The Vilcanota / Urubamba river valley is a beautiful place to visit, starting at Pisac, just 30 kilometer from Cusco. A unique typical Andean town which on Sundays is filled with locals in their colorful traditional costumes, trading goods after a traditional mass and procession. This market is also open on Thursdays. On the hilltop is located the archeological complex, a strategic Inca stronghold with fine stone work and superb view of agricultural terraces and the valley.

Yucay
48 kilometer from Cusco, a very picturesque village with some fine Inca masonry in one of the squares. Behind the village to the north you will find the finest surviving Inca agricultural system in the Cusco region which is still in use.

Urubamba
78 kilometers from Cusco, is an attractive town that lies in the center of the valley and can be used as a base to explore the Sacred Valley.

Chinchero
28 kilometer from Cusco, the town's unusual architecture is the result of Spanish-Inca fusion. The small church built in the late 16th century, houses several colonial paintings; and the colorful Sunday market is said to be the most authentic in the region. The Inca ruins consist of terracing and a massive Inca wall a the main square with ten large trapezoid niches.

Ollantaytambo
The temple-fortress of Ollantaytambo is located some 30 miles outside Cuzco and is built on the hillside above the modern-day village of Ollantaytambo. The huge, steep terraces that form the outer defences of the fortress successfully repelled a Spanish attack in 1536.

Manco Inca had equipped the fortress with jungle archers from the nearby Amazon basin and the conquistadors suffered terribly from these archers and from the large quantities of boulders that were continually hurled down the hillside at them. The natives also diverted the nearby Patacancha river to flood the plain, soon causing the cavalry to be wallowing in mud up to the horses waists. The Spaniards retreated rapidly to Cuzco, pursued aggressively by the emboldened natives.