7 Days in Peru- Day 1: The Sacred Valley, Ollantaytambo
Visit the Sacred Valley in Peru and see Incan ruins throughout the Cusco area. A full travel guide with travel tips for visiting Ollantaytambo, Peru.
Ollantaytambo Peru Travel Tips
Trip to Peru Day 1
Location: The Sacred Valley, Ollantaytambo Ruins
Cost: Get a Boleto Turistico at the gate, which will run you about $43 U.S. Dollars (130 Peruvian Soles). It is a one-time expense that will get you into most locations in The Sacred Valley, not including Machu Picchu.
Time: Plan 30-45 minutes by taxi to get there, about an hour by bus from Urubama, and at least 2-3 hours to see the ruins. You may want 2-3 hours to eat and to explore the cutest town in Peru with some of the friendliest people, and there are additional hikes to take to see water structures, fortresses, agricultural huts, etc. We spent half a day traveling there and seeing the ruins, and stayed the evening for dinner and exploring the town with some lovely British friends we made while touring. A total of 5-8 hours will be plenty, and this is something you could put on an itinerary for an entire day.
Tips: It is a decent trek up and you’ll be on rock formations, shoes good for walking with traction are recommended. It’s also hot at the top of the ruins and windy and cool at the bottom. Bring a light jacket or cardigan and plenty of water. We were greeted at the entrance by a guide who charged us 20 soles a piece for an English tour. Definitely worth it- unless you already know everything there is to know about the place.
Sample Timing for a Day in Ollantaytambo Peru
Incan Ruins
If you only have time to see one place in The Sacred Valley outside of Cusco, make it Ollantaytambo. It’s a place that served as an Incan Temple, a farming land, and a residential community.
But also, a place used as a war shelter and defense, a place for Incan rulers to retreat when the Spanish took over the country, a place to tell when the winter and summer solstice planting seasons occurred, and a religious place for sacrifices and worship.
It’s also an incredible structure that has survived earthquakes, wars, and the Spanish and still stands as an engineering marvel of stones cut to perfection on the top of a mountain.
Seriously, every angle yields quite the view.
And the incredible-sized stones rolled up the mountain gave us the utmost respect for the Incan people. All of Ollantaytambo Peru will do that!
Behind us is the tiered agricultural structure- where a different crop was planted on each tier. Ingenious gardening and pollinating solutions were created. Far more advanced than any other place in the world during the time of this civilization.
You really can’t beat the modern civilians casually passing through the ruins with their livestock.
All the ruins in Peru’s Sacred Valley are amazing! However, I have to admit, we started it off right with our favorite ones in Ollantaytambo Peru.
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