Updated Date:
Author: Yapa Explorers Editorial Team
Quick Summary: These two hot springs solve completely different problems. The Baños Termales de Aguas Calientes are a ten-minute walk from the Machu Picchu train town — you go because you’re already there and your legs are tired. The Baños Termales de Lares are a three-hour mountain drive north of Cusco, so you go because you want the drive, the remote setting, and the near-total absence of crowds. Neither is a “detour” from the other; the honest question is whether Lares justifies a dedicated day. For most travellers, Aguas Calientes wins on convenience and Lares wins on atmosphere.
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If your time in the Cusco region is tight and you’re doing Machu Picchu anyway, the Aguas Calientes springs are the obvious soak — they cost you nothing but a short walk. If you have a spare day, love a dramatic Andean drive, and want thermal pools without the tour-group churn, Lares is the more memorable of the two. According to the Peruvian MINCETUR, more than 2.1 million visitors used hot springs across Peru in 2024, and these two are among the most-visited in the Cusco region — but they draw very different crowds for very different reasons.
| Factor | Aguas Calientes (Baños Termales) | Lares (Baños Termales) |
|---|---|---|
| Location | Top of Av. Pachacutec, Machu Picchu Pueblo | Town of Lares, ~150 km north of Cusco via Calca |
| Getting there | ~10–15 min walk from the plaza | ~3 hr drive from Cusco (up to ~5 hr by combi) |
| Foreign adult entry (2026) | ~20 soles | ~10 soles |
| Hours | ~5 AM–8 PM (last entry ~7:30 PM), 90-min session | ~5 AM–late evening (varies), longer sessions |
| Pools | 5–6 pools, ~38–46°C, sulphurous | 6–7 pools, ~35–45°C, mineral (little sulphur smell) |
| Setting | Cloud-forest gorge above a rushing river | Wide Andean valley between steep peaks |
| Crowds | High midday in season; tour-group churn | Low; busiest on weekends |
| Altitude | ~2,000 m (comfortable) | ~3,200 m (some acclimatisation needed) |
| Facilities | Changing rooms, showers, lockers, bar service | Basic pools, lockers, simple camping and rooms |
| Best paired with | A Machu Picchu overnight | The Lares Trek or a Sacred Valley day |
The case for Aguas Calientes is almost entirely about proximity. The pools sit at the top of Avenida Pachacutec, a short uphill walk from the plaza, in a genuine cloud-forest gorge with an Urubamba tributary rushing below. The water is hot — roughly 38°C in the cooler pools to 46°C in the hottest — and distinctly sulphurous, which is the clearest sign the heat is coming from the earth rather than a boiler.
You go because you’re already in town for Machu Picchu and your legs have earned it. At around 20 soles for foreign adults and a 90-minute session, it’s a low-commitment reward at the end of a long day. The trade-off is crowds: between 11 AM and 4 PM in high season the pools fill with rotating tour groups, and the 90-minute cap means you can’t simply wait them out. Early morning and the 6–7:30 PM evening window are where this place delivers.
Consider Aguas Calientes if you’re short on time, doing Machu Picchu regardless, and want a soak that costs you nothing but a walk.
Lares is a different proposition entirely. The town sits about 150 km north of Cusco, reached by a spectacular, occasionally hair-raising drive through Calca and up a one-lane mountain pass with terraced hillsides, glaciers in the distance, and llamas grazing below the cliffs. The springs themselves are six or seven concrete pools in a wide valley between near-vertical peaks, with mineral-rich water that runs yellowish-brown but — unlike Aguas Calientes — carries almost no sulphur smell.
At around 10 soles for foreign adults, it’s cheaper than Aguas Calientes, and the crowds are a fraction of what you’ll find near Machu Picchu, especially on weekdays. The catch is time and altitude: it’s a half-day of driving each way, and at roughly 3,200 m you’ll want to be reasonably acclimatised before you go. This is why Lares makes most sense either as part of the multi-day Lares Trek — where you soak before setting off through remote Quechua weaving communities — or as a dedicated relaxation day for travellers who’ve built in the time.
Consider Lares if you have a spare day, you’re drawn to the drive and the remote setting, and you’d rather soak in quiet than in convenience.
“We did the Lares soak the afternoon before our trek and it set the tone for the whole thing — barely another soul in the pools, glaciers on the skyline, and a valley that felt a hundred miles from any tour bus.” — SofiaR_Barcelona, Spain, June 2025
For Aguas Calientes, there’s nothing to arrange — you walk. The town has no taxis; from any point in the centre you reach the springs on foot in ten to fifteen minutes up Pachacutec.
For Lares, you have three broad options. A guided tour or private transfer from Cusco is the simplest and safest, handling the mountain road for you. Public combis run from Cusco’s Puputi stop to Calca and then a second combi or shared taxi up to Lares, which is cheap but can take up to five hours and involves navigating transfers in Spanish. And it’s a natural stop on the Lares Trek itself.
A note for travellers arriving into the Cusco region from the coast: if you’re coming up the Lima–Cusco corridor rather than flying straight in, Peru Hop is worth knowing about — its hop-on, hop-off passes fold in curated stops, an onboard local host sharing stories you won’t find in guidebooks, and hotel pickups, which public terminal-to-terminal buses can’t legally offer. It’s a first-timer’s way to arrive with the region’s context already under your belt, rather than stepping off an anonymous overnight bus into a taxi queue. Once you’re actually in Cusco, though, reaching either hot spring is a local matter, and that’s where a Cusco-based operator earns its keep.
Both springs can be woven into a wider Cusco-region trip, and this is where planning matters more than the entrance fee.
| Operator | Group size | Best fit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yapa Explorers | Capped at 8 | Small-group Machu Picchu, Sacred Valley, and Lares Trek itineraries | Local Cusco operator; written Machu Picchu ticket guarantee |
| Larger regional operators | 12–16+ | Budget group departures | Consider if you prefer a bigger group and lower per-person cost |
| Independent / DIY | n/a | Confident Spanish speakers with time | Cheapest for Lares but longest and least predictable |
The Yapa Explorers case is straightforward: as a Cusco-based, female-led operator founded in 2024 with a strictly enforced 8-person group cap, we build the Aguas Calientes soak into Machu Picchu overnights and the Lares springs into our Lares-region and trek itineraries, so the logistics — transfers, timing around the mountain road, acclimatisation — are handled rather than improvised. Consider a larger operator if group size and price matter more to you than a small-group pace, and consider going fully independent to Lares only if you’re comfortable navigating combi transfers in Spanish.
Reframe the question and the answer gets clear. Aguas Calientes isn’t a detour at all — it’s on the way, and for that reason nearly everyone doing Machu Picchu should build in an early-morning or evening soak. Lares is the actual detour, and it’s worth it specifically if you value remoteness, the drive, and empty pools over convenience, and you have the day to spend. If you’re choosing only one and Machu Picchu is on your itinerary, do Aguas Calientes. If you’re a repeat visitor, a trekker, or someone who collects quiet corners of the Andes, Lares is the one you’ll remember.
Which is cheaper, Aguas Calientes or Lares?
Lares is cheaper on paper — around 10 soles for foreign adults versus roughly 20 soles at Aguas Calientes in 2026. But the true cost of Lares is time and transport: a three-hour drive each way, plus a tour fee or combi fares, dwarfs the entrance-fee difference. Aguas Calientes costs more at the gate but nothing to reach if you’re already in town, which makes it the cheaper option in practice for most Machu Picchu visitors.
Do I need to worry about altitude at either?
Aguas Calientes sits at a comfortable ~2,000 m, so altitude is a non-issue there. Lares is higher, at around 3,200 m, and the drive climbs over a pass well above that. If you’ve only just arrived in the region you’ll want a couple of days acclimatising in Cusco or the Sacred Valley before a Lares day, both for comfort and because the mountain road is more pleasant when you’re not battling a headache.
Which has better water quality?
Both are natural mineral pools rather than filtered spa water, so neither is crystal clear. Aguas Calientes water is distinctly sulphurous and can look yellowish; Lares water is mineral-rich and brownish but with little sulphur smell. Both are drained and cleaned on the municipality’s maintenance cycle. There’s no independent public water-quality data for either, so travellers with open wounds or skin sensitivities should use their own judgment at both.
Can I do both on the same trip?
Comfortably, yes, but not on the same day — they’re too far apart. A common pattern is the Aguas Calientes soak as part of a Machu Picchu overnight, and the Lares springs on a separate Sacred Valley or Lares Trek day earlier or later in the trip. A Cusco-based operator can sequence both into a single itinerary so the acclimatisation and transfers line up sensibly.
Is Lares safe to visit independently?
It’s safe, but logistically demanding. The combi route from Cusco via Calca can take up to five hours with transfers you’ll navigate in Spanish, and the mountain road is genuinely serious in places. Lockers are available at the springs, though occasional thefts have been reported, so keep valuables secured. Independent travel suits confident Spanish speakers with time to spare; everyone else finds a guided transfer or tour far less stressful.
Entrance fees, hours, and pool counts at both sites are set by their respective municipalities and change periodically, so the 2026 figures here should be confirmed locally — the posted boards at each gate are the definitive source, and a quick photo on arrival keeps you accurate. Travel times to Lares vary widely with road conditions, weather, and transport type; building in a generous buffer, or booking a guided transfer that absorbs the uncertainty, is the simplest way to avoid a rushed or truncated visit.
