Sacred Valley
Pisac ruins
Pisac Market
Ollantaytambo village
Ollantaytambo Park

Sacred Valley

Sacred Valley of the Incas is the center of the ancient Inca empire.  It stretches about 45 miles along the Urubamba river between the city of Cusco and the ruins of Machu Picchu.  This is the site of the Ollantaytambo village, established about 500 years ago and the Pisaq Archeological site. The valley was one of the primary sites of  Incas corn cultivation and settlement.  Its also one of the lower elevation sites around Cusco so starting the tour from here helps reduce the altitude sickness as well.

We woke up to a beautiful morning in our Tunupa Hotel in the Ollantaytambo town, overlooking the ruins of the Sun Temple. Tourists have two options for stay in the Sacred Valley – Ollantaytambo village and the town of Urubamba.

Ollantaytambo is a tiny town, majority of which contains the historical Inca village of Ollantaytambo that is still inhabited by the local people. It has a small town square, a few hotels and small restaurants and the last train station before Machu Picchu.  Everything in it is practically within a 10 minutes walk on old cobblestone paths.

Urubamba is a much bigger town in comparison with lots of large resorts, restaurants and you would need some mode of transportation to get around.

We found staying in Ollantaytambo a very authentic experience, stepping back in time to touch a piece of Inca history.  The views of the ruins and the glaciers were breathtaking and the isolation from the larger town added to the atmosphere.

Sacred Valley – Pisaq Ruins

Our day was planned around an all day private tour of the Sacred Valley including Pisaq ruins, Pisaq market, a Peruvian traditional buffet lunch, and the Ollantaytambo village and the Sun Temple.

Pisaq Archeological site contains ruins of the old Inca architecture surrounded by terraced hillsides all around it that were used for cultivation of various crops like corn and potatoes. The hill surrounding the valley is a cemetery with about 3000 graves dug in the hillside. It had some fairly accessible dirt paths to the center and then a more challenging climb to the top.

The dirt path through the ruins and to the main square is about half a mile and is easy to walk for everyone from preschoolers to those people using walking sticks.  It is however only partially compatible with wheelchairs or a rolling device.

While at the ruins, the boys decided to go for the climb to the temple at the top while we hung around at the base admiring the still working plumbing and hanging steps.

Sacred Valley -Pisaq Market

Pisaq market is a famous local market near Cusco filled with traditional Peruvian handicrafts, products and souvenirs.  This is a great place visit for people of any age.  Looking through the colorful items to buy as gifts or souvenirs or just to try out and take pictures was a lot of fun.

There were local women weaving colorful Andean fabrics on the side of the road.  There were many shops with products like jewellery, hats, ceramics, weaved goods like scarves, and sweaters and some fun souvenirs like the Incas and the Spanish chess set here.

There were some modern chocolate and coffee shops that were great for a short break.  We got some Peruvian coffee beans to bring home which made some delicious coffee.

We also got to try some fresh baked chicken empanadas in a giant oven inside of a modern alpaca wool sweater shop.

There were not a lot of bathrooms in the market however some of the bigger stores selling sweaters or coffee shops had clean bathrooms towards one end of the long market.

 Sacred Valley – Ollantaytambo

Our wonderful guide, MaryLou, took us around the Ollantaytambo village as I could not manage the hike up the ruins on my ankle.  We walked through narrow streets and original rock walls from the Inca period. Though we didn’t see many locals around in the afternoon, local people live in these houses to this day.

We noticed that there are quite a few stray dogs or dogs without collars. All of them, however, looked well fed and cared for and were very friendly.  In the picture above, these two dogs decided to be part of our picture and would not go away!

And of course, no tourist place in Cusco or Sacred Valley would go without some traditionally outfitted Inca waiting to take pictures with tourists.  A tip of about 5 soles is expected and appreciated.

After the village tour, Yuri and Mathews decided to hike up the Ollantaytambo ruins to the Sun Temple.  This walk is for physically fit people with some stamina if they want to walk all the way to the Sun Temple. This is also where Rianna and I decided to call it a day and walk back too our hotel, Tunupa Lodge, for a well deserved rest.

Our day at Sacred Valley was everything and more than we ever imagined after seeing and reading about the ruins for the past several months. Nothing prepared us for the sheer awe of seeing these giant monolithic rocks, cut and placed perfectly with techniques that still hold them in place centuries later.

Also see: Traveling to Peru with kids