Sacred Valley

Introduction

Mother and child in Ollantaytambo

© Utrecht

The Sacred Valley, also known as the El Valle Sagrado or the Urubamba Valley is 20 kilometres from Cusco. The Incas built many cultural and archaeological sites in this fertile valley.

Sights and Activities

• Pisac - Inca ruins and weekend markets
• Sacsayhuaman - Inca ruins
• Quenco - Rocks
• Chincero - Inca ruins and weekend markets
• Urubamba - Transport hub on the Rio Urubamba
• Salinas - Inca Salt pans
• Moray - Inca crop development amphitheatre
• Maras - Laid back Valley town
• Ollantaytambo - Last train stop before Machu Picchu and Inca fortress.

Getting There

By Train

Trains run from Cusco stopping at Ollantaytambo through to Aguas Calientes, the last stop before going up by bus to Machu Picchu.

By Car

Taxi's can be hired in Cusco to take you through the Sacred Valley sites.

By Bus

Local buses ply the roads in the Sacred Valley on a regular basis.

By Boat

White water rafting can be done down the Rio Urubamba.

Getting Around

By Public Transport

Local buses ply the roads between the Sacred Valley towns.

By Foot

There is a spectacular trail from the Salinas salt pans down to Urubamba crossing the Rio Urubamba.

Sleep

Cuzco forms a good base for exploring the Sacred Valley but there are options in other towns like Ollantaytambo.

Upscale

View our map of accommodation in Valle Sagrado

Keep Connected

Internet

More and more hotels, resorts, airports, cafes, and retailers are going Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity), becoming "hotspots" that offer free high-speed Wi-Fi access or charge a small fee for usage. In Peru, by far the easiest way to check your e-mail and surf the Web is to drop in at the Internet cabinas (booths) that can be found in virtually every city and even small towns. Connections are usually fast, and the service is as little as S/2 per hour.
Aside from formal cybercafes, most youth hostels and many hotels nowadays have at least one computer with Internet access.

Phone

See also International Telephone Calls

Peru's country code is +51. Emergency numbers include 105 (Police), 117 (Ambulance) and 116 (Fire).

In all towns and villages that are not too small, it is no problem to find public telephones for national and international calls. Many public phones can be expensive, and an attractive alternative is a Locutorio, or "call-center". Typical rates include .2 Nuevo Sol/minute for calls in the country, and .5 Nuevo Sol/minute for most international calls. Phone cards are cheap and easily available from shops or vendors who hang around pay phones. You'll often see people with a bundle of mobile phones who act as pay phones, they'll be shouting 'llamadas'. Telephone booths are primarily used for making local calls. Calling to other countries from Peru is expensive.

If you have an unlocked cell phone you can buy local SIM cards. Movistar and Claro are two of the phone companies in Peru. You can buy your sim card from these companies and buy a phone card also.

Your best, cheapest bet for making international calls from Peru is to head to any Internet cafe with an international calling option. These cafes have connections to Skype, Net2Phone, or some other VoIP service. International calls made this way can range anywhere from 5¢ to $1 per minute -- much cheaper than making direct international calls or using a phone card. If you have your own Skype or similar account, you just need to find an Internet cafe that provides a computer with a headset.

Post

Check the Serpost website, the national postal service (a private company), for more information about prices and options regarding the sending of postcards, letters and parcels. The post service is relatively efficient and post offices can be found in most cities and (larger) towns. Post offices generally are open from 8:00am to 8:00pm Monday to Saturday and some are open on Sundays from 9:00am to 1:00pm. Postcards are available from street vendors and shops at any touristy area, and stamps are generally available as well, though sometimes only at the post office itself. It takes at least 10 days to send a postcard to North America and prices start at S/5.5. To Europe it is S/7.8 and it takes even a bit longer, around 2 weeks. For little extra money, you can choose 'expresso' services. For large parcels and quantities, you can use both Serpost or companies like DHL, UPS, TNT or FedEx, which are faster and offers the same prices, though it is still relatively expensive.

External Links