5-Day Machu Picchu Tour Package
$702 Full Day
Overview
11:00 AM
Latest arrival at the station
2 routes
Maras and Moray, or Pisac
5 hrs
Station to hotel
Private
Your own car and guide
Every train from Machu Picchu ends at Ollantaytambo, at the bottom of the Sacred Valley. Cusco is an hour and three quarters away by road. The road runs the length of the valley to get there. Most people drive it asleep. This tour is the same road with the sleep taken out.
The sites are close to the tarmac. Moray is twenty minutes off it and the Maras ponds ten. Chinchero sits on it. Pisac is on the other road out. None of them needs a detour worth the name. What they need is time, about an hour each, and that is what the afternoon buys.
There are two ways to do it and you pick one. The high route climbs out of Urubamba to Moray and the salt ponds, has lunch, and goes home over Chinchero. The river route follows the Urubamba east to Pisac and walks the citadel. Lunch is in the town and the road climbs to Cusco from there. Both end at your hotel between four and five.
The cut off is the train. We need you at the station by 11:00 AM. That fits two sites and lunch in before the gates close. The morning trains from Aguas Calientes do that. An afternoon train does not. Then this becomes a transfer with one stop, and we will tell you so before you book.
You will be tired. Choose the route for that.
Most people on this day stood at the Machu Picchu gate at six. The rest walked the site yesterday and slept in Aguas Calientes. Either way you get off the train with the big thing done. Pisac is an hour on your feet on a hillside. Moray and Maras are two viewpoints and a short walk. If you are running on four hours of sleep, take the salt.
Tour Highlights
- ✓ You need to get from Ollantaytambo to Cusco. This is that drive, with two sites and lunch inside it, in a private car.
- ✓ We know which train you are on and we are on the platform when it stops. If it is late, we wait.
- ✓ Moray, the salt ponds and Chinchero for landscape. Pisac for a citadel and a market. Decide at booking and change it up to the day before.
- ✓ Your own car, driver and guide. Nobody else's hotel, nobody else's pace, and your bag in the boot.
- ✓ A proper meal in Urubamba or Pisac, in the price. After a dawn at Machu Picchu it matters more than it sounds.
- ✓ The salt ponds are not on the tourist ticket. On the high route we pay the community fee for you.
What to Expect
The train stops, the platform empties, and our guide is at the exit with your name on a board. Your bag goes in the back. Ten minutes later you are out of the town. The valley opens up in front of you, wider and greener than it looked from the train.
On the high route the car climbs out of Urubamba onto the plateau. Moray appears as a hole in the ground with rings in it. You walk the rim. Then ten minutes to the salt, where the ponds step down the hillside below the path. Lunch in Urubamba is at about two, and by then you are hungry. Chinchero is last, and cold, and the weavers are the best thing in it.
On the river route the car follows the Urubamba east for an hour, past Calca. Then it climbs to the Pisac car park. The citadel is spread along a ridge. You walk the terraces and the temple group with the valley below you. Then down to the town for the market and a late lunch. The road to Cusco climbs out of the valley in twenty minutes.
Either way the guide reads the group. If you are talking, they talk. If you are asleep between stops, they let you sleep. Drop off is at your hotel door. The day that started at five in Aguas Calientes ends at about the same hour in Cusco.
Choosing between them
The Valley on the Way Back, or on Its Own Day
We run the Sacred Valley three ways. This is the one for people who already have Machu Picchu behind them. Green marks the better option on that row.
This tour, from Ollantaytambo
Full day from Cusco
Two days with Machu Picchu
Starts
Ollantaytambo station, by 11:00 AM
Your Cusco hotel, 7:00 AM
Your Cusco hotel, day one
Sites
Moray, Maras and Chinchero, or Pisac
Chinchero, Maras, Moray, Ollantaytambo, Pisac
Chinchero, Maras, Moray, Ollantaytambo
Machu Picchu
Already done
No
Yes, on day two
Length
About five hours
Eleven hours
Two days
Transport
Private car and guide
Small group van
Small group
Price
$130
$45
$442 with train, hotel and entrance
Best for
The day after Machu Picchu
A first day in Cusco
One trip with both in it
In short. Choose this one if your train back from Machu Picchu gets in before eleven, and you would rather see two sites than sleep past them. Choose the full day from Cusco if you want all five sites and have a day to give them. The two day tour is for anyone who has not booked Machu Picchu yet and wants to see the valley before it.
Best Time to Go on Sacred Valley Tour
Green is the season we recommend Red is the wet season, when showers reach the valley in the afternoon
May to September
Best
What to expect
Clear skies, a cold wind at Chinchero by three, and the busiest trains
Our view
The season. White ponds at Maras and full markets at Pisac. Book the train early, because the morning ones sell out.
April and October
What to expect
Shoulder. Green valley, a shower some afternoons
Our view
Good odds. Quieter trains and a softer light on the terraces.
November to March
What to expect
Rain in the afternoons, ponds brown, Pisac wet underfoot
Our view
Fine for this day. You are in a car between stops and the sites are stone. Bring a rain layer for Pisac.
i
The train matters more than the month
Book the morning train first, then book us.
The month matters less on this afternoon than on any other day we run. You are never far from the car. What matters is the train. Morning trains fill first in the dry season, and the day depends on one. Book the train before you book us, and send us the time. The one thing the wet season changes is Maras, which goes from white to brown. If you come in February, take the Pisac route.
Tour Itinerary
1
Ollantaytambo station
The guide meets you at the station exit, or at your hotel in the town if you stayed there. Bags in the car and water handed out. Then a quick word about the route you chose and how the afternoon runs.
Altitude 2,792 m
A
Route A: Moray, the Maras salt ponds and Chinchero
B
Route B: The Pisac citadel and market
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Good to know
On the eleven o'clock cut off.
The valley gates close in the late afternoon and Chinchero is in shadow by four. Two sites, lunch and the drive need about five and a half hours. A train that arrives at 10:30 works. One that arrives at 1:00 does not. If you are booking your train after this tour, book the morning one. If the train is already booked for the afternoon, tell us and we will offer a transfer with one stop.
✓
Inclusions
- ✓ Pickup in Ollantaytambo (Hotel or Train Station)
- ✓ Professional English-speaking tour guide
- ✓ Private transportation
- ✓ Lunch in the Sacred Valley
- ✓ Drop-off at your hotel in Cusco
- ✓ Maras Salt Mines entrance
X
Not Included
- X Drinks during lunch
- X Personal expenses
- X Entrance tickets to the sacred valley
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About the exclusions
On the tourist ticket.
Moray, Chinchero and the Pisac citadel are on the Cusco tourist ticket and the Maras ponds are not. Circuit III costs 70 soles and covers all three, so one ticket does either route. If you bought the full ticket in Cusco before Machu Picchu, it is still good. It runs for ten days from first use, so bring it. The Maras fee is in our price. The detail is in our post on the Cusco tourist ticket.
Departure Information
Available: Daily departures
Group Size: Up to 25 people
Start Time: Based on your arrival at Ollantaytambo, no later than 11am.
Pickup: Your arrival at Ollantaytambo, no later than 11am.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does the pickup work after Machu Picchu?
Pickup for this Sacred Valley tour from Ollantaytambo takes place near the Ollantaytambo train station after your arrival from Aguas Calientes. The exact meeting point is shared in advance for a smooth connection.
What time does this full-day trip start?
Can I choose between the two Sacred Valley to Cusco routes?
Is this a private tour or group service?
Do I need the Cusco Tourist Ticket?
Is lunch included?
What should I bring for the tour?
Is this tour physically demanding?
What time will we arrive in Cusco?
Can I bring luggage with me?
What happens if my train is delayed?
Can I be dropped off somewhere else?
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