I WANT TO BE COMPLETELY TRANSPARENT. THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS, MEANING I GET A COMMISSION IF YOU DECIDE TO MAKE A PURCHASE THROUGH MY LINKS (AT NO ADDITIONAL COST TO YOU). PLEASE READ MY DISCLOSURE FOR MORE INFORMATION.
$5 Trip to Machu Picchu by Utilizing Credit Card Bonuses!
This is a guest post by Johnny from Financial Roadways.
Johnny has been able to go on some awesome vacations with his family by “Travel Hacking”. Travel Hacking is where you utilize credit card reward points to travel the world for free!!!
If you’re not familiar with credit cards and how to best utilize them for awards I suggest checking out the following links to learn more before signing up:
Let’s assume you’ve read a summary of the geography and recommended ways of travel when planning a trip to Machu Picchu. If you haven’t, check out this post! Also, check out Eric’s guide to Lima for Digital Nomads where he covers his side trip to Machu Picchu. I’ll also assume your favorite way to travel is by plane.
Step 1: Flights
American Airlines has the largest fleet in the USA and they happen to have great award availability using their credit card points.
Sign up for CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Mastercard®.
After you meet the spending requirements on this card, you’ll have over 80,000 AA miles. Those AA miles are redeemable for up to 2 economy round trip flights to Lima!
Earn 75,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles after
$5,000 in purchases within the first 5 months of account opening
Annual fee $99, waived for the first 12 months*
You can see the economy chart for AA here.
Economy flight to LIM
17.5k Economy MileSAAver – 35k Round trip per person + $72.79 in fees.
How about business class?
Who doesn’t like to travel internationally in comfort?
30k Business/First MileSAAver – 60k Round trip per person + $72.79 in fees.
Economy
So you’ve made it to Lima, now how to get to Cusco (CUZ)?
One of the local airlines is LATAM. Flights are readily available early mornings and evenings. The flights average $85 per person for economy and it’s going to be easiest to book this flight using cash.
Economy flights from ORD to CUZ totals:
35k AA Miles
~$155 cash out of pocket
If you happen to have points from a different airline or credit card, you can complete an easy search for award flights using Award Hacker.
Step 2: Hotels
Depending on how long of a trip you plan to take will determine how many points are required for you to stay. From your first flight, you arrive in Lima. I bet you’d love to try the local food and stay a night or two before continuing your journey to Cusco. Hilton has a selection that average 40,000pts per night.
Sign up for the Hilton Honors American Express Business Card.
This card comes with a 125,000 Hilton Honors (HH) bonus after $3,000 of spending in 3 months.
125,000 HH bonus after $3,000 spend in 3 months. $95 annual fee¤
Please consider using my referral links to sign up.
Once you’ve met the spending on this card, you’ll receive enough points for a minimum of 3 nights in Lima. I recommend using 2 for when you arrive and 1 for your departure.
Hotels in Cusco run in the price range of $40 – $150. For our example here, I’m going to assume the price per night is $75 and you need 3 nights. This brings our total to $225 for 3 nights in Cusco.
Hotel Summary
Lima – 3 nights in a hilton hotel = 120,000 HH points
Cusco – 3 nights @ $75/night = $225
Step 3: Cover the costs you couldn’t pay for in points
Sign up for the Chase Ink Business Preferred (CIP).
The CIP comes with an 80,000 Ultimate Rewards (UR) point bonus after spending $5,000 in 3 months. After meeting the minimum spending requirement, you’ll have over 85,000 UR points. The cash out total on this would be $850.
Spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months after account opening. $95 annual fee¤
Please consider using my referral links to sign up.
2 or more months later, Sign up for the Chase Ink Business Unlimited (CIU).
The CIU comes with a 50,000 UR bonus after spending $3,000 in 3 months. After meeting the minimum spend, you’ll have over 53,000 UR points.
The cash out total on this would be $530.
Spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months after account opening. $0 Annual Fee.
Please consider using my referral links to sign up.
Inca Trail
I recommend that you experience Peru’s Classic Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. The costs of a guided tour are $600+. Let’s use $800 as an average according to this guide.
After you’ve booked your flights, hotels, and tour, you’re left with food and transportation costs. Based on this blog post, your average costs will be $40/day. Since you won’t need this to be budgeted during your Inca tour, you’ll only need to account for the days you’ve booked a hotel. 5-6 nights brings our total to about $240 per person for the trip.
Cash and Tour cost summary:
Credit card cash out totals:
CIP $850
CIC $530
Inca Tour, Food, and Transportation costs:
$800 + $240 = $1040.
Final Breakdown:
AA Citi Business card – 75k AA Miles and $0 AF first year.
Hilton Honors Business card – 125k HH Points and $95 AF first year.
Chase Ink Preferred – 80k UR Points and $95 AF first year.
Chase Ink Unlimited – 50k UR Points and $0 AF first year.
Flight cost = 35k AA + $155 cash.
Hotel Costs = 120K HH + $225.
Trip expenses = $1040
Cash totals
Out of pocket costs
Amex HH $95 + CIP $95 + Flights $155 + Tour/Transport/Food $1040 = $1385
Credit card points cashed out after acquiring bonuses
CIP $850 + CIC $530 = $1380
Cash out minus our expenses:
$1380 – #1385 = -$5
Trip total = $5!!!!
Wait! You have leftover points!
45k AA miles – redeemable for almost 2 round trip domestic flights of 25k each
8k HH points – can be combined with cash for a discounted night at Hilton
Closing Thoughts
My hope is that this guide allows you to set a plan in place for your future $5 trip to Machu Picchu!
Remember that this is not a race, and being responsible with credit cards is important! Travel hacking is my favorite way to earn free and cheap vacations.
Always keep in mind that some of these cards carry an annual fee. You may question keeping a card after receiving your bonus. If you have no plans to keep a card open, I recommend closing at your one year anniversary. Closing them any time sooner may cause issues with opening cards at that bank in the future and it’s best to avoid that! You may want to consider keeping strategic cards open even though they have an annual fee, but it’s a personal decision at that point to which card brings you value.
For more details on travel hacking and free trips, check out Johnny’s page here.
- All About Van Life with Casey Hogan of Towing Wild Oats | NOF #85 - October 6, 2021
- Traveler vs Digital Nomad, Freedom and Balancing Work While Traveling with Rax Suen of Nomads Unveiled | NOF #84 - October 4, 2021
- Real-Estate Investing, Turnkey Rentals and How to Stop Trading Your Time for Money with Eric Martel of Martel Turnkey | NOF #83 - October 3, 2021
Best SEO Company says
Awesome post! Keep up the great work! 🙂