Sacred Valley Peru (Day Tour from Cusco)

This is Dan from Vagabond Buddha. While in Cusco, you must visit the Sacred Valley of Peru.

Why was it called the Sacred Valley Peru? Because the soil is rich so it provided much of the food needed by pre-Inca and Inca societies. Plus it was strategically located between the highlands of Cusco, the desert and the Pacific Ocean below. It is also the secret crossroads that led to Machu Picchu on the way to the Amazon jungle. Life is all about location, location, location. Come to see the Sacred Valley Peru. Here are the 5 main stops on the Sacred Valley Tour.

Chinchero: This archaeological site was a place where Incas performed ceremonies such as celebrations of the Sun and Moon. The Spanish demolished much of the structure by using the stones to build the church in Chinchero.

Moray: This was an Incan agricultural research facility. The Incans brought dirt to this facility from all over the Inca Empire. The concentric circles at different elevations, allowed them to test what plants grew best at what elevations and under the various soil conditions throughout the empire.

Maras Salt Mines: These salt mines have been here since pre-Inca times. Salt water is placed in drying pools and the water is evaporated from the bright sun. The salt remains at the bottom of the pool once all of the water is evaporated. Each pool produces about 25 kg of salt at the bottom each time the water is evaporated.

Ollantaytambo: This was a pre-Inca and Inca crossroads where traders circulated products from the Pacific Ocean, the Amazon Jungle, and the highlands of the Andes. On this site, you can see the stonework from the various pre-Inca and Inca societies that populated this area. This was the most important ceremonial site on the way to Machu Pichu. The Spanish demolished much of the structure to build rudimentary brick and mortar buildings nearby. But you can still see the magnificence of this Inca Temple and ceremonial site.

Pisac: The was an Incan Fortress and burial grounds. The Spanish didn’t completely demolish the Inca buildings here since there was very little nearby that they needed stone building materials to complete. The mountain is also terraced here for agricultural purposes. The little village below called Pisaq is also very charming.

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If you book my recommended flights, tours, or accommodations, you will pay nothing extra, but I will earn a small commission. This will help me continue to travel and share with you.

Here are the tours available in Cusco. I recommend using either Viator Cusco Tours or Get Your Guide Cusco Tours. These are tour aggregators. That means they just publish tours conducted by third parties. Some tours are better than others. So you need to read the reviews. Look for a tour that has at least 5 reviews that sound good, and 2 of those reviews should be within the last few months.

Here are the best places to stay in Cusco. Here is information about how to get to Cusco.

Best Places to Live in World: Here is my list of the ==>best live-cheap in paradise locations<== in the world.

Thank you, Dan of Vagabond Buddha

I am not offering you these prices. These are just my notes and estimates from the time of my visit and this post. Your costs will likely be drastically different if significant inflation or deflation occurs or the market changes after this post. I will not update these numbers until I am on the ground again here, if ever.

Sacred Valley Peru (Day Tour from Cusco)

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