Day 1 Lima / Cuzco
Upon arrival, you will be met and transferred to your selected hotel. Rest of the morning free to adjust to the altitude.
Enjoy an afternoon guided tour of the city and nearby ruins including Kenko, the ceremonial bath of Tambomachay, and the amazing Sacsayhuaman fortress. Return to your hotel later in the day.
Day 2 Cuzco/Valle Sagrado de los Incas/Cuzco
Full day tour, including visits to the colorful Pisac Indian Market and the Ollantaytambo Fortress. At an elevation of 8,500 feet, the Urubamba Valley, or Sacred Valley of the Incas, is the historic heart of the Inca Empire. It was intensively cultivated with terraces increasing its harvest several fold.
Small villages lined the valley floor, while the stone fortresses of Ollantaytambo and Pisac served the dual purpose of providing protection and serving as religious centers.
Without the benefit of the wheel, the Incas built massive stone cities and ruled an empire stretching 3,300 miles over some of the harshest terrain on earth. Without the use of mortar, the Inca constructed their cities, suspension bridges, and aqueduct systems, with an engineering expertise that has survived five hundred years of natural disasters, conquest, and modern development. PLEASE NOTE THE MARKET ONLY TAKES PLACES ON TUESDAYS, THURSDAYS AND SUNDAYS.
Day 3 Cuzco/Machu Pichu/Cuzco
You will be transferred to Cusco station where you will catch the train to Machu Picchu.
The 3 hour train journey passes through picturesque Andean scenery, passing traditional villages, Inca ruins and rushing rivers. We'll descend 1300 meters through the Sacred Valley of the Incas and follow the Urubamba River to Aguas Calientes. After dropping off our luggage we'll take the 20 minute bus ride up to Machu Picchu, perched 600 meters above the river. After lunch your archeological guide will take you on a walking tour of the site. The famous lost city of the Incas is one of the most magical and mysterious places on Earth. Situated on the spine of a jungle cloaked granite peak towering some 600 meters above an entrenched meander of the roaring river below, the site is frequently shrouded in misty clouds pierced by the powerful equatorial sun. Constructed from precisely sculptured granite blocks carefully joined with the projecting exposed stone of the surrounding mountain, the site may well be the finest architectural achievement of the new world.
Overnight at Aguas calientes.
Day 4 Machu Picchu / Cuzco
Breakfast in hotel.
Morning free.
Lunch at local restaurant.
Afternoon back to Cuzco and transfer to hotel.
Overnight Hotel Cuzco.
More about Machu Picchu
Perched high above a sinuous bend in the Urubamba River, Machu Picchu has lured explorers, poets and pilgrims to its mist-wreathed ridge top ever since its discovery by the American explorer Hiram Bingham in July, 1911
No one lived here before the Incas. Those mighty empire builders from Cuzco discovered this extraordinary place, finding it rich in natural features sacred to their religion. Both inspired and humbled by its dramatic natural beauty, their answer was to create on a vast scale one of the planet's most sensitive and harmonious works of art. The aesthetic genius of its layout and architecture coupled with the durability of its brilliant planning and engineering have given us today this finest of jewels among the UNESCO world heritage sites
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Scholars still argue about the meaning of Machu Picchu: why it was built and what purpose it served, who lived there and when they departed. Most agree that its main intent was spiritual and ceremonial.
