03Cities and regions

Between Cusco and Machu Picchu

The Sacred Valley

The Sacred Valley is the valley of the Urubamba River north of Cusco, stretching from Pisac to Ollantaytambo and on for about 100 kilometres to Machu Picchu. The river waters its fertile floor, which drops from 3,000 metres at Pisac, so it is warmer than Cusco and a gentler place to spend your first nights in the Andes. Pisac has Inca ruins on a mountain ridge and a large market. Ollantaytambo, at 2,792 metres, was built by the emperor Pachacuti as his own estate; its terraces and Temple Hill still stand, and it is where trains leave for Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail begins. On the plateau above the valley are two places like nowhere else. Moray is a set of terraced circular hollows, the largest about 30 metres deep, where the temperature can differ by up to 15 degrees between rim and floor. At Maras, more than 5,000 small salt pans have been filled from a salty spring since Inca times. A car with a driver can cover Moray and Maras in a single day.

About 100 km

Pisac to Machu Picchu

0 m

Ollantaytambo altitude

About 30 m

Deepest hollow at Moray

Over 5,000

Salt pans at Maras