The Sacred Valley — Valle Sagrado del Urubamba — runs 60 km between Pisac and Ollantaytambo, from 2,970 m down to 2,792 m. It was the Inca Empire’s agricultural heartland and still produces most of the maize eaten in Cusco today.
Pisac at the eastern end sits above a Sunday market and a terraced hillside fortress with Inca tombs cut into the opposite cliff. Ollantaytambo at the western end is the only Inca town still laid out on its original grid, and the fortress above the plaza is where Manco Inca defeated a Spanish cavalry force in 1537 by flooding the terraces. In between, Chincheros runs a weaving cooperative where you can watch textiles dyed with cochineal and indigo.
The valley is also one of the better places to acclimatise before Machu Picchu — the air at 2,800 m is noticeably thicker than at 3,400 m in Cusco.
Peruways runs the Sacred Valley circuit as a day-trip from Cusco or as a two-day with an overnight in Urubamba. Licensed Ministry of Culture guides, hotel pickup, site tickets and lunch included.
