Driving in the Sacred Valley
Bite-sized trip
Day 1 – Cusco – Sacred Valley
You will be picked up at your hotel around 08:00 by car for your private tour to the Sacred Valley. From Cusco it is a few hours drive to the Sacred Valley. Your driver will plan the best route for you so that you can see as much as possible and make the most of your time.
On the way to Pisac you will pass several Inca ruins and valley villages during the ride you will get a good impression of daily life here. Passing herds of sheep, children on their way to school, men with donkeys and a llama farm. If you want to stop to take a picture, enjoy the view or continue on foot towards the Salinas, let your driver know.
The first stop of the day is the famous local market of Pisac. Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday are the big market days, mostly aimed at tourists however you get a good impression of a local village with people in traditional clothing. On the main square and in the side streets there are various stalls where they sell products, such as food, jewellery, clothing and souvenirs.
Depending on what time you finish wandering around the market, you can first visit the ruins of Pisac. You can drive quite a way up. It is then a twenty-minute walk to the Temple of the Sun. There you have a view of the terraced valleys that are separated by a mountain ridge. After this visit you can have lunch in the village of Pisac before continuing to Cusco. It is also possible to buy a ‘boleto turistico’ in Cusco, with which you pay for access to various archaeological excavations and attractions during your time here.
After this you continue through the Sacred Valley to Moray. Here the Incas built terrace complexes in the form of an amphitheatre. It is believed that this used to be an agricultural laboratory and various crops are still grown there. You will also find picturesque colonial houses and a beautiful view of the Cordillera mountain range.
The last stop of the day is the nearby Salinas, or the salt terraces of Maras. Since the Inca period, these approximately 4000 basins have been used for salt extraction. The water flows from a salt-containing source into the terraces. The salt is extracted in the dry months through the natural evaporation of the water. During such a dry period, it takes another four to five weeks before a basin is full of salt and can be sold. You have time to walk criss-cross through the basins and based on the colour you can see whether the salt is already dried.
Around four o’clock in the afternoon you get back in the car and drive to Urubamba where you will stay for the next two nights. You will stay in a small-scale and atmospheric accommodation with a beautiful garden and a view of the surrounding mountains. In addition to the relaxed atmosphere and delicious dishes that are served here with vegetables from their own garden.
Day 2 – Urubamba – free time
Today you can choose what you want to do. Due to its favourable location, the climate here is usually favourable and you may even be able to enjoy the sun in shorts. We recommend a visit to the nearby Ollantaytambo. In this village, also called Ollanta, an important defence fortress of Machu Picchu stood during the Inca era. The enormous boulders that the Incas used here are almost as impressive as the view over the village and the surrounding valley.
Day 3 – Ollantaytambo – Aguas Calientes
The next day you will be taken from your hotel to the small station in Ollantaytambo. Here trains leave for Aguas Calientes, also called Machu Picchu Puebla. The journey takes two hours on the way you have a view of the rugged Andes mountains. Aguas Calientes is very busy as everyone who visits Machu Picchu passes by here on arrival you will have time to explore the village. There are many restaurants in a row along the track where you can have lunch and in the afternoon you can paddle in hot springs or take a walk in the mountainous area to a waterfall. You will spend the night in a simple hotel in the centre of Aguas Calientes.
Day 4 – Aguas Calientes – Machu Picchu – Cusco
Today you will set off early to avoid the biggest crowds in Machu Picchu and you can visit the ruins in peace and quiet. Day visitors from Cusco do not arrive until around 10:30, which gives you plenty of time to take in the atmosphere in peace. Buses leave from the Aguas Calientes station to Machu Picchu run from 05:30, and it is a steep 20-minute climb. The cloud cover this early only reveals fragments of the ruins. Only when the clouds lift can you get an idea of the enormous size of the excavations.
Walking among the remains of what must have been a bustling city, you slowly get a good idea of what life was like here in the past. The agricultural terraces, temples, farmhouses and remarkable building structures used show how advanced the Incas were back then.
However, there is much uncertainty about the origin, function and demise of Machu Picchu. Scientists and archaeologists still have various theories about the Inca Empire and none of them have ever been proven. What exactly happened here and what caused the city to become an abandoned ruin will always remain a mystery. What is certain is that the Spanish never found this city and that it was only in 1911 that an archaeologist (Hiram Bingham) stumbled upon it by chance.
It is also possible to climb the Huayna Picchu, the prominent mountain next to Machu Picchu. To climb it, you have to pay an additional entrance fee that we do not arrange for you as standard. We found the view uphill towards the Sun Gate just as beautiful and most of our travelers skip this tough climb uphill. If you would like to climb the Huayna Picchu, please let us know in advance. Just like a visit to Machu Picchu, only a limited number of travelers are allowed to climb this mountain per day and it is important to book in advance.
Your visit to Machu Picchu will last until the end of the morning, the buses will be ready to take you back to Aguas Calientes. Here you will have time to have a quiet lunch and at 15:30 you will board the train to Cusco.
Accommodation
