Cuzco, Sacred Valley & Machu Picchu

Day 1 — Cuzco › Sacred Valley

Arrive Cuzco airport you will be met by a guide and transfer by private car to the Sacred Valley of the Incas via the colourful Pisac Market. On the way, stop and learn about the Andean members of the camelid family – llamas, alpacas and vicunas, and hand feed them if you wish. After some time at the market, continue to your hotel located in the heart of the beautiful Sacred Valley, home for the next two nights. This area is some 600 metres lower than Cuzco and spending your first nights here significantly aids acclimatization to altitude. Dinner is included at your hotel this evening.

Day 2 — Sacred Valley

Today’s private tour includes several great highlights of the area. The first stop will be Maras, an amazing collection of over 3,000 salt ponds where the local Indians have been extracting this precious commodity since well before Inca times. Continue to the intriguing Inca agricultural experiment at Moray, famous for its impressive circular terracing, a marvel of engineering. A visit will also be made to the weavers village of Chincheros. Here you will learn about weaving techniques that date back to Inca times. After lunch visit the impressive fortress of Ollantaytambo, scene of one of the last great battles between the Inca and the Spanish conquistadors. Return late afternoon to your Sacred Valley hotel.

Day 3 — Sacred Valley › Machu Picchu

Transfer by private car to Ollantaytambo. Take a scenic Vistadome train journey to Machu Picchu Pueblo and enjoy lunch at a restaurant. Later transfer to the ruins to join a guided tour of Machu Picchu. It was here that the Inca royalty fled after the Spanish invasion and were never discovered by the conquistadors. Your guide will explain all about this magnificent historical gem as you walk through this incredible site. Later, return to Machu Picchu Pueblo for the night with dinner included at your hotel.

Day 4 — Machu Picchu › Cuzco

There is time this morning for a second entry to Machu Picchu (at additional cost) or to explore the markets of Machu Picchu Pueblo. Return by rail and private car to Cuzco and stay for two nights in a hotel located close to the heart of the old city.

Day 5 — Cuzco

Today’s half-day private sightseeing tour offers history, living culture and art. Walk the halls of the San Pedro market, the oldest in the city. Designed in 1925 by Gustave Eiffel, today it brings together hundreds of merchants selling local products. Also visit the Koricancha temple, which during the Inca empire was a center of worship of the Sun and on which the Santo Domingo convent was later built as part of the evangelization process. Its baroque style façade built on solid Inca walls perfectly summarizes the syncretism of cultures in the city of Cuzco.

Next explore the monumental fortress of Sacsayhuaman, which with its enormous carved stone walls constitutes one of the best examples of Inca military architecture. Tour the archaeological center of Kenko, a ceremonial place where the sun, the moon and the stars were worshiped. And lastly, visit the Cathedral, the most important temple in the city. It was built by the Spanish on top of the palace of the Inca Huiracocha. Its interior houses a wonderful collection of colonial art composed of goldsmith pieces and representative canvases of the Cusco School of Art.

Day 6 — Cuzco

Transfer by private car to the airport.

2026

2027

What’s included

• Tailor-made journey
• 5 nights’ accommodation in your category of choice
• 5 breakfasts, 2 lunches, and 2 dinners
• Meet & greet at Cuzco Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport
• Private transfers as per the itinerary
• Shared transfers Aguas Calientes › Machu Picchu › Aguas Calientes
• PeruRail’s Vistadome train Ollantaytambo › Aguas Calientes › Ollantaytambo
• English-speaking local guides
• Private sightseeing as per the itinerary
• Shared Machu Picchu tour (private in 2027)
• Entrance fees as per the itinerary

Not included

• Gratuities

The whole trip, one booking

We arrange your international and regional flights alongside your journey — in whichever cabin suits — with stopovers, travel insurance and the rest of your time in South America, so it’s all priced, ticketed and looked after together.

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Why book through us

A South American itinerary takes real co-ordination: flights across the Pacific, internal flights between countries, trains, lodges, guides and the occasional boat. Booking through Fine Travel, you benefit from partners on the ground who have been chosen and tested over many years by our specialist partners — and you deal with one TAANZ-accredited agency in New Zealand.

One consultant, first call to home again

Your Fine Travel consultant looks after your enquiry and your booking from the first conversation to your return, with the operator’s on-the-ground partners behind the journey itself.

Complimentary documentation

If you prefer printed copies of your travel documentation, we’ll courier a full hard-copy set to you at no cost — a service few agencies still offer, and one our clients tell us they value.