Itinerary: 6 days in Cusco and the Sacred Valley

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There is so much to see and do in this Peruvian wonderland that I thought there was no way we could fit it into a 6 day itinerary. But we did!

This Cusco itinerary is perfect if you are on a VERY tight timeline. There is definitely more to see and do but this plan covers the must see locations in the most efficient way so you can fit as much in as possible. Be aware that you will have lots of early morning starts in the Sacred Valley and combined with the altitude this will make you VERY tired.

GENERAL INFO

Getting there and away:

I definitely suggest getting to and from Cusco using Peru Hop. It is affordable and helps you to see much more of the country than you would have had you flown to Cusco from Lima. There are some cool places in Peru that you can discover with Peru Hop: see my post here. You can also use Peru Hop/Bolivia Hop to travel from here to La Paz in Bolivia. However, flying is also an easy option if you are lacking in time or to cover one way of the journey.

Accommodation:

Cusco is not cheap but I recommend getting a place as close to the hustle and bustle as you can. Also beware of hills – your accomodation may be super close to the main square but it is likely up a hugre hill and takes a lot longer to walk than expected. I got fit walking around Cusco though!

As always I recommend booking.com – it has the best search function and you can easily see the location and narrow down hotels by a lot of different features.

Food:

• La Boheme: A French Creperie in the centre of Cusco with both sweet and savoury crepes. A great option if you are looking for a light meal.
• Kion: A Chifa restaurant in central Cusco. Very pricey but has great cocktails.
• El Albergue: Traditional Peruvian Cuisine in a beautiful setting at Ollantaytambo train station.

Top Tip:

Drink Coca tea and suck Coca candies to prevent Altitude Sickness. Altitude Sickness is no joke and affects everyone so differently. You really have no idea if its going to hit you or not and how badly and it can be serious stuff. Neither me nor my husband felt it too much other than being a little more tired and out of breath (and even that was only on Rainbow Mountain at 5,000 metres above sea level) but we had a woman on the bus to Cusco with us who passed out in Arequipa and need to be taken to hospital.

DAY 1

On your first day in Cusco take some time to get acclimatised to the high altitude before doing too much strenuous activity.

The best place to start exploring Cusco is at the San Pedro Market. This is a great place to purchase souvenirs but shop around before buying and start haggling at half the given price or less. There are also lots of places to purchase snacks and drinks here.

From here, if you aren’t done with shopping you can visit the Artisan market at the end of Avenida del Sol.

It’s also worth doing some admin tasks for the rest of your visit on this day. Purchase some snacks for Machu Picchu (as there are no places to purchase food within the ruins) and check the weather forecast for Rainbow Mountain in case you want to change your tour day (many tours will let you amend your tour date up to 2 days in advance). Pack a smaller pack to cover what you need for the next 3 days and leave the rest of your luggage at your Cusco hotel.

If you still have time left in your day, you can people watch in Plaza de Armas – but don’t stay out too late as you have your first of multiple early starts the next day!

DAY 2

Today you should plan to take the one day Inka Trail to Machu Picchu. I find the one day Inka trail to have a good balance of adventure, great views, trekking and enough time at Machu Picchu without having to sleep in the jungle and take up too much of your time in the Sacred Valley.

It’s a good activity option for your 2nd and 3rd day as although it is physically strenuous its a lower elevation than Cusco. It also somewhat separates your early starts so you don’t have too many in a row.

We did this tour with Exclusive Inka Tour who paired us with a great guide and were quite amenable to the few changes I wanted to make to the standard itinerary (with some insistence from my end). Your tour will pick you up around 4am and take you to catch the 6:10am train from Ollantaytambo to KM 104. You will do a full day of hiking ending at the Sun Gate at Machu Picchu and descending into the ruins. You then get a short amount of time in the complex to take pictures before heading down to the town of Aguas Calientes to stay the night. Usually dinner at a local restaurant is included in your tour.

DAY 3

The first bus to Machu Picchu from Agaus Calientes in the morning is at 5:30am and any good tour operator will have you up and queueing early so that you can get on one of the first few buses. Go to the bathroom before you go into Machu Picchu as there are none inside the complex. Once inside, you will have a guided tour through the complex and are then left to explore on your own. I highly recommend booking tickets to climb up Huayna Picchu mountain (Purchased in advance of the day; the walk is a 2 hour round trip). If you purchased tickets, you will have a specific time-slot to climb soon after your guided tour.

Spend the full day at Machu Picchu. Your ticket allows you a half day pass and you won’t get kicked out but we purchased an afternoon ticket also so that we could leave the complex to use the toilet and then come back in. Machu Picchu will capture your attention for this long I promise – it also allows you to wait out any rain or cloudy weather (as we had in the middle of the day) and take more photographs afterwards.

The last train out from Aguas Calientes is at 6:20pm to Ollantaytambo. Don’t arrange for your Machu Picchu tour to collect you from the train and take you back to Cusco: stay the night in Ollantaytambo. Use the extra time you have just gained to have a beautiful meal at the train station restaurant El Albergue in Ollantaytambo (you need to book – the train arrives here just after 8pm).

DAY 4

Today is the best day to tour the Sacred Valley as you are already there! We suggest hiring a private tour guide as its super affordable, they really know their stuff, you can then choose where you would like them to take you and the area is rural so you can’t get to a lot of the sites without a tour anyway.

On our one day tour (we highly recommend all of these sites) we visited the following locations:

Ollantaytambo Ruins (need about 1 hour 30 mins here)

Moray (1 hour drive from Ollantaytambo Ruins – need about 40 minutes here)

Maras Salt Mines (30 mins from Moray – need about 40 minutes here)

Pisac (1 hour 30 mins drive from Maras – need about 1 hour here for the ruins and 40 minutes for the market).

After Pisac you should return to Cusco – this is another 1 hour drive.

DAY 5

Today you will have another extremely early start to climb up Rainbow Mountain. There are hundreds of tour providers. We went with Rainbow Mountain Travels which was a great choice as they are the tour that reaches the mountain earliest – unfortunately this also means the earliest tour start at 3am. It’s a 2 hour drive from Cusco to Rainbow Mountain and the tours provide breakfast nearby. Take the trek to the mountain slowly if you need to, make sure you go right up to the top for the best photographs and views and do the slight detour for views of the red valley afterwards if you can manage it – its well worth the extra climb and descent. You will have lunch and then arrive back at Cusco in the afternoon.

DAY 6

You will probably want to sleep in and relax today so plan to take it easy and not squeeze too much in. If you have the energy, you can walk up past the Saqsayhuaman ruins to Cristo Blanco for great views (of the city and free views of the ruins). Head back down into the centre via Hatunrumiyoc Street (take a pic of the 12 angled stone, admire the beautiful street) to Cusco Cathedral.

In the Afternoon, visit the Iglesia de Santo Domingo (Qurikancha) Don’t bother with the paid part just go inside the church. There is a nice view over the plaza here.

Use this advice to plan your ultimate trip to Peru!

Erika xx