2 Day Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu Tour from Cusco
$442 Full Day
Overview
6 stops
Chinchero to Pisac
2,800 m
Valley floor, below Cusco
7:00 AM
Pickup in Cusco
11 hrs
Door to door
The Sacred Valley is the floor the Urubamba river cut between Pisac and Ollantaytambo. It is sixty kilometres long and about 2,800 metres up. Cusco is 600 metres higher. That gap is the reason the Incas built here. Maize will not ripen at the altitude of Cusco. It ripens in the valley, so the terraces on both walls were the granary of the empire.
The gap is also the reason this is the gentlest full day you can book from Cusco. The road leaves the city and climbs to Chinchero, at 3,762 metres. That is the only stop higher than your hotel. From there it drops for the rest of the morning. Most people feel better at lunch in Urubamba than they did at breakfast.
The five sites are not five versions of the same thing. Chinchero is a living village on Inca foundations. Maras is salt. Moray is farming. Ollantaytambo is a fortress and a town that has not moved since the fifteenth century. Pisac is a market with a citadel above it. The day is built so that each one is a change from the last.
The order matters. We run it Chinchero first and Pisac last. That puts the cold and the height at 8:00 AM, when you are fresh. The market comes at the end, when you want to sit down with a coffee.
Six places in eleven hours.
You get about forty five minutes at each site and ninety at Ollantaytambo. Nobody lingers. If you want to climb every terrace at Pisac, or sit in the Chinchero church until the light changes, this is the wrong day. Ask us for a private day with fewer stops instead. This is the tour that shows you the whole valley and tells you where to come back.
Tour Highlights
- ✓ Chinchero, Maras, Moray, Ollantaytambo, Pisac. The loop closes on itself, so nothing is driven twice and the last stop is an hour from your hotel.
- ✓ Only Chinchero is higher than the city, and it comes first. From ten in the morning you are between 2,800 and 3,500 metres. That is why people on their first days book this one.
- ✓ The tourist ticket covers Chinchero, Moray, Ollantaytambo and Pisac and not the salt ponds. We pay the Maras community for you, so there is one ticket to buy, not two.
- ✓ The guide stands you at the top ring and shows you how the terraces hold heat. Five minutes there is worth more than any photograph of the place.
- ✓ A buffet with trout, quinoa and vegetarian dishes, at the warmest point of the day. Drinks are extra.
- ✓ Pickup at 7:00 AM from your hotel in Cusco and back to it by half past six. One van, one guide, up to ten people.
What to Expect
At 7:00 AM the van is at your hotel and by half past you are climbing out of the city. The plain above Cusco is flat, cold and full of potato fields. Chinchero comes at about a quarter past eight, and it is the coldest moment of the day in every month. The weavers have a fire going. Buy your tourist ticket at the gate here. By half past nine you are standing above the Maras ponds. In the dry season they are white and the families are scraping salt. In the wet season they are brown and full of water. Either way the view is from a path along the top edge, because nobody has walked between the ponds since 2019.
Moray follows at about eleven, and this is where the guide earns the day. The rings look like a sculpture and were a field trial. Lunch is at half past twelve in Urubamba, at 2,870 metres. The buffet has river trout, quinoa soup, roast potatoes and three or four vegetarian dishes. Take an hour. It is warm here at midday, and most people take a jumper off for the first time. Ollantaytambo fills the early afternoon. Ninety minutes, half of them on the terraces. The climb is about two hundred steps and the guide takes them slowly. The town below is the part people remember, because the streets and water channels are the ones the Incas laid.
Pisac is the last stop and the light is low by then. The market is packing up in the quiet months and still going in the busy ones. The citadel is on the ridge above the town, and you see it from the square. The road home climbs out of the valley and you are in Cusco between six and half past.
Best Time to Go on Sacred Valley Tour from Cusco
Green is the season we recommend Red is the wet season, when the Maras ponds are brown and showers come after two
May to September
Best
What to expect
Dry, clear, cold at Chinchero at eight, warm in Urubamba by one
Our view
The season. White ponds at Maras, hard light on the terraces, and the busiest markets.
April and October
What to expect
Shoulder. Green terraces, a shower most afternoons, the ponds half full
Our view
Good odds. The valley is at its greenest and the crowds are thinner than June.
November to March
What to expect
Rain most afternoons, ponds brown and flooded, quieter markets
Our view
Still runs, still worth it. The sites are stone and the rain rarely arrives before Ollantaytambo.
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The month changes Maras, Sunday changes Pisac
White ponds in the dry season, big markets on a Sunday.
This is the one Cusco day trip that weather does not cancel. There is no summit to reach and no light to chase. The month changes Maras more than anything else. The ponds are white in the dry season and muddy in the wet one. Sunday changes more than the month. Pisac holds its biggest market on Sunday, and Chinchero its own. If your dates include one, we will say so when you book.
Choosing between them
Three Ways We Run the Valley
We run the valley three ways. Same sites, different days, very different prices. Green marks the better option on that row.
This tour, one day
Two days with Machu Picchu
The way back from Machu Picchu
Sites
Chinchero, Maras, Moray, Ollantaytambo, Pisac
Chinchero, Maras, Moray, Ollantaytambo
Maras, Moray and Chinchero, or Pisac
Machu Picchu
No
Yes, the next morning
No, you have just been
Length
One day, 7:00 AM to 6:30 PM
Two days, one night in Aguas Calientes
One afternoon
Time per site
About 45 minutes
About 45 minutes on day one
Longer, with fewer stops
Price
$45
$442 with train, hotel and entrance
$130, private
Tourist ticket
Not included, 70 soles
Not included
Not included
Best for
A first day in the region
One trip that ends at Machu Picchu
Anyone with a train ticket back to Ollantaytambo
In short. Choose this day if you are new to Cusco, or want the whole valley for the price of a lunch at home. Choose the two day tour if Machu Picchu is the point and you want the valley on the way. Choose the valley on the way back if your train is already booked and you would rather not repeat the road.
Tour Itinerary
1
Departure from Cusco
The van comes to central hotels and leaves the city by the Chinchero road. The road climbs onto the plain above Cusco, through potato fields. The first views of the Vilcanota snow peaks come on the left.
Bring your passport. The tourist ticket office asks for it.
2
Chinchero: Weaving, Markets & Inca Walls
3
The Maras salt ponds
4
Moray
5
Buffet lunch in Urubamba
6
Ollantaytambo
7
Pisac
8
Back in Cusco
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Good to know
On the pace.
Forty five minutes at a site sounds short, and it is. The guide keeps time because Pisac is an hour from Cusco and the market packs up at dusk. If one place matters more to you than the others, say so in the van in the morning. The guide will give it what the day can spare.
✓
Inclusions
- ✓ Hotel pickup and drop off in central Cusco
- ✓ Transport for the whole day, small group
- ✓ Professional bilingual guide, English and Spanish
- ✓ Entrance to the Maras salt ponds
- ✓ Buffet lunch in Urubamba, vegetarian dishes available
- ✓ Fuel, tolls and parking
X
Not Included
- X Cusco tourist ticket, Circuit III at 70 soles or the full ticket at 130
- X Drinks at lunch and snacks
- X Anything you buy at Chinchero or Pisac
- X Travel insurance
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About the exclusions
On the tourist ticket.
Circuit III costs 70 soles and covers Chinchero, Moray, Ollantaytambo and Pisac, which is every gate on this day. The full ticket at 130 soles adds Sacsayhuamán and eleven other sites over ten days. Buy that one if Sacsayhuamán is also in your plans. Pay in cash at the Chinchero gate. Maras is on neither ticket and we cover it. Our post on the Cusco tourist ticket has the detail.
Departure Information
Available: Daily departures
Group Size: Up to 10 people
Start Time: 0700 AM
Pickup: Cusco Hotel Transfer
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need the Cusco tourist ticket for the Sacred Valley Peru tour?
Yes. Circuit III at 70 soles covers Chinchero, Moray, Ollantaytambo and Pisac, which are the four gates on this day. The full ticket at 130 soles covers those and twelve other sites over ten days. Buy either one in cash at the Chinchero gate, the first stop. The Maras salt ponds are on neither and we pay that fee for you.
How long is the tour and how far does it drive?
Is the Sacred Valley higher or lower than Cusco?
How much walking is there?
Is lunch included?
Can I be dropped in Ollantaytambo for the train to Machu Picchu?
Can you walk among the Maras salt ponds?
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