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This guidebook is pretty wonderful. I did find the fold-out map a little tough to follow at times, but the instructions in the text helped make up for that. It enabled us to thoroughly tour the entire main site - including some off-the-beaten path places - in a day, including a leisurely hike up Huayna Picchu. It was sort of oddly gratifying to hear overstuffed tour groups being fed misinformation by guides, knowing that I was able to go off by myself, avoiding the crowds, and get state-of-the-science info about what I was seeing. I've traveled a lot, used a lot of guidebooks, and this one was great, just the right blend of details and enthusiasm. Made an unforgettable day even better.
If you are going to Machu Pichu, this is a great guide book. Take it with you so that you have a good understanding of what you are looking at.
As a bonus, the book has a large number of color and black-and-white photographs that are really useful after you return home in correctly titling your own photographs and having the correct explanations for them if viewers have questions about things in your photographs. It enables you to conduct your own tour of the site, seeing just what you want to see and not what a guide wants you to see. If you are contemplating a trip to Peru which includes a visit to Machu Picchu, do yourself (and anyone traveling with you) a favor and get this guide. Although the book is not pocket-sized, it will easily fit into a small pouch so it can be carried while visiting the site (and that's what it's intended for -- I read it on the plane on the way down and found it not to be that helpful without the site in front of me, despite the fact that it is well illustrated). We went to Machu Picchu with this guide book and a guide, spent the first hour-and-a-half with the guide getting a "lick and a promise" at a dozen or so points chosen by the guide, and struggling to hear and understand what he was saying. When he was finished, we took off on our own with Ruth Wright's self-guide and spent the next two-and-one-half hours seeing and understanding the significance of things we had walked right past in the guided tour (and getting the correct information on things that the guide had provided incorrect or semi-correct information on). The Wrights (Ruth and her husband Ken) have spent years working with Peruvian archeological experts to explore, map, and understand the site and this book give you the fruits of their labors. Highly recommended.
I bought this book in preparation for going to hike the Inca Trail. Great info.
This book came in handy while at Machu Picchu. It was very helpful, and appeared accurate. We actually did have a guide, but we also had some members who could not handle the stairs all day. So we took the guided tour, then toured on our own with this guidebook. Worth the money, and I would recommend reading it before you get on the mountain. That way you can decide where you want to climb to and the not miss areas for your trip.
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