Sacred Valley trekking with Machu Picchu and the Colored Mountains
🏔️ Peru is calling! 🇵🇪 Join us for the ultimate Incan adventure in January 2027!
Cusco, the imperial and cultural capital of the Inca Empire, sits above the amazing Sacred Valley, which stretches 30 miles in a 3,000 foot deep canyon. It's filled with villages, hiking trails, natural beauty, and history of the Incas. Join us as we make our way down the valley, hiking off the tourist track on rugged Incan trails, learning about the Incan civilization, exploring some of the most iconic Incan sites, and immersing ourselves in the culture, food and atmosphere of one of the most peaceful environments in the world.
And we culminate the Sacred Valley exploration with a trip to the must-see Machu Picchu, a mountain-top refuge never seen by the Spanish Conquistadors.
We end our time together in Cusco to visit museums and collect souvenirs and take a day trip to the Colored Mountains, where we'll hike at over 16,000 feet!
Transfers to/from Cusco and Sacred Valley; also and during the treks/Machu Picchu tour/optional Colored Mountain day trip.
Hotels in larger cities and inns in small towns.
We use several local guides during this trip, all are professional and licensed.
Hotels and inns include a free breakfast. Special diet accommodation at no extra charge (vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, lactose free...just ask!)
Round trip transfer on the Machu Picchu scenic train.
You'll take the bus from the train station up switchbacking road to the entry point of Machu Picchu.
All mandatory fees and taxes for Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu.
On your departure day hotel checkout is normally 10am, but most flights back to the US depart in the evening. If you wish to have an extended checkout it's included in your trip price, just ask!
Please fly into Cusco (Alejandro Velasco Astete Int. Airport (CUZ))
You'll use a taxi for transfer to your hotel in Cusco for early arrivals; everybody will use a taxi from the last hotel in Cusco to Cusco airport due to the varied departure times ($15-20 each way)
Breakfast is normally included but this may vary by current lodging policy, estimated out of pocket expense for other meals $350-$400
You will be sharing a hotel room with your travel companion, or, if traveling solo, with a same-sex traveler. A single room is available for an extra charge calculated close to the trip start date.
Tips for hired guides and drivers. We recommend $1 USD/3 Soles per day for drivers, and $40 USD/120 Soles at the end of the trip for our guide.
All trekkers should consider travel insurance.
Fly into Cusco in the morning, meet the team, stop at a money changing shop in Cusco, and then travel to the town of Pisac (9,500 feet) in the Sacred Valley of the Incas. Focus of the day is to get to know one another, explore, have lunch in one of the restaurants around the plaza, and then wander the narrow streets and get acclimatized to the altitude.
Start day 2 with a hotel breakfast and then venture out to ruins for our first trek, climbing mostly downhill from the ruins back to Pisac. Enjoy shopping and exploring the town in the afternoon. End the day with a team dinner.
Today we have a beautiful uphill trek! After breakfast at our hotel, we’ll have a driver take us to Urquillos, about 30 minutes down the valley. We'll cross the Urubamba river and walk through the village, enjoying the relatively flat first half of the trail. Further up, maybe a villager has snacks, coffee and "chicha" (homemade corn beer) for sale before we visit the waterfall, then continue up the valley. We'll take a slow pace and stop for a lot for photographs as the views open up down the valley. Our reward is Chinchero, an Inca terraced hillside and adjacent village. The trek is about 9 miles, 3,400 feet of elevation gain, topping out at 12,300 feet. For the experience, we'll take a "collectivo" back down the valley to Urubamba, where our bags will be waiting for us at our hotel. We'll have time to visit the huge market complex, get a fruit juice, and explore the town in the center of the valley.
We'll have an easy but early day today. After breakfast in the hotel, we’ll visit an Inca experimental farm and the Moray salt pans. We’ll trek down to the valley floor, have lunch and then travel to Ollantaytambo.
In the afternoon we’ll have the option of a guided tour the Ollantaytambo fortress and/or take a short hike to granaries on the other side of the valley.
Free time in town for sightseeing, shopping, and we spend the night here in Ollantaytambo.
Today is an epic day. We start the day with breakfast in our hotel in Ollantaytambo and then head out to trek across the valley and up to a Sungate Incan travelers would go through on their trek to Machu Picchu.
There are beautiful views along the ~13 mile (round trip) path, we gain 4,070 feet and top out at 12,800 feet. We'll be back in town by early afternoon, leaving you plenty of time to explore the markets and village life.
Today is a free day, or "active rest" as we like to call it. Explore the town, hike near the village, or hire a taxi to take you to a nearby archeological site. Or just rest! We visit Machu Picchu tomorrow with an early wake-up and a late arrival in Cusco, so save your energy!
Day 7 starts with an early wakeup to catch the train to Aguas Calientes, a town just below Machu Picchu. We then get on a shuttle bus for a 25 minute ride up to the gates of Machu Picchu. The tour takes about three hours. It's as beautiful and amazing as you have heard!!
A rest day! After a long day visiting Machu Picchu, train rides, and driving back to Cusco you can sleep in and explore the town of Cusco. We include a morning walking tour to explore another Inca site and the location of a famous battle.
A guide will pick us up at our hotel in Cusco and drive us 3.5 hours to the base of Colored Mountain. From there it’s a short walk but high walk at 16,000 feet (that's higher than any point in USA's lower 48 states) to a unique mountain landscape, only discovered recently after glaciers melted to reveal the stunning colors. On the return drive we can stop at an authentic restaurant and try some grilled guinea pig.
Take some more time to continue exploring Cusco's museums, markets and ruins before your flight to Lima and home. Most flights depart in the evening, so your extended hotel checkout is included in the trip price.
