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The Machu Picchu Guidebook: A Self-Guided Tour (1555663273)
Description
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| This revised edition includes newly discovered sites. New photos and maps with full-color illustrations of real life scences from National Geographic Magazine. Editorial Descriptions are usually submitted by the manufacturers, publishers and authors. Contact us if you are one of them, and wish to change the above description. |
Reviews
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Author: Guest
...but a tour is better. This was very informative in preparation for going to Machu Piccu, but the last thing you want to do when walking around the ruins is read a book. I took a tour which made the book unnecessary. If you have no plans to go to Peru, this book has fantastic pictures and gives a good sense of what it is like.
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Author: Guest
This guide is indispensible if you are traveling to Machu Picchu. Nothing at the site is labeled, so having the book makes the experience much more meaningful, and allows you to interpret what you are seeing.
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Author: Guest
This book is a "must have" if you are visiting Machu Picchu. I carried this book in my backpack for 4 days on the Inca Trail hike and it was well worth carrying the extra weight.
Machu Picchu is the remains of an entire urban area complete with agricultural, residential, royal and religious areas. You should plan on spending at least a day at Machu Picchu to fully experience this site. This book is all you need for a complete self-guided tour of Machu Picchu. This book covers everything in detail and packs in a lot more information and insights into the Inca culture and style of architecture than any guided tour will cover (guided tours typically last only 2-3 hours). Even if you have a guide, this book will be an useful supplement.
The book comes with a clear fold out map of the entire Machu Picchu site. The book divides the site into several zones (the Temple of the Sun area, the Royal Residence, the Sacred Plaza etc.) and devotes a separate chapter to each zone. Each chapter comes with its own maps, nice photos and concise descriptions of everything that is interesting to see in that zone. The authors have ordered the chapters according to their recommended sequence of areas for exploring Machu Picchu. I followed the same sequence and would highly recommend it also. Apart from these above chapters the book also contains several additional chapters that provide background and supplemental information. The chapter on the Inca Water Management system is particularly enlightening because the complexity of the water system is not readily apparent when you stare over the maze of ruins in Machu Picchu. Water still flows into Machu Picchu from a mountain spring and this chapter provides some insight into the ingenuity of the Inca engineers in providing ample water for the agricultural terraces and the inhabitants of the urban center. The chapter titled "Side Trips" gives you ample information on the sites around Machu Picchu like the Inca Drawbridge, the trail to the peak of Huayna Pichu and the Temple of the Moon etc. One other nice feature is that the new edition has an interesting fold-out section showing an artist's depiction of how Machu Picchu looked liked in its heyday.
If you are interested in learning more about Inca architecture, I would highly recommend Inca Architecture by Gasparini and Margolies. Hiram Bingham's Inca Land and Lost City Of The Incas are staple reads before you venture out into the land of the Incas.
Also, some general advice on visiting the Machu Picchu site. The site opens early in the morning at 6am and the site is relatively calm until the trains from Cusco start arriving at around 10:30 am onwards. If you do the Inca Trail hike you will get to Machu Picchu at sunrise. If not, I would suggest that you take the train from Cusco the previous day and spend the night in Aguas Calientes. This way you can catch the early bus to Machu Picchu (a 20 minute ride) and enjoy the site before the crowds arrive. It is truly a once-in-a-lifetime event. Make sure you have the time and space to enjoy it!
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Author: Guest
This is a decent guide book if you have only a few hours to spend in Machu Picchu. I had a day an a half and was somewhat disappointed by the book: too little solid info and too much "fluff". For instance, the enclosed maps number all the rooms and buildings, but the text mentions only a few, with no attempt made to guess the use/function of the other ones. Not enough explanation is given of which parts are original and which are reconstructed. The visiting routes are often confusing and I found that exploring on my own was easier. The historical context and info on Inca life is spread throughout the text instead of being presented up front. On the positive side, the USA's author's husband is a hydrological specialist and the info on Incas' water management is solid.
All that said, I have not looked at other guidebooks and this one may yet be the best one. It is certainly better than nothing or than what you can hear in a rushed 2 hours tour from a local guide...
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Author: Guest
Visited Machu Picchu just yesterday with this guide in hand and I have to say that we covered almost every key point the authors of this guide recommend seeing. It truly is an easy to follow, information packed book that leads you clearly throughout the site. We missed only two fairly minor stops due to a little lack of clarity perhaps, but all in all I would fully recomment this as a vital reference to pack on your trip to MP - or even to learn a little more about this wonderfully spiritual spot.
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