Back

Explore Sacred Valley of the Incas

Sacred Valley

A tour of the Sacred Valley usually includes a visit to the market at picturesque Pisaq village and the ruined Inca temple-fortress at Ollantaytambo.

The Sacred valley of the Incas, just an hour’s drive out of Cusco following the river Urubamba towards the Amazon, is a fertile plain once known as the breadbasket of the Incas. Highly populated at the apogée of the Inca Empire, it is now a bucolic paradise of fields bulging with cereals and vegetables, dotted with colonial towns and villages, as well as the ruins of imposing Inca temples and fortresses  

The pretty village of Pisaq in the heart of the Sacred Valley of the Incas hosts a colourful market 3 times a week, where you can haggle for handcrafted souvenirs and textiles alongside locals bartering for fresh produce. It’s also home to an impressive Inca site set high on a hillside spur overlooking the town. Jutting out between two gorges, the large complex consists of temples, observatories and grain stores. Ollantaytambo sits at a strategic point where the river begins its descent to the Amazon jungle. The village has squat colonial houses with Inca foundations and quaint lanes and squares.  Most tours visit both.

Holidays Explore Sacred Valley of the Incas

From expertly designed Private Journeys to trail-blazing Group Tours, browse our range of carefully crafted holidays.

Papagaio

Your edit for Latin American inspiration

Our exciting range of articles on Latin America explore everything from iconic destinations and lesser-known cultural gems to delicious traditional recipes. You’ll also find exclusive travel tips, first-hand client reviews and the chance to get your personal questions answered by our travel experts.

View Extraordinary Inspiration
Bartolome, Galápagos

Meet our team

Real Latin american experts

  • Chris
    Chris Rendell-Dunn - Travel Expert

    Anglo-Peruvian Chris grew up in Lima and spent much of his adult life in between London and Cusco as a tour leader, before settling permanently in our London-based Tailor-made and Group Tours sales team.

  • Lina
    Lina Fuller - Travel Expert

    Lina's passion for the continent where she was born really took off when she moved to Córdoba (Argentina) to study, spending the holidays travelling between Argentina and her native Colombia.

  • Hannah
    Hannah Donaldson - Travel Expert

    Having spent part of her childhood in Colombia and worked in Brazil and Costa Rica, Hannah's ties to Latin America run deep. Hannah is a much valued Travel Expert in our Tailor-made Holidays and Group Tours sales team.

  • Maggie
    Maggie Wilson - Travel Expert

    Maggie visited Latin America on her first backpacking trip when she was 19. Since then, she has taken every opportunity to travel, and has managed to explore a lot of the region in subsequent trips.

  • Heloise
    Heloise Buxton - Travel Expert

    Heloise started her Latin American journey as an exchange student in Santiago, Chile. With extended summer holidays this was the perfect opportunity to backpack through Bolivia, Peru, Argentina and Brazil.

  • Sophie
    Sophie Barber - Travel Expert

    Sophie lived in Chile before joining us and has travelled extensively across Latin America, from Mexico to the furthest tip of Patagonia and beyond to Antarctica.

0 1 2 3 4 5