Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu
Eight days in the Andes, acclimatising downhill rather than up.
Ancient Wonders · 8 days · Apr, May, Jun, Sep, Oct
The Cusco week done in the order your body wants rather than the order the flights suggest: down into the Sacred Valley first at 2,800 m, three days working through Pisac, Ollantaytambo and Moray, then Machu Picchu, and only then back up to Cusco at 3,400 m for the city. Everything after day one is at a lower altitude than the airport you landed at.
Day by day
- Day 1
Land and descend
Straight out of Cusco and down into the valley. Do not sightsee today.
14:00Urubamba valley viewpoint
The one stop worth making on the drive down, and it is a stop rather than a walk.
Cusco airport sits at 3,310 m. The valley floor is around 2,800 m, and the difference is felt within an hour.
- Day 2
Pisac
The terraces above the town, then the market below them.
08:30Pisac archaeological park
Agricultural terracing on a scale that makes the point about Inca engineering before Machu Picchu does.
Drive to the upper gate and walk down; walking up from the town is two hours of switchbacks.
12:30Pisac market
Daily rather than the Sunday-only version most guides describe, and better for it.
- Day 3
Moray and Maras
The terraced bowls, the salt pans, and a slow afternoon.
09:00Moray
Concentric terraces with a fifteen-degree temperature gradient top to bottom — an agricultural laboratory, five hundred years early.
11:30Maras salt pans
Three thousand salt pans fed by one spring, worked continuously since before the Inca.
Walking between the pans is no longer permitted; the viewing terraces are.
- Day 4
Ollantaytambo
The fortress, the town grid, and an early night before the train.
08:00Ollantaytambo fortress
The only place the Inca beat the Spanish in a pitched battle, and the six monoliths at the top are unfinished.
Two hundred steps to the temple terrace. Go at opening; the Machu Picchu day-trippers arrive at ten.
11:30Ollantaytambo old town
The oldest continuously occupied street plan in South America, and you walk it in twenty minutes.
- Day 5
Machu Picchu
First bus up, the citadel circuit, down in the afternoon heat.
06:00Machu Picchu citadel
It is worth the queue, and the six o'clock entry means an hour before the ten o'clock trains land.
Tickets are timed, circuit-specific and sell out weeks ahead — buy before you book flights. Circuit 2 is the classic view.
10:30Inca Bridge
A cut-stone path across a cliff face with a removable timber span, and almost nobody walks out to it.
A flat twenty minutes from the main site, and a separate sign-in.
- Day 6
Up to Cusco
Train back down the valley, then the climb to the city.
16:00Qorikancha
A Dominican convent built directly on the Inca sun temple, with both still visible — the clearest object lesson in the city.
- Day 7
Cusco
The city on foot, now that the altitude is manageable.
09:00Sacsayhuaman
Blocks of over a hundred tonnes, fitted without mortar, above the city they defended.
3,700 m — higher than anywhere else this week. Take it slowly.
14:00San Blas
The artisan quarter, and the twelve-angled stone is in a wall on the way up.
17:00San Pedro Market
The city's working market, and the best juice counter in Peru.
- Day 8
Out
One square, then the airport.
08:30Plaza de Armas
Ten minutes from the airport road, and the cathedral opens at ten.
Questions
- How long is the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu itinerary?
- The Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu itinerary runs 8 days and covers 14 stops across Cusco, Ollantaytambo, Aguas Calientes.
- When is the best time to do the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu itinerary?
- Apr, May, Jun, Sep, Oct is the best window for the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu itinerary.
- What happens on day one of the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu itinerary?
- Day one is land and descend: Straight out of Cusco and down into the valley. Do not sightsee today.
Sources
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