Ollantaytambo is one of the Sacred Valley’s two unmissable stops — the other being Pisac — and it’s the only Inca town where the original urban layout is still used today. For history, highland life, and the actual experience of walking an Inca street grid, it stands up to anything in South America.
A Historical and Archaeological Gem
The ruins above the plaza were a working temple-fortress — this is where Manco Inca won one of the few Spanish battles the Inca won. The hillside stacks massive stone terraces up to a half-finished Temple of the Sun whose six monoliths came, impossibly, from a quarry 6 km across the valley.
The Temple of the Sun at the top is aligned so that the June solstice sun hits it dead on — the kind of astronomical precision the Inca built into their religious sites. Partway down the slope, the Baño de la Ñusta (Bath of the Princess) is a ceremonial fountain carved from a single block, and still runs.
Ollantaytambo’s Unique Layout
The town below the ruins is Ollantaytambo’s quiet claim to fame. The Inca grid is intact — same blocks, same water channels running down the center of each street, same adobe-and-stone houses, just with modern families inside. Walk a few blocks east of the plaza and you’re on the oldest continuously inhabited Inca street in the Americas.
The weekly market in the plaza is one of the better in the valley — real textiles from the surrounding communities (less commercial than Pisac), ceramics from Charamoray, and the usual coca candies and roasted corn.
Views and Natural Beauty
The town is pinned between two ridges, so almost any direction you look is up — snow line on the Chicón glacier (5,530 m) on a clear afternoon, terraced slopes above the Pinkuylluna granaries on the other side. The Urubamba cuts through the valley floor and the train tracks run along it toward Machu Picchu.
Why Visit Ollantaytambo?
You get the archaeology, the Inca urbanism still in daily use, and the practical fact that it’s where you catch the train to Machu Picchu. Most travelers underweight Ollantaytambo, roll in for the train, and miss the town. Build in a night here — the sunset from the Pinkuylluna granaries is worth the stop.
Book Tickets Through Peruways.com
Ollantaytambo ruins entry is included in the Cusco tourist ticket (boleto turístico), but the train to Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley circuit are their own bookings. Peruways.com handles both plus hotel options in town if you decide to make Ollantaytambo your Sacred Valley base.
Lock in dates at Peruways.com.
Everything but the sunset over Pinkuylluna is handled.
