Sacred Valley Week

On arrival in Lima and after clearing customs, you’ll just walk across the road to the airport hotel for a transit night before continuing on to Cusco in the morning. If you want time to explore Lima, it is possible to add additional time before or after the trip.

Return to the airport terminal in the morning for your flight to Cusco (flight not included in the cost.) Your guide will meet you when you arrive at the Cusco airport, and you’ll head straight out of the city to make your way to the famous market town of Pisac.

Afterwards, head to the Awana Kancha Camelid Farm, where you will have the opportunity to see all four members of the South American Camelid family. You will also learn about the amazing variety within the alpaca and the different styles of wool they produce.

Your next stop will be the picturesque Andean village of Pisac, famous for its market and superb artisan stalls. You can wander and shop or, for the more energetic, climb to the extensive hilltop Inca ruins just outside town. You can follow a circular path along a well defined Inca trail past royal buildings, guard posts, terraces, tunnels, and irrigation channels. Depending on time, you may also visit a traditional bakery to try freshly baked bread and learn about the culinary guinea pig practice of Peru. Continue on to Urubamba for your overnight.

Today begins with a visit to the Chinchero church and ruins. Chinchero is a village famous for its colorful Sunday market and its incredible weavings. While there, visit a local cooperative and learn how the locals weave their intricate designs. Next, drive across the fertile plain of Chinchero, rich with grain, potatoes, and beans, and see the labor-intensive local farming techniques along the way.

From Chinchero head further into the Sacred Valley to visit the sites of Maras and Moray. Since Incan times, local people have collected salt from the terraces of Maras. This site is not on the main tourist trail, but the natural formation is spectacular. You’ll wind your way through the salt pans and take an easy walk down to the floor of the Urubamba River Valley. Along the way, you’ll see evidence of Incan crop experimentation at the circular agricultural terrace at Moray. Return to your hotel in Urubamba for another night stay.

Set out this morning on a scenic hike through the Sacred Valley that will show you lesser-known Inca ruins, bring you into traditional local communities, and also begin your acclimatization to higher altitudes. Your hike will start with a short, steep climb up to Puma Marca, a remarkably well preserved and extensive Inca ruin with spectacular views down the valley towards Ollantaytambo. Then follow an Inca trail along the steeply terraced valley back towards Ollantaytambo. Depending on the time of year, you may see people plowing with oxen or harvesting by hand. Or perhaps just the colorfully dressed locals walking down to town, from the communities above, where most still wear traditional clothing.

Ollantaytambo (aka, Ollanta), is remembered as one of the few places where the Spanish lost major battles during their conquest of the continent. Climb the 200 steps up a stone stairway to the top of the huge Incan fortress, where you will be rewarded with great views. The unfinished temple at the top was still being built when the Spanish eventually succeeded in conquering the area. This site offers an excellent example of Incan city planning – each cancha (block) had one entrance to the central courtyard, from which individual homes were entered.

Visit El Albergue Organic Farm for a Pachamanca lunch, a traditional way of preparing food in the Andes. In the absence of a stove, an oven is built out of stones, the stones are heated with a wood fire, and once brought to a very high temperature, the meat and vegetables are then carefully covered with the rocks. Herbs are then added and the whole mound is covered by wet sheets and finally a mound of earth. While the meal is cooking, you will be shown around this organic farm, working to sustainable methods to provide food for the Cafe Mayu Restaurant. After 45 minutes the meal is ready and you’ll have the pleasure of digging your delicious potatoes, yams, corn, fava beans, lamb, pork, alpaca, and chicken straight from the earth. You can enjoy your meal under a thatch roof in the middle of the farm with views of the Inca temple of Ollantaytambo, Mount Pinkulluna, and the Veronica Glacier. Food is served family-style accompanied by chicha, fresh salads, and a variety of sauces, including tasty uchucutas. Beer and wine are available upon request, and the farm offers its signature Matacuy as a complimentary digestif after the meal. This is made in the on-site distillery where you can also taste Caña Alta, a sugar cane spirit being distilled here in an attempt to revive lost traditions.

After lunch, take the 1.5-hour Vistadome train ride from Ollanta to Machu Picchu, the “lost citadel” of the Incas (baggage limit on PeruRail is 11 lbs.)  Be sure to read about Machu Picchu in advance to fully appreciate your guide’s expertise. Stumbled upon accidentally by archaeologists in 1911, it remains a mysterious site. There are no Spanish records, Incan legends, or oral histories that explain its exact purpose. Elegant ornamental stonework hints at the possibility of Machu Picchu’s importance as a ceremonial center.

On arrival in Aguas Calientes, also known as “Machu Picchu town”, you’ll check-in to the hotel and spend the remainder of the afternoon at leisure.

After a very early breakfast at the hotel, you’ll walk to the bus station for the 30-minute ride up to Machu Picchu Sanctuary. Your trip leader will give a two-hour guided tour of the evocative ruins, and then you’ll have the option of climbing the sheer Inca staircase of Huayna Picchu, a steep and vertically challenging hike that affords encompassing views of Machu Picchu and the surrounding mountain ranges (about a 2-hour hike). Afterwards, you’ll meet up with the guide again and return by bus to Aguas Calientes for a late lunch. The afternoon train ride from Aguas Calientes to Ollantaytambo takes about 1.5 hours, and then a private vehicle drives you back to Cusco (an additional 1.5 hours). On arrival in Cusco, you’ll be dropped off at your hotel for the night.

Today is the last chance on your adventure to explore Inca ruins. Your guide will lead you around four extraordinary sites near Cusco. Cusco was the head of the Incan Empire and was built in the shape of a puma. The city itself is the puma’s body, and the enormous Sacsayhuaman ruins represent the head and teeth. The largest and most impressive of Sacsayhuaman’s original rocks are still in place, though only about 20% of the entire site remains today. Tambo Machay, another smaller site, is known locally as “El Baño del Inca,” or the Incan bath, as it has beautiful ceremonial stone fountains and bathing pools.

Once down in the town, you’ll visit the Plaza de Armas and its impressive cathedral. From here you’ll continue on to Qoricancha Temple, once home to life-sized statues in solid gold.

In the afternoon, visit the Jakima Project of Chincheros at the Center for Traditional Textiles in Cuzco (CTTC). The Center was formed in response to concerns that valuable 2000-year-old textile traditions are in danger of being lost in our generation. The Jakima Project was created to engage as many children as possible from communities around Cusco to learn the basic skills of weaving and the designs native to their respective communities.

The evening will be free to explore Cusco on your own.

After breakfast, you will be transferred to the airport for your flight to Lima and take a connecting flight back home.

Optional Lima city tour if the flight is late at night: Enjoy a tour of the capital city where you’ll drive to the Plaza de Armas, the newly refurbished main square, giving you a chance to appreciate the majestic colonial architecture. See the Government Palace where Francisco Pizarro took up residence in 1538 and the cathedral/museum that houses Pizarro’s remains. You can also visit the Archbishop’s Palace with its beautiful balconies, the catacombs, and library of the San Francisco Church and Monastery, and Plaza San Marin. Finally, you might also choose to visit the Larco Herrera Museum, which has 45,000 pieces, mainly pottery, that were excavated by Peruvian archaeologist Rafael Larco Hoyle. After your tour, you will be transferred back to the airport for a late flight to begin your journey home.