The 7 New Wonders of the World: Machu Picchu

On July 7, 2007, the world voted. More than 100 million people from every country took part in the largest popular vote in history on cultural heritage and chose the seven most extraordinary human-made works on the planet. Machu Picchu ranked among the seven winners alongside the Colosseum in Rome, the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal, Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Chichén Itzá, and Petra. It was the only site in South America to receive that distinction, and the news reached Peru as a national celebration.

The campaign and the vote

The New Seven Wonders of the World project was launched by the Swiss foundation New7Wonders, created by entrepreneur and filmmaker Bernard Weber. The initiative was based on the idea that the original list of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, compiled by Greek writers more than 2,000 years ago, was Eurocentric and left out most of humanity’s heritage. Of the seven ancient wonders, only one is still standing: the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt.

The selection process for the New Wonders lasted several years. An initial nomination phase brought together more than 200 candidates from every continent. A panel of experts reduced that list to 21 finalists. From that point on, the decision was left to the public: anyone in the world could vote online, by phone, or by text message, up to a set maximum number of votes per number or account.

The final result was announced at a ceremony in Lisbon on July 7, 2007, a date chosen for the numerical coincidence of 07-07-07. The vote was not based on any technical or academic evaluation criteria: it was strictly an expression of popular preference. That makes this recognition fundamentally different from UNESCO’s 1983 inscription, which did follow a rigorous technical evaluation process.

Why Machu Picchu made the final seven

Among the 21 finalists were monuments larger, older, or more globally visible than Machu Picchu. The Great Wall of China, the Colosseum, and the Taj Mahal are sites that had already been deeply embedded in the global travel imagination for decades and were known firsthand by millions of annual visitors. In 2007, Machu Picchu was still a relatively niche destination in terms of mass tourism compared with those monuments.

What helped Machu Picchu rise to the top of the vote was, in part, the campaign organized by the Peruvian government and civil society, which mobilized Peruvians inside and outside the country to vote on a massive scale. It was also the site’s unique combination of attributes: world-class Inca architecture, an extraordinary mountain setting, a discovery story with all the narrative ingredients of an adventure, and an atmosphere of mystery that no photograph can fully capture and that creates genuine curiosity among those who have not yet had the chance to visit.

The immediate impact on tourism

The effect of being named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World on visitor numbers was immediate and lasting. In the years before 2007, Machu Picchu received around 400,000 visitors a year. In the years that followed, that number grew rapidly and surpassed one million annual visitors before the 2020 pandemic.

That growth forced the Peruvian government to implement access-control measures that previously did not exist or were enforced only loosely. The system of timed-entry quotas, differentiated circuits, and baggage restrictions is in part a direct consequence of the increase in visitation that followed the 2007 designation. The popularity generated by the New Seven Wonders thus accelerated a regulatory process that UNESCO had been recommending for years.

The other six wonders and what Machu Picchu shares with them

The New Seven Wonders of the World share certain characteristics that help explain why they capture the collective imagination so powerfully and so consistently.

The Colosseum in Rome, inaugurated in AD 80, is the largest amphitheater ever built and the most visible testimony to the engineering and social organization of the Roman Empire at its height. Like Machu Picchu, it combines exceptional engineering with a historical weight that goes far beyond the archaeological record alone.

The Great Wall of China is the longest construction project in human history, with more than 21,000 kilometers of total length. Like the Inca Trail that leads to Machu Picchu, the wall is both an engineering feat and a system of territorial control and communication on a continental scale.

The Taj Mahal in Agra, India, built in the 17th century, is considered the most perfect expression of Mughal architecture and one of the most photographed monuments in the world. Like Machu Picchu, it has the ability to generate an immediate emotional response in those who see it for the first time, regardless of their cultural background.

Chichén Itzá in Mexico is the best-known example of Maya architecture and shares with Machu Picchu the distinction of representing pre-Columbian civilizations that developed sophisticated astronomical systems directly integrated into their buildings. The Pyramid of El Castillo at Chichén Itzá has solar alignments similar in purpose, though different in technique, to those of the Temple of the Sun at Machu Picchu.

Petra in Jordan, the Nabataean city carved directly into the red desert rock, shares with Machu Picchu the fact that it remained virtually unknown to the Western world until a European explorer documented it in the 19th century and turned it into a site of global interest.

Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, inaugurated in 1931, is the most recent of the seven and the only one that is not an archaeological site but a modern monument. Its inclusion on the list reflects the religious and cultural significance the symbol holds for Brazil and for the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking world.

The difference between a wonder of the world and a world heritage site

It is a common mistake to treat the two recognitions as if they were equivalent. They are different in origin, in process, and in their practical implications.

The designation as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World is the result of a popular vote organized by a private foundation with no connection to any intergovernmental body. It does not imply any conservation commitment, does not create legal obligations for the country that hosts the site, and does not establish any mechanism for international oversight. It is a symbolic recognition of the global public’s preference.

UNESCO World Heritage inscription is the result of a technical evaluation process carried out by a United Nations body according to rigorous criteria defined by an international convention signed by more than 190 countries. It implies formal conservation commitments for the Peruvian state, establishes periodic monitoring mechanisms, and can lead to international alerts if the site’s state of conservation deteriorates. It is a recognition with real institutional and legal consequences.

For Machu Picchu, the recognition that matters most in terms of its long-term protection is UNESCO’s 1983 inscription. The 2007 designation as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World expanded its global audience and accelerated its tourism popularity, but it did not add any new protection tools beyond those already in place.

How the recognition affects the visit today

Visiting Machu Picchu as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World has concrete practical implications. Demand for tickets is higher than for most archaeological sites on the planet. Inca Trail permits for the high season sell out six months or more in advance. Prices for trains and accommodations in Aguas Calientes in July and August reflect a level of demand that the 2007 recognition helped create.

That level of demand has also led to real improvements in visitor infrastructure. The system of differentiated circuits, which makes it possible to manage the flow of thousands of people a day without destroying the experience of those arriving in the first morning entry slot, is sophisticated and works. The range of transportation, lodging, and services in the Sacred Valley and Aguas Calientes is now notably better than it was in 2007.

Why it still feels like a wonder after you see it

There are places that photography and reputation exaggerate, and that in real life feel smaller or less impressive than the imagination had promised. Machu Picchu is the exception to that rule. Almost universally, first-time visitors describe the real experience as better than any photograph or prior description. The scale of the complex, the quality of the silence at 6:00 in the morning with the site nearly empty, the mist over Huayna Picchu Mountain, the perfect fit of the mortarless stones, and the feeling of being in a place that should not exist where it does create an impact that no screen can reproduce.

That is what makes the recognition as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World meaningful beyond the voting process that produced it. It was not the result of a marketing campaign. It was the result of more than 100 million people who knew the site or had seen it in photographs agreeing that it deserved to stand among the seven most extraordinary places humanity has built. And the vast majority of those who visit after that designation leave thinking the vote got it right.

Peru Sites takes you to the wonder of the world

At Peru Sites, we coordinate the train, the ticket, accommodations in Aguas Calientes, and an official bilingual guide for your visit to one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. If you want to hike the Inca Trail to arrive on foot, we also handle the permits.