Cuzco & the Sacred Valley
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©Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd Cuzco & the Sacred Valley Includes ¨ Why Go? Cuzco ..........................197 Incas deemed this spot the belly button of the world. A visit Pisac ...........................236 to Cuzco tumbles you back into the cosmic realm of ancient Urubamba ..................240 Andean culture – knocked down and fused with the colo- Ollantaytambo ........... 245 nial splendors of Spanish conquest, only to be repackaged as a thriving tourist mecca. Yet Cuzco is only the gateway. Aguas Calientes .........249 Beyond lies the Sacred Valley, Andean countryside dotted Machu Picchu ............253 with villages, high altitude hamlets and ruins linked by trail The Inca Trail ..............259 and railway tracks to the continent’s biggest draw – Machu Cuzco to Puno .............261 Picchu. Piquillacta & Old ways are not forgotten here. Colorful textiles keep Rumicolca ..................262 vivid the past, as do the wild fiestas and carnivals where pagan tradition meets solemn Catholic ritual. A stunning Abancay ..................... 270 landscape careens from Andean peaks to orchid-rich cloud forests and Amazon lowlands. Explore it on foot or by fat tire, rafting wild rivers or simply braving the local buses to the remote and dust-worn corners of this far-reaching, cul- Best Places turally rich department. to Eat ¨ Cicciolina (p225) ¨ La Bodega 138 (p225) When to Go Cuzco ¨ Huacatay (p243) °C/°F Te mp Rainfall inches/mm ¨ Indio Feliz (p252) 40/104 12/300 ¨ Marcelo Batata (p225) 30/86 8/200 20/68 10/50 4/100 Best Places 0/32 to Stay -10/14 0 ¨ Machu Picchu Pueblo J FDM A M J J A S O N Hotel (p251) High Cele ¨ Jun–Aug Late Jun Sep & Oct Apu Lodge (p247) season for tour brate the solstice Shoulder season ¨ Ecopackers (p217) ism, events and at Inti Raymi, the for tourism, with festivals; days are largest festival of fewer crowds in ¨ Niños Hotel (p218) sunny and nights the year. Machu Picchu. ¨ Inkaterra La Casona (p220) cold. 197 CUZCO while the finest boutiques sell alpaca knits % 084 / POP 427,000 / ELEV 3326M for small fortunes. The foremost city of the Cosmopolitan Inca capital, Cuzco (also Inca empire is now the undisputed archaeo- Cusco, or Qosq’o in Quechua) today thrives logical capital of the Americas, as well as the with a measure of contradiction. Ornate continent’s oldest continuously inhabited cath edrals squat over Inca temples, mas- city. Few travelers to Peru will skip visiting sage hawkers ply the narrow cobblestone this premier South American destination, streets, a woman in traditional skirt and also the gateway to Machu Picchu. bowler offers bottled water to a pet llama Pongo de Mainique Río Yavero Ivochote ios ubamba D Ur de Río Parque Nacional dre Ma Kiteni Manu o Río Vilcabamba Rí Shintuya 103 Zone Pau Cultural Quillabamba Manu car Salvación Vitcos Biking to Santa ta Tres Cruces María Amazon m 101 Region b Huancacalle o Atalaya Abra Málaga 26 Pillcopata (4350m) Santa Teresa Aguas Nevado Calientes Verónica Machu Picchu (5750m) Ollantaytambo Lares Urubamba Choquequirau Nevado CUZ Salkantay Paucartambo (6271m) Maras Chinchero Amaru 26 C Limatambo Tarawasi Pisac THE& O SA Cachora Anta Corahuasi Ampay Mollepata (5228m) 26 Cuzco Sahuite Ccatca Ocongate 28 Oropesa Cconoc Río Tinqui 3 Abancay Andahuaylillas Apurímac Urcos C RED VALLEY Paruro 3 Ausangate 26 (6384m) Acomayo Tambobamba Checacupe El Progreso C Tinta U Raqchi Z 0 50 km 0 25 miles co Colquemarca Sicuani Cuzco & The Sacred Valley Highlights 1 Drinking in the sublime 4 Exploring the narrow 7 Dining on haute cuisine grandeur of Machu Picchu streets and shops of or cuy (guinea pig): Cuzco (p253). bohemian San Blas (p207). restaurants (p224) can 2 Getting swept into 5 Wandering ancient ruins cater to any whim. the colorful frenzy of a in the stunning settings of 8 Barreling from the Andes traditional festival (p216). the Sacred Valley (p236). down into the Amazon on a 3 Hiking through traditional 6 Taking on the wild mountain bike (p213). villages and terraced agri Apurímac or Tampobata 9 Trekking up from the culture on the spectacular Rivers on a river-running tropics on the Salkantay Lares trek (p45). trip (p212). route (p45) to Machu Picchu..