Which country is home to Machu Picchu?

Machu Picchu is in Peru.

The celebrated Inca site stands high in the Andes above the Urubamba Valley in Peru's Cusco Region. Built in the 15th century, it is widely associated with the Inca ruler Pachacuti and includes terraces, plazas, temples, and carefully fitted stone structures. Its location sits roughly 2,430 metres above sea level.

Machu Picchu was probably a royal estate or ceremonial and administrative centre, rather than the capital of the Inca Empire. The empire's political capital was Cusco, farther southeast. The site's dramatic mountain setting and sophisticated drainage and agricultural terraces helped it survive heavy seasonal rainfall.

The outside world learned of the ruins through Hiram Bingham's 1911 expedition, although local people already knew of the site. UNESCO added the Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu to its World Heritage List in 1983. Peru's famous landmark is sometimes confused with Bolivia or Chile because all three countries share the broader Andean cultural and geographic region, but Machu Picchu is specifically Peruvian.