The Sacred Valley — Valle Sagrado — is a 100 km corridor along the Urubamba between Cusco and Machu Picchu. It’s a two-day stop that most itineraries now treat as mandatory, both for the archaeology and for the altitude acclimatisation (the valley sits around 2,800m, versus Cusco at 3,400m).
Peruways’ Sacred Valley tours cover the classics: Pisac (ruins and Sunday market), Chinchero (textile cooperatives on Inca foundations), Moray (concentric agricultural terraces, probably an Inca crop-testing station), Maras (pre-Inca salt pans still worked today) and Ollantaytambo (the only Inca town still on its original urban grid). All with MINCETUR-licensed guides.
Visit Peruways to book the valley day. The two-day version — overnight in Urubamba or Ollantaytambo — is the one we recommend; it also sets you up for the first morning train to Machu Picchu.
