Ollantaytambo is the best-preserved Inca town in the Sacred Valley, still arranged on its original 15th-century street grid, and travellers tend to arrive planning to pass through and end up staying a night.
Peruways runs guided tours of the terraced fortifications that climb the hillside above the plaza. Pachacuti ordered the complex built in the 1440s; the unfinished Temple of the Sun, with its six monoliths of rose rhyolite, is the showpiece. The view from Temple Hill takes in the full valley and the Veronica range beyond.
Beyond the ruins, Ollantaytambo has a real local life: a weekly market, picanterías serving chicha de jora, and the sort of narrow cobbled streets you can wander in an afternoon.
It is also the main train hub for Machu Picchu, with several departures a day down to Aguas Calientes. Peruways can bundle the train, bus and entry ticket.
