Ollantaytambo, in Peru’s Sacred Valley, is the rare Inca town where you can still walk the original street grid — the oldest continuously inhabited layout in the Americas. Add the massive ruins above the plaza and the Spanish-era bits in the square itself, and you’ve got the Sacred Valley’s most complete history lesson in one small town.
Peruways runs guided day trips and overnight stays. The main ruins — the temple-fortress on the hillside — are where the Inca won one of their few successful battles against the Spanish; the half-finished Temple of the Sun at the top uses six 50-ton monoliths carried from a quarry 6 km across the valley.
The plaza market is less commercial than Pisac’s, which means better textiles and real conversations with the artisans. Peruways handles the transfer from Cusco by van or by train, and guides fill in the Pachacuti-era context on the way.
Build Ollantaytambo into the Sacred Valley loop at Peruways — ideally as the night before Machu Picchu, so you catch the morning train from the station right next door.
