Our English speaking guide will pick you up from your hotel in Cusco at 7:30 am in our comfortable private vehicle for this amazing trip to the colorful village of CHINCHERO, where we will find the ruins of the Tupac Inca Yupanqui Royal House, we will appreciate it’s well preserve Inca wall in the main square and you will visit the beauty Colonial Temple with invaluable portraits, built over Inca Bases and then you will visit the women’s weaving cooperative where we will watch a demonstration of local weavers who are still using traditional Inca patterns and techniques for dyeing fabric. Here you will have time to browse the shop which sells Inca style purses, tablecloths, wall hangings, and many other colorful and exquisitely patterned artisanal goods.

Then, we will drive towards the ruins of Ollantaytambo for 1 hour in our private vehicle. Along the way, we will enjoy breathtaking views of the snow-capped Urubamba mountain range. Further down, we will witness the magnificence of the Urubamba River known as Willcamayu by the Incas (Quechuas).

Once at Ollantaytambo, we will visit the Inca ruins at Ollantaytambo and receive a guiding tour and then, we explore its agricultural terraces built into a steep hillside that overlooks the Urubamba River— OLLANTAYTAMBO was the lodging of the Inca emperor Pachacutec and later served as a military checkpoint for the Incas trying to protect the roads to Machu Picchu from the invading Spaniards. Ollantaytambo was also an important administrative center with probable military functions due to the walls and towers. There are also traces of ancient roads and aqueducts. Currently, the town of Ollantaytambo is called a Living-Inca-Town, since the inhabitants maintain very old practices and customs.

After the private guided tour in Ollantaytambo, we head back to Urubamba for 35 minutes by the same road to enjoy a tasty buffet lunch in one of the great restaurants (variety of dishes and vegetarian optional). Following lunch, we continue with our day tour of Moray “The Incan Agricultural Laboratory” — MORAY is a fascinating, unique ruin; a fabulous amphitheater of terracing that was used as an agricultural experimental laboratory site by Incas by taking advantage of the microclimates produced by the varying altitude to breed new varieties of their crops. And also, the archaeological site of Moray has served as one of the main amphitheaters for the Incas where they performed rituals and ceremonies.

Finally, our alternative Sacred Valley day trip from Cusco continues towards Maras salt pools — THE SALT MINES OF MARAS are unforgettable that have been used since pre-Inca times to evaporate salt from an underground stream. Nowadays, site-people from Maras have diverted a salt-laden spring coming out of the hillside, evaporating the water to collect salt, as their ancestors have done for centuries.

We will walk among the Salt Mines; witnessing a scene largely unchanged from Inca times. This hill-top landscape and Sacred Valley mountainous region of Peru offers mystical awe-inspiring sights to discover… along with farms and villages that welcome you with a taste of daily life. The ancient capital of the Inca Empire.