Ollantaytambo is the best-preserved Inca town in the Sacred Valley — the only one still laid out on its original 15th-century grid, with the irrigation channels still running down the cobblestone streets.
Peruways runs guided tours of the terraced fortress above the plaza. The complex was Pachacuti’s; the showpiece is the unfinished Temple of the Sun, with six monoliths of pink rhyolite hauled across the valley from a quarry at Kachiqhata. From Temple Hill the view takes in the full Urubamba valley and the Veronica range beyond.
The town itself is worth a half-day. Market stalls around the plaza, a few picanterías serving chicha de jora from the house, and the narrow callejones that run between the Inca walls.
It is also the main launch point for Machu Picchu — most trains to Aguas Calientes leave from Ollantaytambo station, 90 minutes down the gorge. Peruways bundles the train, bus and citadel ticket.
