Machu Picchu, Cusco & Sacred Valley: 7-Day Culture & Ruins Trip

4.92

(212 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

Landing in Lima felt like hitting pause on my regular life. I still had airport coffee breath when our guide, Lucía, waved us over with a paper sign (I always get nervous about missing those). She took us through the city’s old heart — Santo Domingo’s cloisters smelled faintly of incense and old paper. The Larco Museum wasn’t what I expected; the ceramics were so tactile I wanted to run my hands over them, but didn’t dare. By evening I was already losing track of time zones and centuries.

Cusco hit different — thinner air, brighter colors. We stopped at San Pedro Market first thing. It was noisy and full of fruit I’d never seen before; Lucía pressed a slice of lucuma into my hand (tasted kind of like caramel?). The walk from San Blas down to the Plaza de Armas is mostly downhill but somehow still left me winded. Our guide pointed out the famous Twelve Angled Stone — people actually line up to touch it. There’s something about those walls that makes you feel tiny but also sort of connected to everyone who ever walked here.

The Sacred Valley day trip from Cusco was one of those days that just keeps unfolding — Pisac ruins up on the hill, then weaving demonstrations in Yucay where I tried spinning alpaca wool (not well). Lunch was a blur of corn beer and laughter with locals who showed us how they dye textiles using bugs — never thought I’d see that. Moray’s terraces looked almost alien under the sun; salt mines at Maras shimmered white against red earth. Ollantaytambo’s stonework is so precise it doesn’t look real until you’re right there squinting at it.

I barely slept before Machu Picchu day — nerves or altitude or both? The train ride from Ollantaytambo was quiet except for bursts of chatter from other travelers. When we finally got off the bus at the top, clouds hugged the mountains and everything smelled green and wet. Our guide let us wander a bit after explaining the three different visitor circuits (apparently they change things up to protect the site). There was this one silent moment looking out over the terraces where it felt like time just folded in on itself. I still think about that view sometimes when I can’t sleep.