The Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu: The valley has long been the home of attractive colonial towns, isolated weaving villages, handicraft markets and lofty 10th and 11th century Inca Citadels of Pisac, Ollantaytambo and Urubamba. Visiting the Salt Mines and Moray terraces, which were made by building containment walls filled with fertile earth.
They were watered through a complex irrigation system. At the base of the terraces, there is a rainwater storage system. The entire system allowed for the cultivation of the Incas to grow over 250 types of vegetables.
Explore amazing ruins and the fabled Lost City of the Incas, Machu Picchu. The Inca City of the Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu is the articulating centre of its surroundings, a masterpiece of art, urbanism, architecture and engineering of the Inca Civilization. The working of the mountain, at the foot of the Huayna Picchu, is the exceptional result of integration with its environment, the result of a gigantic effort as if it were an extension of nature, highly recommended Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu tour.
Trip Overview
Our 2-day tour of Machu Picchu will take you on one of the most incredible train journeys of the world. Following the route of the Urubamba river, until the Forrest surrounding Machu Picchu, enjoy the remarkable landscape of the Andean mountains during your trip.
The tour starts with the hotel pick-up between 08:00 a.m. to 08:30 a.m. and then we head on our tourist bus to the northwestern part of the city through picturesque villages until we reach the viewpoint of Corao from where we will have a preliminary view of the entire Sacred Valley and the imposing snow-capped peaks that protect the place.
The first archaeological center that we will visit will be Pisac (Andean partridge) which we will access through a paved road. As we ascend, we will be able to appreciate the impressive Inca platforms that border the mountains, giving us the impression of being part of the mountains. The places we will visit inside Pisac will be the religious sector made up of temples, the urban sector, the Inca cemetery and finally the agricultural terraces. Then we will descend to the town of Pisac.
We will continue our journey to Ollantaytambo, making a stop in the town of Urubamba where you can have lunch (not included in the tour), before continuing the journey to Ollantaytambo ancient resting place and called as “The Inca city living “since you can still see houses with Inca bases inhabited by the inhabitants. The most important place is the Temple of the Sun which is in the highest part of the archaeological center. It is accessed through hundreds of stairs for which we will have to make a little effort, but it will be worth it since the view from this place is indescribable. We will end the tour returning to the city of Cusco visiting Chinchero, a beautiful town that houses platforms and a beautiful colonial church, which has impressive canvases and altarpieces from the Cusco school.
We will then board the train to Aguas Calientes at 19:04 or 21:00. The trip to Aguas Calientes takes approximately 2 hours. Once we arrive, our transfer to the hotel will be waiting for us. The guide will pass by the hotel in order to give you comprehensive information about the visit to Machu Picchu the following day.
The most important day of our trip is to get to know one of the 7 wonders of the world Machupicchu, and we have two ways to get there: The first is through the Inca Trail, this hike lasts 1 hour and 30 minutes of pure ascent. The second is by tourist bus, this short trip takes 30 minutes. People who wish to walk up the Inca Trail, should leave the hotel very early at 4:30 am to reach the Inca citadel of Machupicchu very early and appreciate the sunrise. And people who want to go up by car will have to take the first bus at 5:30 am to arrive early to Machupicchu and appreciate the sunrise which is a unique spectacle, then we can visit the Inca citadel of Machupicchu for 2 hours and 30 minutes approximately accompanied by a specialist guide who will explain about the historical legacy of the citadel of Machu Picchu, and the full description of this great and imposing attraction.
After the excursion and if you have the ticket you can climb the mountain of Huaynapicchu or Machupicchu Mountain, at the appropriate time you must descend from Machupicchu to Aguas Calientes by bus or walking so you can have lunch at leisure and board the train back to Ollantaytambo (2 hours by train) where we expect our transportation to the city of Cusco (2 hours by car).
