Trips and Tours to Sacred Valley

The attractive town of Ollantaytambo is a firm favourite in the Sacred Valley thanks to its imposing Inca fortress and dramatic mountain backdrop. Originally built by the Incas as an administrative centre, today's Ollantaytambo sits on the foundations of the 15th century town and demonstrates the clever grid system used by the Incas in their town planning. Steep terraces scale the side of a mountain to form what is known as Temple Hill, a section of town dedicated to ceremonial and religious practices though it is commonly referred to as the Fortress, most likely due to the fact that it was the last Inca stronghold in the face of the conquering Spaniards.

Set on a high plateau at an altitude of 3,500 metres, the Inca ruins of the Moray archaeological site are some of the most distinctive and visually stunning in all of Peru. Resembling an amphitheatre with concentric circular terraces carved into the earth, the site is believed to have been used by the Incas to experiment with the effects of temperature and climatic conditions on their crops. The deepest terrace measures 30 metres and this means that the temperature changes by 15 degrees centigrade between the different levels of terraces. One of the three terraced bowels at Moray has been planted with crops to provide an insight into their original use.

The Andean village of Chinchero perfectly illustrates why the Sacred Valley is such an alluring destination with a lively market, colourful indigenous character, attractive colonial architecture and striking Inca ruins. Located on windswept plains north of Cuzco, the village maintains a very traditional appearance with adobe brick houses and the unassuming white-wash Spanish church, which contains within it beautiful, though decaying, paintings and frescoes. Extensive terraces and a massive stone wall with ten trapezoidal niches are all that remain of the original Inca village at Chinchero.

The towns and larger villages of the Sacred Valley are well-connected by winding mountainside roads with Pisac, Chinchero and Ollantaytambo easily reached from Cuzco. One of the main roads in the region follows the course of the Rio Vilcanota and whatever your itinerary, you're guaranteed a scenic journey surrounded by Andean peaks. Tours of the Sacred Valley are undertaken by mini-van, which enables touring groups to arrive right at the entrance to the larger Inca sites.