Cusco and the Sacred Valley: Places to Explore

Indigenous lore says that Chinchero, one of the valley's major Inca cities, was the birthplace of the rainbow. Frequent sightings during the rainy season might convince you of the legend's truth. Chinchero... Read more

If you arrive in Cusco with the intention of hopping on the train to Machu Picchu the next morning, you'll probably only have time to take a stroll through the Plaza de Armas and visit Qorikancha (Temple... Read more

Poll visitors for their favorite Sacred Valley community and the answer will likely be Ollantaytambo—endearingly nicknamed Olly—which lies at the valley's northwestern entrance. Ollantaytambo's... Read more

The colorful colonial town of Pisac, replete with Quechua-language masses in a simple stone church, a well-known market, and fortress ruins, comes into view as you wind your way down the highway from Cusco... Read more

The road from Cusco leads directly to the town of Taray. The Pisac market beckons a few kilometers down the road, but Taray makes a worthwhile pre-Pisac shopping stop. Devastating flooding in March 2010... Read more

Spanish naturalist Antonio de León Pinedo rhapsodized that Urubamba must have been the biblical Garden of Eden, but you'll be forgiven if your first glance at the place causes you to doubt that... Read more

The explosive growth of nearby Urubamba has practically engulfed the tiny village of Yucay, to the point of barely being able to tell where one ends and the other begins. Yucay proper is only a few streets... Read more