We’ll meet you at your hotel in Cusco for an orientation before your full day tour of Sacred Valley. The meeting will be at 5:00 PM the evening before your day trip begins.

Our Classic Sacred Valley Tour begins at 7:30 AM, to avoid the crowd! Our English-speaking guide will pick you up from your hotel lobby. We will begin the day by traveling in a private vehicle from Cusco on the road that winds around the mountains towards the Sacred Valley of the Incas.

After driving for 45 minutes through colorful small towns, we make our first stop either at the Alpaca Farm or Ccochahuasi Animal Sanctuary to visit and observe some unique Andean animals. We will then continue to one of the famous lookout point known as El Mirador “Taray”. From there, we will be able to see the Sacred Valley, the Urubamba River — The source of the longest river in the world “the Amazon River”, and gain some insight into Inca history.

The Sacred Valley of the Incas was one of the main areas the Incas settled. There is an unusual abundance of fertile plains in this high area of the Andes. You will also witness vast contour terracing and irrigation channels left behind by the Incas.

Later on, we will drive towards the ruins of Pisac. Here, you will explore, witness, and learn about Inca culture. You will see amazing works of stone art and impressive agricultural terraces. After exploring, you and your guide will drive back to the lower town of Pisac to stop at a bustling handicraft market. After you spend some time walking around the market bargain hunting, we will meet to continue driving along the Urubamba River (Wilcamayu River) for about one hour to reach Urubamba where we will enjoy a typical lunch at a local restaurant.

We continue on to Urubamba where we stop for you to buy lunch.

After lunch, we will continue driving towards Ollantaytambo archeological site, we will visit the ruins, an important area of Incan construction, built during the Inca’s heydays. This is an extraordinary Inca site because you can find the temple of the sun, which is aligned with the nearby mountains to track important astronomical events including solstices, and rock formations representing the Inca god, Wiracocha.

On our return, we quickly visit the famous church and archeological site in Chincheros, arriving to Cusco at about 6:00 pm 6.30 pm.

The entrance fee to the archaeological and tourist sites are not included. Please note that you will need to purchase a tourist pass to enter the sites on this tour. You can purchase a partial ticket pass (Boleto Turistico Partial) whose cost is PEN 70 Peruvian soles (about USD 20 per ticket) which allows you to access only four historical sites in the Sacred Valley like Pisac, Ollantaytambo, Moray, and Chinchero.

However, if you plan to visit historical sites in both Cusco and the Sacred Valley, we recommend you purchase the general admission ticket (Boleto Turistico General) whose cost is PEN 130 Peruvian Soles (about USD 40 per ticket), this ticket allows you to visit 14 historical sites, which are located in Sacred Valley, Cusco (Sacsayhuaman, Q’enqo, Puca Pucara, and Tambomachay) Southern part of Cusco, and some museums in Cusco city. The general tourist ticket is valid for 10 days.

The Maras salt ponds ticket is not part of the boleto turistico parcial or boleto turistico general (partial or general ticket), this ticket should be purchased at the entrance of the same place, whose cost is PEN 10 Peruvian soles (about USD 4 per ticket).

The Cathedral and Q’oricancha (Temple of the Sun) are separate entrance tickets and are PEN 25 Peruvian soles (about USD 8 per ticket) and PEN 15 Peruvian soles (about USD 5 per ticket).

Important Note: It is not necessary to purchase the Cusco Tourist Tickets (either partial or general) in advance, as you can get it at the first site we visit on the tour.

While we expect the tour will run as the itinerary describes. Participants should accept that there is the possibility of changes, being necessary liable to local conditions, e.g, strikes, natural disasters, these changes might be at the discretion of your travel company.