Peru: Machu Picchu, Cusco and the Sacred Valley

1. Day 1: Arrive in Cusco, then down to Pisac and the valley

   Cusco airport (CUZ) to Pisac, then down the Sacred Valley to Urubamba

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Lunch in Pisac and welcome dinner
   • Stay in Sacred Valley (Urubamba)
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Cusco's Alejandro Velasco Astete airport (CUZ), most likely from Lima, and plan to land by about 11 am. Cusco sits at about 3,400 metres, so we do not stay: your See Sight Tours guide and our driver meet you in arrivals and we drive over the hill and down into the Sacred Valley, about an hour, with a stop at a viewpoint over the Urubamba River and its terraced fields. Lunch is a slow sit-down meal in Pisac, at about 2,970 metres, with time to walk the market square, busiest on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. In the mid-afternoon, once the morning day tours from Cusco have gone, we drive up to the upper entrance of the Pisac ruins and walk the gentle upper sector, where temples of fitted stone circle a carved ritual rock above curved terraces. Then it is about 45 minutes down the valley to our hotel near Urubamba, home for two nights. Welcome dinner is at the hotel or close by, and early to bed.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Cusco airport (CUZ) with your guide
   • Viewpoint stop above the Sacred Valley
   • Sit-down lunch in Pisac and time at the market square
   • Pisac archaeological site, upper sector, entry included
   • Welcome dinner

   Easier option: Skip the ruins: go straight from lunch to the hotel and rest. If your flight lands after about noon, we skip the ruins and drive to the hotel; very late arrivals are met and join the group at dinner.

   More active option: Walk down from the ruins to Pisac town on the Inca path through the terraces, about an hour, steep in places.

   Activity: About 1 to 1.5 hours on foot at the ruins, at about 3,400 metres, on stone paths. We aim to enter by about 3 pm, well before closing. Walk slowly and drink plenty of water today.

   

2. Day 2: Moray, the Maras salt pans and a free afternoon

   Urubamba up to Moray, across to the Maras salt pans and back down to the valley

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Sacred Valley (Urubamba)
   Day 2 details

   A slower start. At 9 am we drive about 50 minutes up a road of switchbacks to the high plateau above the valley, around 3,500 metres. Moray is a set of circular Inca terraces laid into natural hollows, the deepest about 30 metres from rim to floor, and many archaeologists believe the Incas used the change in temperature from level to level to test crops. Your guide explains the theories as we walk the rim path. From there a country road crosses farmland, with snow peaks of the Urubamba range on the skyline on a clear day, to the Maras salt pans: thousands of small pools stepped down a hillside, fed by one salty spring and worked by local families since before the Incas. Visitors now watch from a path above the pools, and the white and ochre patchwork is best seen from there anyway. We come down to the valley floor for a late sit-down lunch in Urubamba, and the afternoon is yours: the hotel garden, a nap, or a walk in town.

   Included

   • Moray terraces with your guide, entry included
   • The Maras salt pans, community entry fee included
   • Sit-down lunch in Urubamba

   Easier option: See Moray from the rim and the salt pans from the viewpoint, with no steep steps.

   More active option: Walk down from the salt pans to the valley floor on a footpath beside the pools and the stream, about an hour downhill, and the van meets you at the bottom.

   Free time: Afternoon free in the valley

   Activity: About 2 hours on foot at around 3,500 metres, mostly level paths at Moray and a stepped path at Maras.

   

3. Day 3: Ollantaytambo, then the train to Aguas Calientes

   Urubamba to Ollantaytambo, then the train down the Urubamba gorge to Aguas Calientes

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Aguas Calientes
   Day 3 details

   We pack an overnight bag, because the trains to Machu Picchu allow only a small one, and our vehicle takes your main bag on to the Cusco hotel. Then it is about 30 minutes down the valley to Ollantaytambo, where we reach the ruins at about 8:30 am, before most of the day tours from Cusco. Terraces climb steeply to the Temple Hill and its wall of six huge pink stone blocks, hauled from a quarry across the river. In 1537 Manco Inca held off a Spanish force here, one of the few times the Incas beat them in open battle. Below the ruins, families still live on the Inca street grid, with water channels running beside the lanes, and we walk it before a sit-down lunch in town. In the early afternoon the train runs about 1.5 to 1.75 hours down the Urubamba gorge, from dry hills into cloud forest. Aguas Calientes is a small town wedged in the gorge below Machu Picchu; the late afternoon is free, and we have dinner together and an early night.

   Included

   • Ollantaytambo archaeological site with your guide, entry included
   • Walk through Ollantaytambo's Inca town
   • Sit-down lunch in Ollantaytambo
   • Panoramic-window train to Aguas Calientes
   • Dinner in Aguas Calientes

   Optional experiences

   • The hot springs in Aguas Calientes

   Easier option: Stay on the lower terraces and in the town, without the climb to the Temple Hill.

   More active option: Climb the steep path on the other side of town to the Pinkuylluna storehouses for the view back across the ruins.

   Free time: Late afternoon free in Aguas Calientes

   Activity: About 2 hours on foot at Ollantaytambo, with about 200 stone steps up to the Temple Hill. The train allows a small bag only, about 5 kg on most services.

   

4. Day 4: Machu Picchu at opening, then back to Cusco

   Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu, then the train to Ollantaytambo and the road to Cusco

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Cusco
   Day 4 details

   This is the early start the trip is built around, and the reason we sleep in Aguas Calientes. We take one of the first buses up the zigzag road and walk in at 6 am, when the site is at its quietest and, in the dry season, the cloud lifts off the peaks. A licensed Machu Picchu guide, required by the site's rules, leads the visit on a circuit that passes the upper viewpoint for the classic view over the citadel and Huayna Picchu, then down through temples, plazas and terraces. Each ticket covers one circuit and one entry time, with no re-entry. After lunch in Aguas Calientes the afternoon is free: the hot springs, the site museum or a café by the river. A late-afternoon train runs back upstream to Ollantaytambo, about 1.5 to 1.75 hours, and our driver takes us about an hour and three quarters over the Chinchero plateau to Cusco, arriving in the evening. If the train runs late, the driver waits.

   Included

   • Machu Picchu entry at 6 am with a licensed site guide
   • Every bus ride between Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu
   • Sit-down lunch in Aguas Calientes
   • Panoramic-window train to Ollantaytambo, then our vehicle to Cusco

   Optional experiences

   • Huayna Picchu or Machu Picchu Mountain ticket (separate ticket, small daily numbers, booked with your trip)
   • A second same-day Machu Picchu ticket on another circuit, if available; your guide confirms it locally and it is paid separately
   • The hot springs in Aguas Calientes

   Easier option: Rest after the morning visit: the hot springs, the site museum near the bridge below the ruins, or a café by the river.

   More active option: Add a Huayna Picchu or Machu Picchu Mountain ticket, booked with your trip, a steep climb on stone steps for the view down over the citadel.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Aguas Calientes

   Activity: The longest day: about 3 to 4 hours on foot at about 2,430 metres on stone steps without handrails, an early start, and arrival in Cusco in the evening.

   

5. Day 5: Qorikancha, the Cathedral and home

   Cusco: Qorikancha, the twelve-angled stone, San Blas and the Plaza de Armas, then Cusco airport (CUZ)

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast
   Day 5 details

   After breakfast we walk to Qorikancha, the Inca Temple of the Sun, where Dominican friars built their monastery on top of curved Inca walls of fitted stone. From there your guide leads a slow walk up to Hatun Rumiyoc street and its twelve-angled stone, into the lanes of San Blas, the artisans' quarter, and down to the Plaza de Armas. Inside the Cathedral, built over an Inca palace, look for the colonial painting of the Last Supper with a roast guinea pig on the table. Cusco's old centre has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983. On a Sunday or public holiday Qorikancha opens only in the afternoon, so we start in San Blas, see the Cathedral when it opens at about 11 am, and add Qorikancha only if your flight allows. We are back at the hotel by about 12:30, and the hotel holds your bags until the transfer. The airport is about 5 km from the centre, around 20 minutes by road,. Most international flights leave from Lima, about 1 hour 20 minutes away, so book a Cusco departure after about 2:30 pm and allow at least four hours to connect in Lima.

   Included

   • Qorikancha, the Temple of the Sun, entry included (afternoon only on Sundays and public holidays)
   • Walk past the twelve-angled stone and through San Blas
   • Cusco Cathedral, entry included
   • Drop-off at Cusco airport (CUZ)

   Optional experiences

   • Extra nights in Cusco

   Easier option: For a morning flight, see Qorikancha only (or San Blas on a Sunday), or go straight from the hotel to the airport.

   More active option: With a flight after about 5 pm, drive up to Sacsayhuamán above the city after lunch; its entry is on the full tourist ticket included in the trip.

   Activity: About 2.5 hours on foot on Cusco's steep lanes at about 3,400 metres. Book a flight after about 2:30 pm to see everything.

   

Wildlife and weather: The dry season, roughly May to September, brings clear days, cold nights and the most visitors at Machu Picchu; Cusco is busiest around Inti Raymi on 24 June. The rains run from about November to March, heaviest in January and February, with afternoon showers, cloud over the ruins and occasional train disruption.

• Sacred Valley (Urubamba)2 nights
• Aguas Calientes1 night
• Cusco1 night