Explore Sacred Valley of the Incas

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.