The ruined city known as the “cradle of gold” was once a mountaintop refuge of Incan royalty, with elegant halls and plazas much like those of fabled Machu Picchu, just 50km away. Yet only a handful of tourists visit each day – those willing to undertake a two-day hike to reach its majestic solitude.

That is about to change: Peru’s Government has approved what will be the nation’s first aerial tramway. Bridging the deep canyon of the Apurimac River, it will make Choquequirao reachable in just 15 minutes from the nearest highway.

The five-kilometre-long cable car is designed to whisk 400 people an hour in each direction nearly a kilometre above the river.

The President of the Apurimac State Government, Elias Segovia, anticipates the $45 million tramway will attract about 3,000 tourists a day after it opens in late 2015.

“This is going to generate tourist services. It will generate great investment in hotels, restaurants and other amenities,” he said.

The idea is to shift some of the tourist burden from Machu Picchu, where authorities have a limit of 2,500 daily visitors and where reservations are now required for people who wish to hike the famed Inca Trail to the ruins.

Currently, most visitors to Choquequirao must fly to Cuzco, the former Inca imperial capital, and then drive four hours on mountain roads prone to landslides and flooding.

Then it is another 12 to 16 hours on foot – little wonder it gets only about five visitors a day.

“When we went there it was the two of us and the two rangers,” said Jeff Widman, a 27-year-old internet entrepreneur from Menlo Park, California, who trekked there with his wife, and continued on to Machu Picchu.

Choquequirao, which means “cradle of gold” in Quechua, is believed to be the last refuge of Incan rulers who fled Cuzco after its leader, Manco Inca, was defeated by Spanish conquistadors.

It is draped over the fold of a lesser mountain in the shadow of Salcantay peak, surrounded at 3,030m by steep precipices.

Its buildings and irrigation canals meticulously hewn into rock are as well-preserved as those of Machu Picchu, its “top-of-the-world” views equally spectacular.

Only about 30 per cent of Choquequirao has been cleared for tourism. The rest, for now, remains covered in vegetation. David Ugarte, regional director of culture in Cuzco, predicts the cable car will open up to broader tourism not just Choquequirao but also other archaeological sites in the region.

It is the first of 24 that President Ollanta Humala envisions building in each of Peru’s states to boost tourism.

Only about 30 per cent of Choquequirao has been cleared for tourism. The rest, for now, remains covered in vegetation

But not everyone is happy about it. Arturo Almiron, of the travel agency Tours a Cuzco, believes it will put off a certain kind of tourist who wants to be thrown back spiritually to the era when the city was the Inca capital, to watch condors soar in the quiet stillness of untrammelled hills.

“Cuzco’s very character is in the preservation of its historical centre and archaeological sites,” he said. “If we build a tramway, that preservation is altered. A touch of modernity is added that isn’t very attractive. Authenticity is lost.”