Welcome to the Imperial City of Cusco! Our friendly representatives will welcome you at the Cusco airport and transfer you to your accommodation in Cusco. Please keep in mind that landing at 3,300 m.a.s.l. can have its toll on the body. Do not feel concern if upon arrival you experience some shortness of breath or a small headache. This will all go on time. For this reason, it is highly recommended that you take it easy upon arrival and let your body ease into the altitude by staying hydrated.
Your Cusco City Tour will begin at 13:00 hrs, when we will come to pick you up meet at your hotel lobby. In this tour, you will visit the key sights in the city centre and Inca archaeological sites in the surroundings, including Cusco Cathedral, the Q’oricancha Museum, Sacsayhuaman, Q’enqo, Puca Pucara and Tambomachay.
To begin, we will head to Cusco’s Plaza de Armas (main square), to visit the famous Cusco Cathedral. Designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Cathedral will awe you with its impressive architecture, extensive collection of original art works and all gold-leafing decorating the altars.
Continuing on, we will continue on foot through an ancient Inca-built street from the Plaza de Armas to the Q’oricanca or the Temple of the Sun. At the Q’oricancha, you will be able to compare and contrast the building methods of the Incan culture and the Spanish conquerors. This was the key spiritual center of the Incas, leading to all four quarters of the Inca Empire. There is also a bronze, high altar to be seen.
From Q’oricancha, your group will walk down Avenida El Sol, where you will take your bus for your 25-minute car drive outside the city to visit the most important archaeological sites around Cusco. You will be taken to the majestic Inca site of Sacsayhuaman, with its enigmatic 200-ton monoliths. Here, you will have a guided tour of the site and then free time to explore on your own. From Sacsayhuaman, you will take a five minute bus ride to the Q’enqo Inca site to see its fascinating Incan altars. Following, you will take another five minute drive to Puca Pucara, a small, circular Inca site. The final stop on our tour is Tambomachay, a water temple with impressive water fountains, thought to be used by the Inca for bathing. We’ll then drive back down to Cusco where the tour ends in the main square.
Today´s tour will begin with an early morning pick up, at approximately 07:00 hrs, from your accommodation in Cusco. This tour will be a full day tour in which you will have the opportunity to visit the most important and beautiful sites of the Sacred Valley, including the town of Pisac, Moray, Maras and Ollantaytambo.
From Cusco, we will head to the first stop of the tour, the town of Pisac. This will be approximately a 45-minute car drive. On the way, we will stop at some of the most beautiful lookout points from where to see the Sacred Valley. Once in Pisac, we will arrive at the town’s traditional market for a brief exposure to all local artisans and their colorful merchandise. This stop will be the perfect opportunity for some souvenir shopping. Still in Pisac, we will continue to the town´s main archaeological site, where you will be first introduced to the day´s learnings about the powerful Inca Empire.
After the guided tour in Pisac, we will continue with your tour by heading on a 1-hour car drive to the next town of Urubamba for lunch. Here, you will have the option to choose where to grab a bite to eat.
Continuing on, we will make our way to Moray after lunch. Moray is an archaeological site located in the Sacred Valley and known for its unusual ruins. The site is composed of deep, circular terraces thought to have been agricultural terraces during the Inca Empire. At this site, you will have the opportunity to contemplate the grandeur of such site and will be amazed by the perfection of such construction.
From Moray, the tour will continue to the next stop at the town of Maras. It is here where you will be mesmerized by the naturally occurring salt mines still cultivated to date. This site will be sure to impress you by the thousands of small salt-evaporating on ponds. Be sure to check the small shop offering some of the most soothing baths slats made from the extracted salt in Maras.
To finish off, we will head to the last stop of the tour – the town of Ollantaytambo. Once here, you will explore the town´s archaeological fortress along with one of the most important Sun Temples of the region.
Your tour will end after your guided tour in Ollantaytambo. We will make sure to drop you off at your accommodation here.
Your day will begin with an early morning pick up from your accommodation in Ollantaytambo – at approximately 05:30 hrs. From here, we will head to the train station to catch the 06:10 hrs train headed to Aguas Calientes town. The train tracks follow the Urubamba River and will give you spectacular views of the nearby farmlands, snow-capped mountains and the mighty Urubamba River itself. The train ride will be approximately 45 minutes, and will take us directly to the trek´s trail head, commonly known as KM 104 located at 2,000 m.a.s.l.
Once at the trailhead, we will have some time to get ready for the day´s hike. Here you will meet your trekking chef and porters and will also enjoy breakfast before starting your trek. Be sure you bring your original passport, since this is the very first checkpoint along the Inca Trail. After breakfast, you will visit the first Inca site on this trail, Chachabamba – the first ancient Incan checkpoint for entering to the Inca trail, and will have a brief guided tour to understand its importance. It is also here, where we will take a moment to take group photo for the books!
The hike will begin from KM 104 on a gently uphill trail towards the Classic Inca Trail. If the weather is clear, we will have tremendous views of Machu Picchu,the Urubamba River and other surrounding Inca Sites. There will also be waterfalls to be seen. The trail itself has some flat areas, as well as some short uphill and downhill hikes. It also has steps, arranged in sections that can be narrow in some areas, but not dangerous. After hiking for approximately 3 hours, we will reach the most beautiful Incan site on the Inca Trail, Wiñay Wayna (Forever Young) at 2,600 m.a.s.l. Here you will visit and learn about the sites impressive and water fountains, temples and agricultural terraces. The backdrop of Wiñay Wayna will also be sure to impress you, dropping off a cliff, with beautiful mountains surrounding the area.
From Wiñay Wayna, it will only be a short walk to the lunch spot, where your trekking chef and porters will be ready with cold drinks and delicious, fresh food, prepared by our cook, and served buffet-style. After lunch, there will be time for a short nap.
After lunch, we will continue trekking to the Sun Gate, used by Incas to observe the sunrise from Machu Picchu during the summer solstice, and from where we will see the picturesque landscape of Machu Picchu. This hike will be approximately 1 hour of gradual uphill and downhill hiking. At this location, we will take enough time to breathe in the beauty of the surrounding sights before continuing on with on. From here, it will be another 1 hour hike to the Machu Picchu ruins. Once in Machu Picchu, you can explore the watchtower area where you can get charming pictures of Machu. A big advantage of this hike, is that by the time we reach Machu Picchu, most of the day travelers will have returned home. This will leave the sights of Machu Picchu to be almost empty.
From Machu Picchu, we will take the bus down to Aguas Calientes and head to the campsite in Puente Ruinas. When you arrive at the campsite, your tents will be all set up. You will meet your porters, and enjoy a social happy hour with hot drinks and dinner. Later in the evening, we’ll have a small ceremony with your chef and porters in order to say good bye to them. They will still be there the next morning to cook breakfast.
Today will be the most important day of your tour. To get the most out of the day, we encourage every group to have an early breakfast before catching one of the first buses up to Machu Picchu (starting at 5:30 a.m.). The hotel will hold your bags for you while in Machu Picchu. This way, you will only be required to take your personal backpack with all essentials up to Machu Picchu. The bus ride from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu will take approximately 30 minutes.
Once in Machu Picchu, your guide will introduce you the beauty of Machu Picchu. You will head directly to a well-sought out location from where you will watch the sunrise and take photographs. Your guide will then guide you around the main sectors of the citadel, for a total of 2.5 hours. During this guided tour, you will learn some more about the history and culture of the Inca Empire. At the end of the tour, you will have some time to yourself or, if you arranged to hike either extra hike, Huayna Picchu Mountain* or Machu Picchu Mountain, your guide will show you where to begin this hike.
For your return from Machu Picchu, we recommend to begin heading back to Aguas Calientes town by no later than 2 hours prior to your train departure. Your guide will inform you of your train times prior to your return. The train return from Aguas Calientes to Ollantaytambo will take approximately 2 hours. In Ollantytambo, our Alpaca Staff will be waiting for your right by the station´s exit door ready to bring you back to Cusco by car. The car ride to Cusco will be approximately 2 hours and will have you dropped off at your hotel in Cusco.
OPTIONS: *Huayna Picchu Mountain or Machu Picchu Mountain are both additional hikes available once inside Machu Picchu. Either extra hike may be hikes after your guided tour of Machu Picchu and must be arranged ahead of time. Both hikes are subject to availability and at an extra cost of USD $75 per person.
Your day´s trek will begin with an early-morning pick from your accommodation in Cusco at 04.00 hrs. From here, it will be a 3.5 car drive in our private van passing through traditional villages to the trail head. At the trail head, we will stop and enjoy a hearty breakfast, prepared by our trekking chef.
After breakfast, we will begin the hike from Chillca located at 3,700 m.a.s.l., until the famous Rainbow Mountain. This hike will be approximately 4-hours along gradually ascending terrain. Along the way, you will enjoy amazing views of the Andes, glacial peaks, red mountains, rocky hills, and traditional llamas and alpacas grazing along the valley. As you reach the summit of the mountain, you will be able to spot some Andean wildlife too. This is one of the few places in Cusco where you can see wild Vicuñas, the Andean camel. Vicuñas are in the same family as llamas, although they are smaller. Their wool is the most expensive wool in the world.
Once we arrive at the top of Rainbow Mountain, you will have enough time to absorb the majesty of the red mountains that surround this area. You will also see amazing views of the valleys and Ausangate Glacier Peak in front of you. Ausangate is the tallest mountain of the Cusco region (just under 21,000 ft elevation) and is part of the Cordillera Vilcanota Range. While taking in these magnificent views, our staff will bring you some hot drinks and share some information with you about the composition of these mountains and how they became striated in the rainbow of colours.
After taking a few amazing pictures and soaking in the views (perhaps we will even see a few condors floating on the air currents), we will begin our descent back to the trail head. This will be a 2 hour, downhill hike. We will then meet up with our trekking chef and enjoy a delicious, freshly prepared, hot lunch.
After lunch, we will start our return trip back to the Chillca village, to catch our private van back to Cusco. We will drop you off at your hotel around 7 – 8 p.m.
