Magical Cusco and Machu Picchu

ITINERARY

• DAY 1: CUSCO CITY TOUR

Reception at the airport and Free Morning. City Tour: We start the tour with the pick-up at 1:30 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. We visit the Koricancha Temple and 8 km from the city we visit the 4 ruins: Sacsayhuaman, Qenqo, PucaPucara, and Tambomachay.

The Cusco city is one of the most visited places in the world due to the number of important archaeological centers, Inca walls, colorful costumes, churches built on Inca palaces, citadels lost in the heights of the Andes, legendary roads, and all the beauty of a glorious past that surrounds the visitors who arrive at the imperial city of the Incas.

Cusco is the sacred city of the Incas and the Archaeological Capital of the Americas, that is why we have prepared this tour for you of a day trip that takes place in the afternoon, where we will visit the most representative places of the ancient capital of the Inca empire.

Koricancha: We will discover the Religious center known as the “Temple of the Sun” where the impressive engineering used in its construction is highlighted.

Sacsayhuamán: We will be impressed with a fortress of monumental stones and excellent architecture, located 3 km. from the city of Cuzco.

Qenqo: We will follow our steps to this ceremonial and ritual center, where sacrifices were made and tributes were paid to ancient forces.

PucaPucara: Formerly known as a Tambo, it is a lookout post along the Inca trails.

Tambomachay: The ceremonial center for the worship of water, located 7 km from the city of Cusco, traditionally known as the place of the waters, is another of the stops that cannot be missed on our tour.

• DAY 2: CUSCO – SACRED VALLEY OF THE INCAS – CUSCO

Departure at 08:00 a.m. by Tourist Bus to the Sacred Valley. – Approximately one hour of the route we will find the archaeological site of Pisac. Guided tour of the Inca site, we will descend on foot to the small town of Pisac and you will have the opportunity to visit the Typical Market. Buffet lunch in Urubamba. Visit the Inca city of Ollantaytambo.

Pisac: At the entrance of the Urubamba Valley in Pisac, a magnificent mestizo town where you can distinguish the old neighborhood (archaeological site) from the modern part with its colonial characteristics. The main attraction of Pisac is the traditional indigenous market, where we will find a great variety of typical objects of the region, made of cloth or ceramics. We will also admire the typical costumes of the region, quite colorful and worn by the local people. Additionally, we will be able to visit the old colonial church of Pisac, where masses are still celebrated in Quechua on Sundays, attended by local residents and “varayocs” (local authorities from different cities). We will end our visit to Pisac with a look at the interesting irrigation system for the fields and the fabulous astronomical observatory from Inca times.

Urubamba: To go to Urubamba we will pass through the towns of Coya, Lamay, Calca, and Yucay, observing beautiful flora and fauna during a 45-minute tour. At the end of the trip, we will arrive at the city of Urubamba, located in the heart of the Sacred Valley, in the middle of a fairly comfortable and fertile area that constitutes an important pre-Hispanic agricultural center. We will take advantage of this pleasant atmosphere to have lunch in a cozy typical restaurant.

Ollantaytambo: In the afternoon we will go to the Ollantaytambo region, also known as “Valle del Tambo”. This is the only “living” Inca city, that is, the only one inhabited, and it extends along the Vilcanota River, reaching Machu Picchu. We will visit the famous fortress of Ollantaytambo, which stands out in the valley, where we will see some of the most imposing constructions of the Inca empire.

Chinchero: On the way back to the city of Cusco we will stop to visit Chinchero and its small chapel. This town, like Pisac, is known for its traditional market; however, the Chinchero market, although smaller, is richer in tradition and offers a greater variety of textiles. Finally, we will return to Cusco, where we will leave you in your accommodations.

• DAY 3: CUSCO – MACHU PICCHU – CUSCO

We will start this tour very early, picking you up from the hotel around 4:00 am. to go by tourist transport to the train station and make a captivating trip of three and a half hours to Machu Picchu, also known as “The Lost City of the Incas”.

We will arrive at the “Machu Picchu train station, and immediately we will get on a bus that will take us on a 30-minute trip, ascending a zigzag path, where we will finally arrive. to the incredible Machu Picchu. The excursion includes a guided tour of approximately 2 hours in the citadel. During the visit, we will visit the most important sites around Machu Picchu. After a guided tour, we will go back to Aguas Calientes town in order to have lunch before boarding our return train. In the afternoon, at approximately 6:30 p.m. We will board our train towards the town of Ollantaytambo, where a bus will wait for us to return to the City of Cusco, which we will arrive at approximately. 10:00 p.m.

• DAY 4: MARAS AND MORAY

Breakfast at the hotel. – Departure at 08:40 a.m. by bus to Maras and Moray. – Visit the archaeological center of Maras, the salt flats of Maras, and Moray. – Return to Cusco approx. 2:00 p.m. – Lunch and free afternoon. Does not include: Lunch and dinner.

Moray, at first glance, seems like a kind of amphitheater made up of several circular platforms, but in reality, it is an agricultural experimentation center from the Inca era. Next to Moray we have the impressive salt exploitation complex. From Maras, we will visit the salt mines along a bridle path where there are animals carrying sacks of salt.

Moray Ruins: Discovered in 1930, they are located at 3,450 meters above sea level, and in them, we can find testimonies of pre-Hispanic settlements, including Inca vestiges. The ruins of Moray are made up of circular platforms that correspond to agricultural embankments with a complex irrigation system, which reached the three sectors that make up the complex. The Quechuas call these areas “muyus” and in its largest hole, the depth is 150 meters. The average height of the platforms is 1.80 m. Moray was built during the heyday of the Inca empire and was then a center for agricultural experimentation, on whose platforms several microclimates were obtained.

Town of Maras: This friendly town still retains much of its colonial architectural beauty. Extraordinary portals with fine stone carvings can be seen, as well as structures with low-relief sculptures.

Maras Salt Flats: It is a small brine spring worked with very elementary means by a fraction of the population of “Maras” and “Pichingoto”. These archaeological remains reveal that this resource was already known and used in pre-Hispanic times, and may have been one of the many sources of salt supply for the Inca population. The current technique for extracting salt is very similar to that used for nine hundred years or more. During all these centuries this technology has been preserved, which consists of a true work of hydraulic engineering, but in miniature, since the pools have relatively small dimensions, built as platforms on one of the slopes of the ravine. The extraction is seasonal, it is only carried out in the dry season from May to November or early December. The property of the pools is given mainly by inheritance.

• DAY 5: CUSCO

At the appropriate time, we will have our last transfer to the Cusco airpor