Machu Picchu Travel Forum

Hello. My husband and I are doing an 11 day trip to the Sacred Valley this June. I've put our itinerary below and am welcoming comments from those of you who have been here re your positive or negative experiences. Thanks:).

We will fly to Cusco then head out immediately via taxi to Ollantaytambo via visits to Salinas, Tarabamba, Moray & Maras. Our hotel, Hotel Sauce, in Ollanta is arranging for a cab to do this for us. We'll use Ollanta as our base for three nights/two days to explore Ollanta and hike around that area (did I mention we love to hike:)?

We'll catch the morning Vistadome train to Aguas Calientes and maybe hike up Wina Waya that day, then stay in AC at the Wiracocha Inn. We'll get up early to catch the first bus to Machu Picchu and hike up Huayna Picchu and do whatever other sites we can squeeze in before busing pack to AC to catch the 3:45pm Vistadome train all the way to Cusco.

We'll stay in Cusco at the Orquidea Real for 4 nights as a base to explore the ruins/towns/hiking between Pisac and Cusco -- Pisac, Tambomachay, Pukapukara, Saqaywaman and Cusco.

I know we are trying to pack in a lot, but, we only have this amount of time:(. We probably should stay in AC one more night, so we can spend more time exploring the ruins of MP, but not enough time:(. We may or may not hire guides on an as-needed basis. We have been reading all about MP and the Sacred Valley in books by Ruth Wright/ Alfredo Zegarra as well as the Trailblazer guide by Richard Danbury. Plus, I've helped both my kids study recently for tests on the Incas:).

As I mentioned, we are going in June, and it sounds like it is sunny and cool (60s F) during the day and in the 30s (F) at night. So, we are just planning on packing light -- a zip-off lightweight hiking pants, short and long sleeved t-shirts and sweat tops and trail running shoes and a cap for daytime and jeans, long sleeved ts and fleece for night.

Thanks everyone for your comments:)

Hi, iwent there with my husband too, last year. we¨re from Santiago Chile. Its amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, we stayed in Cusco in a five star hotel for,be careful, higene is important in these places its totally undeveloped and going anywhere to stay isnt adviseable.They can also steal from you.
WE stayd 1 week in Cuzco and it wasnt enough,then we took a day ticket by train (the fastest one ) to Machu pichu, wonderful! we havent heard about Ollanta, though we did many tours around the city, June is winter so please think on getting raincoats and shoes for humidity.
lots of luck
tere (teregreve@hotmail.com)

Seems you've got it all worked out and looks fine-everybody plans it according their own personal interests-so what is really your question??

Your plan is exactly right to acclimatise befor arriving in Cusco. I certainly wouldn't recommend Cusco as the first stop. As it has the highest elevation of these locations, it has to be the last. I would change your plans to two nights in Aguas Calientes and three nights in Cusco. I recently returned from the area and spent 3 nights in Sacred Valley based in Urubamba (visiting Pisac, Ollantaytambo, Salinas and Moray), 2 nights in AC for Machu Picchu and finally 2 nights in Cusco. The only regret is that we couldn't stay one more night in Cusco to be able to visit ruins outside the city. One very full day was enough to visit the main sights of this lovely city itself. Machu Picchu is wonderful and I cannot imagine we would have liked to rush to the 3.45 train to Cusco (you have to leave the ruins early in order to make it to the train and have something to eat before the train leaves). So I very strongly recommend two nights in AC. MP was the definite highlight of the area.

Thanks Kauris. I was thinking we were kinda short changing Machu Picchu, so we may give up one of the Cusco nights for a second night in AC as you suggest.

Noel, I was just looking for tweaks, such as the one suggested by Kauris:).

as you say, hiking is your passion so with that in mind, my assumptions will be as such skill level. There are a handful of other hikes of A.C. that would be the only reason to have a second night in A.C. If staying in that tourist town for 2 nights for only M.P. and H.P. then not needed. One day is sufficient.

People will discourage you about the high output needed for these elevation hikes but I will presume you guys never had any altitude sickness in your history of hikes so with that no probs. But chewing and drinking coca tea and leaves a few days prior never hurt us when we went.

Delete the sweat tops and replace with a wind/waterproof shell. and jeans are never a packing light item.

Hmmmm, if you love ruins this doesn't sound so bad. Personally, after a while it all started looking the same to me. I only spent one day in A.G. and I thought that was plenty... M.P. is interesting but I wouldn't want to spend more than a few hours there (but I didn't do the hike to H.P.), so maybe I missed something there. I was told I would've had to get there early because only X many hikers were allowed to the peak at the time. There was another trail called trail to the sun or something I walked instead for a ways.