Who needs Machu Picchu? Inca wonders you've probably never heard of

Machu Picchu is a victim of its own success (or propaganda). The photogenic citadel, promoted by its American “discoverer” Hiram Bingham after he was taken there by a local farmer in 1911, has become all those digital-age clichés we are hopefully already learning to shun: a must-see, a poster-child, an Instagram hotspot.

The images people – including mainstream media – post are basically fakes. They crop out the ponchoed coach parties, the queues to see key spots, the convoys of buses climbing the zigzagging entry road, and the streams of backpackers arriving at the Sun Gate after trekking the (also mobbed) “Classic Inca Trail”.

Last week, it was announced Peru will go ahead with a major new airport project in Chinchero, with a view to freighting in shedloads of foreign visitors who want to tick a box, but not bother seeing Lima, Arequipa, Titicaca or even Cuzco. It’s a disdainful gesture to other destinations and to the growing global consensus that we need to slow down, avoid “overtourism” sites and be kinder to our planet.