The Sacred Valley Express itinerary hour by hour: Chinchero, Maras, Moray, Ollantaytambo and Pisac
Book for tomorrow: Express US$32 · Classic US$30 · is there space? · how to book
The day, stop by stop
The route starts at hotels and Airbnbs in the historic center. Your exact time arrived last night on WhatsApp. Bring your passport and soles for the entrance fees.
At 3,762 m, the highest point of the day and the first stop on purpose: you climb it fresh. A textile center with alpaca spinning, plant and cochineal dyes and backstrap weaving; Inca terraces and a colonial church on Inca foundations. First Tourist Ticket checkpoint.
More than 3,000 pans fed by a salty spring, worked by families from the community. The community charges the entrance, which is why it sits outside the ticket. At 9:30 am there are still few people at the upper viewpoint.
Amphitheaters of circular terraces at 3,500 m; they are thought to have been an agricultural laboratory for testing crops at different altitudes. Second site on the Tourist Ticket.
A 40-minute descent to Urubamba, at 2,871 m, the lowest point of the morning. Andean buffet at Rustica, included; 14 Inkas, Don Ángel and Tunupa if you chose an upgrade. Drinks are extra.
A fortress-temple on the hillside, the Temple of the Sun with its six monoliths and the only inhabited Inca town that keeps its original layout. At 2,790 m. If you chose the version that finishes here, the tour ends at 3:30 pm inside the archaeological park, a 15-minute walk from the station.
1 h 50 on the road along the valley to Pisac. 50 minutes on the terraces and in the religious sector with the Intihuatana (3,300 m), then a 10-minute drive down to the town and 25 minutes at the market and a silversmith’s workshop.
40 minutes back. The bus drops you in the center of the city, not at your hotel.
Altitude profile
Chinchero is the highest point and comes at 7:40 am; from there the day drops to Ollantaytambo and the afternoon runs below Cusco (3,350 m). That is why the order is Chinchero → Maras → Moray and not the other way round.
How much is driving and how much is visiting
- Chinchero 1 h 15
- Maras 45 min
- Moray 45 min
- Lunch 50 min
- Ollantaytambo 1 h
- Pisac 50 min + 35 min in the town
- Cusco → Chinchero 1 h
- Chinchero → Maras 30 min · Maras → Moray 15 min
- Moray → Urubamba 40 min
- Urubamba → Ollantaytambo 1 h 10
- Ollantaytambo → Pisac 1 h 50
- Pisac → Cusco 40 min
The longest leg, Ollantaytambo → Pisac, crosses the whole valley from west to east: it is the nap hour of the day.
The version that ends in Ollantaytambo
The same itinerary until 3:30 pm: Chinchero, Maras, Moray, lunch and Ollantaytambo. It ends there, inside the archaeological park, a 15-minute walk from the train station. It does not visit Pisac (4 places) and costs US$31. Express ending in Ollantaytambo →
What can change
- The order of the stops can shift slightly for traffic or weather; all five places are always visited.
- Your pickup time depends on your part of the center: it reaches you on WhatsApp the night before.
- Getting back to Cusco at 7 pm is the norm; on heavy-traffic days it can run a few minutes late.
Bookings for tomorrow: non-refundable; you can move the date if there is space, and we reschedule or refund if we cancel because of the weather.