Destination one · The Andes
Flights between Lima and Cusco leave roughly every thirty minutes and take about an hour.
When you land, we strongly recommend driving straight down to the Sacred Valley (2,870 m / 9,416 ft) instead of sleeping in Cusco city that first night. The lower altitude makes it a far kinder place to begin acclimatising.
After a few days down there you can come back up to Cusco city (3,400 m / 11,155 ft) already adapted. The drive from Cusco airport to the valley takes about an hour and a half.
Lima
1 h flight
Cusco Airport
1 h 30 drive
Sacred Valley
2,870 m · 3 – 4 nights
Cusco City
3,400 m · 1 night
Start low, finish high: the valley first to acclimatise gently, then Cusco city once your body has caught up.
If you book one thing in the Sacred Valley, book at least one night here. Panoramic glass suites opening straight onto the mountains, alpacas and llamas on the grass at breakfast, and nothing to do after dinner but look outside.
Ask for a room facing the peaks, and keep the evening free.
Take the first train, take the first bus up, and give yourself permission to sit still for an hour before you start photographing anything. Huayna Picchu if you have the legs and booked it; the Inca Bridge if you would rather walk flat.
Circuits, entry times and train seats are all sold separately and all sell out. Book them the day you book your flights, on PeruRail or Inca Rail for the train, and the official ticket office for entry.
Two things need to be arranged in advance and they depend on each other: your entrance ticket, which carries a fixed entry time, and your train, which has to get you there in time for it. Staying in the valley, take the train from Ollantaytambo.
The Maras salt mines have been worked since pre-Inca times: thousands of shallow pools stepped down a mountainside, still harvested by natural evaporation, still in the hands of the same families.
Only about 7 km away is Moray, concentric agricultural terraces the Incas are believed to have used for experimenting with crops — each level holds its own microclimate.
Both fit comfortably into half a day and together they are a beautiful introduction to Andean history, engineering and culture. Do them in that order, with a driver for the morning.
An important agricultural, military and religious centre of the Inca empire, known for its enormous terraces, its temples — the Temple of the Sun among them — and the views straight down the Sacred Valley.
It is also one of the few towns in Peru that still keeps its original Inca layout, with cobbled streets and working water channels.
Allow two to three hours for the site and the town. It is the usual departure point for the train to Machu Picchu, a beautiful ride through the mountains down to Aguas Calientes.
Go early, before the tour buses. Pisac has the best textiles in the valley and the ruins above the town are quieter and, some mornings, more beautiful than Cusco's.
Buy the blanket. You will regret it if you don't.
Two different places, and it helps to know the difference. Cusco is the city: Inca stone walls with colonial cloisters built on top of them, a plaza worth an evening, San Blas for the workshops and the Qorikancha to understand everything else. One full day there is genuinely enough — there isn't much more to see.
The Sacred Valley is the lower, greener part of the Cusco region, about an hour down the road at 2,800 m. That is where almost everything you came for actually is: the salt pans of Maras, the terraces of Moray, Pisac market, Ollantaytambo, the Mountain View Experience with the alpacas, and the train to Machu Picchu.
So our advice, honestly: fly in and drive straight down to the valley. Sleep lower for three or four nights — you will acclimatise far better — and come back up to Cusco for one day at the end, when your body has caught up.
Three or four nights low in the valley, one night up in Cusco. Only four- and five-star places here — at this altitude, comfort matters.
Sacred Valley · A must, at least one night
Panoramic glass suites facing the Andes, with alpacas and llamas on the grass outside your window in the morning. If you book one thing in the valley, book a night here.
Urubamba · Five stars, classic
Restored colonial estates with gardens, fireplaces and long breakfasts. Perfect if you are travelling as a group.
Cusco · Five stars
A 16th-century monastery a block from the plaza, with cloisters, oxygen-enriched rooms and the best service in the city. The one night you spend in Cusco, spend it here.
Andean food is heartier than the rest of Peru's, and better with altitude tea on the side.
Cusco · Dinner
Andean cooking done properly — alpaca, river trout, and soups that fix altitude better than any pill.
Urubamba · Long and slow
Open-air kitchens with clay ovens and wood smoke. Book for 1 PM and do nothing afterwards.
Cusco · Warm and modern
A small, generous kitchen doing Andean produce with a light hand — one of our favourite tables in Cusco. Book ahead, there are only a handful of tables.
Free, and it helps
Drink it on arrival, walk slowly for the first day, and skip the wine on your first night.
For airport transfers, the run between Cusco and the Sacred Valley, and getting around during your stay — these are drivers we know and trust. Message them on WhatsApp to ask for prices and arrange things ahead of time.
Amilcar
+51 929 401 360Wilbert
+51 999 054 599Roy
+51 984 988 382Edmundo
+51 984 310 023Víctor Hugo Quispe
+51 972 250 274Fidel
+51 984 753 223