (for us it necessitated a 4.30am start) but it was oh so worth it.
The way that the light illuminates only the top of Huayna Picchu at first is incredible and it makes for some fabulous photo opportunities.
The site is the least crowded
Back in the day - before daily visitor numbers were capped and the circuit system was introduced - everyone told us that Machu Picchu used to be much less crowded at the end of the day.
However, over all the three days we visited, we found that Machu Picchu was the least crowded at sunrise. Yes, there will be people - the tickets always sell out for sunrise - but there will be fewer people.
We found that many visitors with time slots earlier in the day hung around late into the afternoon, then you also have those that bought tickets for the afternoon slots. This means that though the same number of tickets will have been sold across the time slots, it culminated in more people being at the site in the afternoon.
Although there is technically meant to be a four hour maximum stay in Machu Picchu, from our experience this was never enforced. Therefore many people who arrive earlier in the day will maximise their time at the site by staying as long as possible, and more people enter the site every hour.
If you buy a sunrise ticket you will be in the first tranche of people allowed into the site and no one else will come in for a further hour - which is the next time slot.
You can get a little bit of Machu Picchu to yourself!
This is something that I truly didn’t believe was possible anymore, but amazingly, it is! Almost everyone who buys a ticket for sunrise at Machu Picchu heads to the classic upper level viewpoints, which offer the best views over the citadel. And we did that too on our first sunrise visit, which was unforgettable. However, equally unforgettable was what we did on sunrise mission number two.
We walked straight past the viewpoints down into a slightly lower part of the site. We still had great views, albeit from a less elevated position, and the crowds completely melted away. We were literally the only ones there for a decent amount of time, occasionally people passed and went further into the citadel, but we had some magical moments alone. It was how I always dreamed we might see Machu Picchu, but thought we’d missed the boat due to how wildly popular it is now.
If you want those classic sunrise shots, then this won’t work for you, but if you’re happy to head down a little further into the site (not all the way down or you lose the big views) you may just get to experience this wonder of the world all to yourself, at least for a little while.
Light doesn’t hit the citadel at sunrise itself
As Machu Picchu is surrounded by steep mountains, the sun needs to rise over the peaks before it will hit the citadel. We visited in June, so this happened at around 7.15 am.
The light was at its best for around 15-20 minutes after this time, but even before the sun rose above the mountains the soft light created a beautiful glow.
It will vary slightly month by month, so you might want to check with a local, but for us it was rising above the ridge one hour after sunrise and it took a further 15 minutes to bathe the tops of the mountain and ruins in golden light.
This allows plenty of time to make it from the entry gate to the viewpoint without feeling rushed.
Cloud is a greater risk
If Machu Picchu is going to be completely shrouded in cloud, it’s most likely to be at sunrise. This does mean that there’s a chance you don’t get to watch sunrise at all and instead spend a long while waiting for it to clear.
It’s not uncommon to have thick cloud over the citadel in the early morning and see nothing from the viewpoint! Personally it’s a risk I would take, because as long as you have time and patience and are willing to wait, it will clear. I’ve heard of it taking several hours to clear, but I’ve never heard of it not clearing at all.
In complete honesty, I was hoping for one cloudy day on our visit because I’d seen so many documentaries of Machu Picchu suddenly appearing from behind the cloud, which looked incredibly atmospheric - like a lost world.
However, I am not complaining that we somehow got three clear days in a row, that was pretty magical too.
The queue for the bus can be long at sunrise
Although the buses that take you from Aguas Calientes (the nearest town to Machu PIcchu) to the entry gate for the site leave every five minutes or so, queues can build up in the early morning.
At time of writing the first buses leave at 5.30am (but please double check this on the ground because things change at Machu Picchu on the regular) and take 20-25 minutes to reach the entry gate.
Ideally you want to be on one of those first buses, but if you don’t manage it because of the queue, then at least you know that you have a little bit of time after sunrise to make it to the viewpoint, which is 500m from the entry gate. You can also hike up from town, but it’s steep and we heard takes up to 1.5 hours!
Most of the walk to reach the viewpoint from the entry gate is uphill on quite steep stone steps.
Things to know about sunset at Machu Picchu
Watching the sunset from the viewpoints is nigh on impossible
At time of writing Machu Picchu closes at 5.30pm. This is just before sunset for most of the year. However, as the sun drops behind the mountains earlier, sunset will technically be earlier at the citadel.
So though you might think that you could watch the sun drop below the mountains, you can’t really do that from the viewpoints in the upper part of the site - which is ideally where you would want to be - and that’s because of the circuit system.
You are not allowed to backtrack on the circuits and when we did once by accident (a genuine mistake) we were nearly thrown out the site - no joke!
Therefore, unless you’re lucky and a guard doesn’t spot you, you would have to sit up at the classic viewpoint from the time of the latest possible entry ticket (currently that’s 2pm) and wait for a couple of hours.
This means that you will have only seen 500m of the site, and pretty much none of the ruins. If you literally only wanted to see the sun go down, this could work, but it’s a hefty ticket price just for that and would mean you really would want to buy a second ticket, or you won’t really have explored Machu Picchu at all.
The light isn’t as good
In my humble opinion, the light is not as good at sunset as at sunrise. At sunrise the soft light begun a little way ahead of the sun rising over the mountains, and then there was a truly spectacular golden glow which lasted quite a while - although it was at its absolute best for around 15-20 minutes or so.
At sunset the light was more harsh and the best of the soft light would come after the site closes.
It wasn’t bad by any means, but it didn’t have the ethereal quality to it that sunrise had. If you’re all about photography, then you have to pick sunrise.
One hour before sunset and there were a lot of harsh shadows
The site gets crowded
I won’t go into all the details again, but over the three days we spent at Machu Picchu, later in the day was always busier than the mornings.
It’s probably not as busy as it was in the few years preceding the capped daily visitor numbers, but it was a marked difference to sunrise.
Having said that, being in the site at the very end of the day was still much less crowded than the late morning and middle of the day.
You can manage on a day trip
Personally I wouldn’t recommend only visiting Machu Picchu as a day trip as I think it would be rushed and tiring, but if you have very limited time, then buying an afternoon ticket means you can visit the site as a day trip.
We really liked the town of Aguas Calientes because it’s surrounded by beautiful steep mountains, which were almost reminiscent of Halong Bay, so it’s really nice to spend a night there. We spent three and could have stayed longer!
But we are aware that not everyone has the luxury of time like we had on this trip, so you want to opt for a sunset (afternoon) ticket if you only want to visit on a day trip.
Machu Picchu sunrise vs sunset: the verdict
It’s probably already obvious from the article, but we much preferred sunrise to sunset at Machu Picchu. The light was better, the crowds were fewer and the experience was one I’ll remember for the rest of my life. It does have the risk of that early morning cloud, but that’s a risk I would take (assuming you are planning to spend most of the day at the site).
If they ever get rid of the circuit system and things revert back to when sunset was quieter, then I would buy two tickets, but I would never pick sunset over sunrise.
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