8 Things to do in the sacred valley of the incas

The Sacred Valley of the Incas has it all: a beautiful geography surrounded by rivers and welcoming villages, archaeological sites with a lot of historical value and thousands of adventures for people of all ages. Today it is one of the favorite destinations for tourists from all over the world. Learn about the best things to do in this fertile valley that was highly appreciated by the Incas.

Visiting the Archaeological Center of Pisac

The National Archaeological Park of Pisac is made up of groups of archaeological remains among which are platforms, aqueducts, roads associated with walls and gates, channeled water channels, cemeteries, bridges, etc.. This group covers an area of 4 square kilometers. On this area the ruins are found occupying the hills, they are presented forming groups of complicated disposition, while in others there are constructions isolated from the other groups.

Pre-Columbian cemetery

On the summits of Pisac are the remains of a pre-Columbian cemetery, probably the largest found in America.

Visit Moray

Here you can see concentric circular stone constructions forming a kind of rings that widen as they ascend. This place is considered to be one of the main agricultural research centers, for the experimentation and sowing of crops from different parts of the Inca empire. The different climates and altitudinal floors vary in temperature by approximately 20°C (from the first to the last). It is understood that they were built with the intention of making it possible to plant products from the coast and jungle in colder climates and at higher altitudes.

Visiting Ollantaytambo

The archaeological zone of Ollantaytambo is a monumental work of Inca architecture. It has been built on two mountains in a strategic place that dominates the entire valley. It was a military, religious, administrative and agricultural complex.

Ollantaytambo is the only Inca city that remains almost intact and their houses still serve as homes where their descendants live. The design of the city, its axes, its urban structure, the beauty of the volumes and its play of light and shadow attract tourists.

The main temple has a façade with six pink granite monoliths brought from another place and perfectly assembled in the stone.

Visiting Chinchero

This Inca site was the residence designated by Tupac Yupanqui. Here he ordered the construction of beautiful palaces although it was later incinerated by Manco Inca to help people escape during colonization to the hidden lands of the jungle.

At present, only some parts of its structure are preserved, being the most preserved construction, which served as the basis for a church dating from the sixteenth century.

Visiting the village of maras

Maras was occupied when the citizens of Cusco withdrew from the Inca palaces in Cusco and had to migrate to other small towns, as now Maras and San Sebastian.

This populated center was the obligatory passage for the muleteers and their mule trains that transported tropical products and especially coca leaves from the high Cusco jungle to satisfy the needs of the city of Cusco and the country.

The importance of this town originates from the extraction of salt. Here are the salt mines of Maras, also known as salt mines, whose exploitation is as old as the Tahuantinsuyo. Located on the slope of the hill, they take advantage of a spring of saline water that nourishes the pools.

The use of Maras salt dates back thousands of years and is inherited by each family, but it is managed communally. There are about five thousand wells of about 5 square meters each, the water is filtered in the wells and evaporates by the action of the sun, leaving crystals of coarse salt. Here, the villagers show visitors their ancestral techniques and allow them to participate in the collection.

Visiting Ollantaytambo: living Inca village

The town was divided into rectangular blocks with a well-planned geometric scheme that gives the impression of being a town designed by modern architects. Its thin streets open up towards the Urubamba River. Each block or court is composed of a group of houses that share the same door to the central courtyard. In the town there is a distribution of straight and narrow streets, which have been inhabited uninterruptedly since the time of the Incas.

Visit the town of Pisac

The Sacred Valley is located 15 km north of Cusco. Its altitude is from 2,800 to 3,000 meters above sea level, which gives it a milder climate. Pisac is the starting point of the tourist circuit "Sacred Valley of the Incas", in addition, this traditional town is known for its archaeological park, its craft fairs and its Sunday masses.

Mercado Pisaq handicrafts

In its main square, under centenary trees, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, the handicraft fairs take place and are very popular because of the diverse and colorful textiles and decorative ceramics that are offered there.

Visit the town of chinchero

It is the capital of the district of the same name, which belongs to the province of Urubamba. It is one of the most representative towns of Cusco in general. Known for its archeology and handicrafts.

Feria handicrafts

The Chinchero fair is one of the most important in the region due to the high quality of the handicrafts that are sold there, recognized internationally for their excellent work and beauty. In these fairs we can see that the barter (ancient form of exchange of products) is still in force; in Chinchero, the granddaughters of the Inca princesses, continue weaving wool and making garments, as the ajllas did for the children of the Sun, in the imperial Cusco.

Cultura Alive

Chinchero is one of the few places where it seems that time does not pass, since the traditions and Inca culture still persists. The people who live there are of Inca blood and the predominant language is Quechua, although almost all the inhabitants of this area speak Spanish as a second language.