Luxury Tour: Sacred Valley + Machu Picchu 4 days & 4 nights

This 4 day tour features all the enchanting places of The Sacred Valley of the Incas, including the spectacular Machu Picchu. You will visit small Andean Villages, spectacular Inca Ruins, local markets, and salt pools, while passing through some of the most scenic areas of Peru. Our 4 day Sacred Valley Tour hits all the highlights and includes two nights at the luxurious Aranwa Hotel & Spa. Upon completing this trip you will see why even the Incan royalty would travel down into the Valley to unwind and relax…

Day 1: Arriving to Cusco
When arriving to Cusco you will be picked up at the airport in Cusco and taken to your charming 3-star hotel - Casa de Campo located 10 minutes from the Main Square. This hotel features spectacular views of the The Plaza de Armas and the marvelous mountain landscape that surround this imperial Incan city. Several outdoor patios offer great views and plenty of fresh mountain air. This is an ideal location for relaxing and enjoying the magical city lights of Plaza de Armas at night time.

Day 2: Awana Cancha - Pisac Ruins - Pisac Market - Urumbamba
We will pick you up from your hotel in Cusco at 8 a.m. for this three day guided tour of the Sacred Valley of the Incas, including Machu Picchu. Our first destination is the exhibition center of Awana Cancha, a living museum of the Andes. Here you will get firsthand experience with the different camelidaes (relatives of the camel), and see fine examples of ancient weaving techniques. After this we drive to the colonial town of Pisac, located about 1 hour by car from Cusco, and known for its traditional market and for the Incan ruins of the same name. Our vehicle will take you up to the ruins where our guide will take you on a 1 hour tour at this site that served as a trading hub as well as a religious centre. After the ruins we will continue to colonial town itself for a delicious lunch buffet, before we visit its famous market, which has been an important market town since well before the Incan empire. This sprawling market, which overflows the main plaza, offers excellent opportunities to pick up some textiles or colourful ceramics.

After shopping, it is back to the vehicle for a hour long ride along the banks of the Urubamba river until we reach the town of the same name. Along the way we will pass through numerous small villages and see the locals working the fields. After a short stop at the main town square, we will go directly to our exclusive hotel: Aranwa Hotel & Spa, a huge oasis in the middle of the Sacred Valley. This 5 star luxury hotel is a combination of colonial and modern stylizes, and offers the most exquisite amenities you can imagine, including a 2500m2 spa, orchid pyramid, art gallery, gourmet restaurant, cinema and much more. Lean back and enjoy the magical atmosphere in the midst of the natural beauty of The Sacred Valley. Meals Included: Lunch.

Day 3: Chinchero - Moray - Maras - Ollantaytambo
We leave the Aranwa Hotel after the breakfast buffet around 8 a.m. to continue our adventures in the Sacred Valley of the Incas. After a 30 minute ride we’ll arrive into the town of Chinchero – a small town perched up on a hill with stunning views of the surrounding countryside. We will explore the town on foot making our way up to its famous colonial church adorned with many colorful religious frescoes and built on top of an Incan structure. Leaving Chinchero, we continue along the road for another 30 minutes to the unique agricultural archeological site of Moray. We will take some time to fully explore this series of concentric terraces that were used for the domestication, acclimatization and hybridization of plants that were modified or adapted for human consumption. A surprising fact about Moray is that from top to bottom the terraces are about 30 mts (100ft.) deep resulting in wide range of temperature differences. This created the conditions similar to today’s greenhouses and allowed the pre-Colombian people to grow a wide variety of different strands of crops from potatoes to corn. Leaving this fantastic ruin, we travel to the Salt Mines of Maras (Salineras) to view this immense complex consisting of hundreds of terraced pools fed by a salt water spring. From the salt pools we will have the option to ride our vehicle or hike 3 miles down to the Urubamba River Valley. Once in the valley we will stop for lunch before continuing on by vehicle to the village of Ollantaytambo. Here we will explore the fabulous ruins that in addition to serving as an important agricultural and religious centre were the site of a famous battle where the Incas humiliated the Spanish. With the day ending we make our way back to Aranwa Hotel & Spa. Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch.

Day 4: Aguas Calientes - Machu Picchu - Cusco
Today we leave the hotel early at 7:30am to get to the train station in Ollantaytambo, which will take us on a beautiful ride of nearly 2 hours through marvelous scenery to the town of Machu Picchu (Aguas Calientes), located at the base of the Machu Picchu. In town, we make a quick transfer from the train to a shuttle bus for a 20 minute ride up a winding road to the entrance of Machu Picchu. Here our guide will give you an in-depth tour of this world famous archeological site. The tour lasts approximately 3 hours and includes some time to wander off and do some of your own exploring. Use this time to explore the numerous plazas, buildings and spectacular vistas that have captivated so many since Hiram Bingham first brought notoriety to the site in 1911.

With your inner-explorer satisfied we will meet to take the bus down to the village together, where we will enjoy a buffet lunch that allows you to fuel up on some of Peru’s world famous cuisine while soaking in the mystery of Machu. After lunch we will board the train for the 4 hour ride back to the city of Cusco. Coming back to Cusco you will be picked up at the train station and brought backto the charming Casa de Campo in time to enjoy the magical city lights from the hotel terraces.

Made known to the World by Hiram Bingham in 1911, Machu Picchu was inhabited by local farmers but probably remained unknown to the Spaniards. The purpose of an Inca city in such a spectacular location remains under debate: Some argue it was built and populated by the family of a powerful Inca ruler (Pachakutek). Others have proposed that the principal function of Machu Picchu was a “trading center” to maintain a reliable supply of coca leaves and other tropical supplies for the priests and royalty in Cuzco. Bingham fostered the school of thought that the city existed primarily for strategic and defensive purposes, yet another theory supports the idea that Machu Picchu was an indoctrination center or school to teach the leaders and their children about other Andean cultures conquered by the Incas. Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch.

Day 5: Check-out from hotel in Cusco
After a nice breakfast, there is late check-out at 12.00pm from the hotel. Meals Included: Breakfast.

The prices are per person and in $US.

The prices are based on hotel allocation of 2 people in double room, 3 people in triple room, 4 people in two double rooms, 5 people in one double and one triple room. For other room allocation, please send us a request (this normally implies a higher price per person).

Price Includes:
• Machu Picchu entrance fee. (s/. 126 or $US 46.66)
• Train tickets from Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu Town (Aguas Calientes), and
  return ticket from Machu Picchu Town (Aguas Calientes) to Cusco.
  (“VistadomeTrain”)
• Bus tickets up and down from/to Aguas Calientes to/from Machu Picchu. ($US 16)
• Pick-up from the hotel and from the airport at arrival.
• Service of local official tour guide(s).
• Private tourist bus
• 4 nights at hotels: 2 nights at 5-star luxurious hotel in Urubamba and 2 nights at
  3-star hotel in Cusco.

Price Does Not Include:
• Entrance to the tourist sites (S/. 70.00 or $US 25.92 for ticket “parcial”, s/. 130 or
  $US 48.14 for ticket “integral”, but if you have already bought your Cusco-BTG*
  ticket, you do not need this entrance) *BTG is the ticket needed to visit all Cusco’s
  places of interest and used in and around Cusco.
• Meals not specified in the itinerary.
• Optional tipping of the staff.
• Expenses such as medical immunizations (if any).
• Travel insurance.
• Other expenses of a personal nature.

“We had 3 excellent days on the guided tour in the Sacred Valley. The accommodation in Urubamba was the best hotel we have ever experienced, the five stars are not a star too many. The different tours were amazing, and at the same time the guide was very friendly and helpful. Can only recommend this tour...”

Kasper Hansen, Denmark