The Sacred Valley runs between Pisac and Ollantaytambo, following the Urubamba River through the heartland of the Inca Empire. It’s where most of the pre-Columbian terraces, salt pans and fortress towns are concentrated.
Pisac is the eastern anchor: hilltop ruins, a Sunday artisans’ market, and some of the best preserved agricultural terraces in Peru. Ollantaytambo at the western end is a working Inca town where the original street grid is still in use, and the fortress above sheltered the last Inca resistance against the Spanish in 1537.
In between: Moray’s circular terraces (an Inca agronomic experiment with microclimates), the Maras salt pans (still worked by local families), and Chinchero’s weaving cooperatives.
The valley sits at 2,800 metres — about 600 lower than Cusco — which makes it the recommended acclimatisation base before Machu Picchu.
Peruways runs guided Sacred Valley days with English-speaking driver-guides, hotel pickups and lunch in Urubamba. Pair it with the Machu Picchu day for a clean two-leg itinerary.
