We always knew Machu Picchu was on our list of must sees in South America. We just didn’t know which mode of transportation we would take to get there. The most famous is obviously the Inca Trail which takes 4 days and is a very hard trek. Stemming from the popularity of this trek is a whole host of others that are cheaper and use other paths into Machu Picchu town. We met so many people doing these treks and decided quite early on that this was not for us. The only reason being that there are so many people doing them and you end up hiking along the trails with a bunch of people, whereas we enjoy trekking or hiking by ourselves.
So we decided on catching the train. It is pricy for the duration of time but we decided to treat ourselves as it is Christmas! We are so glad we splurged on a little bit of luxury. The train was so much fun!
Starting from just outside Cuzco we slowly descended into the Sacred Valley where a whole host of Inca ruins and little towns are. The scenery changed from the outskirts of Cuzco to farm land to eventually mountains covered in forest. Where the mountains have steep faces and trees cannot grow, Bromeliads have taken root and whole mountains sides can be covered in them. Towards the end of the train ride the environment feels very tropical even though we were still at 2000m.
The train had very large glass windows and the ceiling was also glass so we got amazing views. Such a great way to see the country side and we are thinking of incorporating more trains into the itinerary. S
Arriving in Machu Picchu town is quite surreal as we didn’t know what to expect. The town could best be described as being very higgledy piggledy and surrounded by lush green steep mountains. It had a very touristy feel to it but you could sense some excitement about the place too. Our hotel was on the main drag and had a sort of view across the town but was run by a very friendly host who was very helpful in directing us to where we needed to buy bus tickets and more importantly where to celebrate Christmas Eve.
We had decided to get up very early on Christmas Day (4am) so felt that lunch would be the better option and we were directed towards a superb restaurant where we treated ourselves to some fine dining Peru style. Soups and Alpaca were the order of the day. Delicious.
We relaxed through the afternoon face timing with Australia for Christmas wishes before getting to bed early both very excited about Christmas Day and our visit to Machu Picchu. T 
Pretty excited sat on the train.
The views from the train were amazing, rivers, mountains and Inca ruins.
Our view of the train.
Aguas Calientes nestled in between the mountains and the river
Some shots of Aguas Calientes town.
The Main Street
The view from our hotel room
Aguas Calientes, it somehow all works.