Sacred ValleyThe Sacred Valley of the Inca
The lower, warmer valley of the Río Urubamba — Písac, Ollantaytambo, Maras and Moray — where most trips stage before the train to the citadel.
The short version
- ✓The valley floor sits around 2,800 m — lower and kinder than Cusco, and a better first base for sensitive travellers.
- ✓Ollantaytambo is both a living Inca town and the train platform where the line to the citadel begins.
- ✓Písac's terraces, the Maras salt pans and Moray's circular agricultural terraces fill an unhurried day or two.
Drift down the Río Urubamba
The Sacred Valley follows the Urubamba as it drops from the highlands toward the cloud forest. Its lower altitude makes it the gentler place to begin, and its Inca sites — Písac's hillside terraces, Ollantaytambo's fortress, the salt terraces of Maras and the concentric bowls of Moray — are a preview of the engineering you'll meet at the citadel itself.