Machupicchu, Cusco, Sacred Valley, Humantay lake and South Valle

MACHUPICCHU 5 DAYS (CITY TOUR + SACRED VALLEY + MACHUPICCHU + HUMANTAY LAKE + SOUTH VALLEY)

The City Tour Cusco, Sacred Valley of the Incas, Machupicchu, Humantay Lake and South Valley (Machupicchu 5 days) is a 5 days tour package. We start with the City Tour Cusco which is one of the main and important tourist circuits within the city of Cusco (3399 m.a.s.l.), the city tour will allow you to know the Inca culture from museums, temples that were built on the foundations of Inca palaces and more archaeological sites that has the city of Cusco, with a tour full of history and magic that this keeps both in its colonial monuments such as the Main square of Cusco, Cusco Cathedral and Qorikancha, as well as the archaeological centers of Sacsayhuaman, Q’enqo, Puka Pukara and Tambomachay.

The next day we will make the next tour which is the Sacred Valley of the Incas at 2800 meters above sea level, a rich valley for its fertile land, climate and geographical conditions located on the banks of the Vilcanota River, which allowed him to be a center of agricultural production through the systems of terraces, also highlighting its hydraulic systems, it also established urban, military and religious centers such as Pisaq, Ollantaytambo and Chinchero.

On the third day we will make the tour to Machupicchu, a tourist destination that leads you to one of the seven wonders of the world, a place of great magic and mystery admired by the whole world, recognized worldwide by Unesco. Here you can admire the scenic beauty, history and Inca architecture (Temple of the Sun, Temple of the Condor, Three Windows, Sacred Rock and Intihuatana) where you can connect with nature and recharge with positive energy in a unique landscape that offers Machupicchu.

On the fourth day we will make the Humantay Lake tour (4200 m.a.s.l.) a natural attraction located in the Peruvian Andes in the Vilcabamba chain at the foot of the snow-capped of Salkantay (6270 m.a.s.l.), the second highest mountain in the Cusco region. This beautiful lake of turquoise waters was formed by the melting of the snowy Humantay part of the snow-capped of Salkantay its turquoise hue is due to the presence of blue-green algae. In this beautiful natural landscape we can feel the energy of this mystical place.

The last day of this adventure in the city of Cusco we will make the tour South Valley a tourist destination located south of the city of Cusco on the way to the Antisuyo, a perfect tour for those people who want to know the origins of the valley of Cusco, a tour of much pre-Inca, Inca and colonial history where you can appreciate the archaeological site of Tipon an archaeological site listed as the masterpiece of the Inca culture for its hydraulic engineering, along with the archaeological site of Pikillaqta a pre-Inca construction dating from the years 600 and 1000 A. C. which is still preserved, then finally visit the town of Andahuaylillas important for having the chapel of Saint Peter Apostle, the most beautiful religious art of South America, all these destinations make this package tour the best of our services to finally on the sixth day make the transfer to the airport in Cusco.

As all the services offered by “Ready to Travel Peru” our tour brings together the best cultural and natural attractions of the city of Cusco in a 5 days Machupicchu tour, which will allow you to visit all the cultural attractions mentioned together with the natural attraction of the Humantay Lake, popular for many tourists who come to Peru, for the turquoise color of its waters and the proximity to the snow-capped of Salkantay. A tour prepared for you that brings together all the attractions of the city of Cusco with the lowest price in the tourist market.

ITINERARY

DAY 1: CUSCO – CITY TOUR

The first day in the city of Cusco will be to acclimatize to the altitude and take a short tour.

• To start the City Tour Cusco, we will pick you up from your hotel. 
• we will start with our first visit which is to the Main square of Cusco or Huacaypata (place of weeping).
• Then we will have a tour of the Cathedral of Cusco, one of the most important attractions of the city of Cusco built on the foundations of the palace of the Inca Viracocha which today is the cathedral of Cusco that has three naves, with characteristics of the baroque-renaissance style, with paintings belonging to the Cusco school of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
• Continuing our City tour to the Qorikancha or also called “Temple of the Sun”, built by the Inca Pachacutec with andesite stone finishes in green, red and gray in their temples of worship, in Inca times was an important religious center to worship the sun, moon, lightning, rainbow and stars which was coated in gold, silver, with life-size representations of gold in the form of mammals, birds, animals, wildlife. etc. place where we will appreciate the integration of the Inca culture and the Spanish influence.
• We will take the bus to Sacsayhuaman, an attraction well known for the various denominations that it has such as: the great Inca fortress, or also known by their terms as biased head by the way it presents its walls with zigzag-shaped features. One of the greatest works of Inca architecture and a great ceremonial center of worship and sacrifice to their deities, where you can appreciate impressive and megalithic Inca walls weighing approximately 125 tons. Place where every June 24 is staged the Inti Raymi or Festival of the Sun, and the rite of Warachicuy where tests of military physical prowess were made.
• After the guided tour we will go to Q’enqo: its name means labyrinth or Zigzag, for having an entrance in the form of a labyrinth or underground conduit, it is presumed that it was a ceremonial center of worship and has an amphitheater with 19 niches where they put their deities in worship ceremonies.
• Already located in Puka Pukara or “Red Fortress”, we will have a guided tour in this archaeological site located in a strategic point where you can see the road to the Antisuyo (Jungle) that functioned as a military center and control point where tribute was received as coca leaves, cassava, leather, gold, and medicinal plants.
• Finally we will visit the archaeological site of Tambomachay: Last point in our tour, important center of worship and adoration of water for purification rites. This archaeological site is formed by walls, windows and water channels, where water from springs flow through an amazing hydraulic system built in Inca times.
• We end this magnificent city tour with the return to the city of Cusco.

DAY 2: SACRED VALLEY OF THE INCAS

On this day we will start the tour early in the morning to visit the Sacred Valley of the Incas.

• To start the tour of the Sacred Valley of the Incas, we pick you up from your hotel starting at 07:00 hrs. 
• Already located in the tourist bus our first point of visit will be in the viewpoint of Taray, to appreciate the scenic beauty of the Sacred Valley of the Incas.
• We will continue our tour to the Sacred Valley of the Incas, a magnificent view and the starting point of this great tour to the Sacred Valley where you can take the famous postcard photos.
• We will continue our tour to the archaeological site of Pisaq, located 32 kilometers northeast of Cusco, a place where the great Sacred Valley of the Incas is born, located on a condor-shaped mountain that expresses the progress of religious and agricultural architecture by the presence of squares and Inca neighborhoods, of which the most important thing to highlight is the famous solar observatory “Intihuatana” and pre-Hispanic cemetery “Tantana Marka” the largest found in South America. Also Pisaq was an administrative center dedicated to the control of agricultural production in addition to this Pisaq is characterized by its craft market and the very pelicular form of negotiation “barter” (exchange of products) ancient custom that today is losing its practice performed on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.
• After having visited these two wonderful places we will have a stop to recover our energies and have a delicious lunch in a tourist restaurant in Urubamba.
• We continue our tour of the Sacred Valley of the Incas with our next point of visit the archaeological site of Ollantaytambo known as the “Living Inca City” built on two mountains, strategic point within the Sacred Valley of the Incas for having agricultural, military, religious and administrative complexes in Ollantaytambo, In Ollantaytambo we can highlight the great temple of the sun that consists of 6 monoliths of granite of pink color that are united by means of engravings that conform the ceremonial platform, the town of Ollantaytambo is also well known for maintaining the Inca urban planning since ancestral times.
• Our last point of visit will be Chinchero, whose name derives from Quechua meaning “brave man”, built on top of a hill surrounded by platforms, which has shrines, an urban center where was the residence of the Inca Tupac Inca Yupanqui, a place moderately cold and dependent on rainfall for agricultural production also in turn is characterized by maintaining the urban style and its textile art that are made with alpaca fibers made by locals.
• We end the tour of the Sacred Valley of the Incas with the return to the city of Cusco after a wonderful day.

DAY 3: MAGICAL MACHUPICCHU

The most important day of your visit to Peru – Cusco, we will visit one of the 7 Wonders of the Modern World.

• To start the Magical Machupicchu tour, we will pick you up from your hotel.
• After that we will board the tourist bus to make the transfer to the train station available in that season such as train stations in Cusco, Poroy or Ollantaytambo, if the reservation of the tour to Machupicchu was made months in advance we will look for the best option for your trip.
• Already located at the train station we will take the train service that you have chosen in your reservation such as Expedition or Vistadome train service, each one has a different service and costs, during your journey on the train you will appreciate the scenic beauty that hides the Sacred Valley of the Incas that are part of the route to Machupicchu until you reach the train station in the town of Aguas Calientes (Machupicchu) in a journey of approximately 1 hour and a half.
• In Aguas Calientes we will board the green ecological tourist buses, leaving from the station to the point of entry to the citadel of Machupicchu, the trip lasts 30 minutes.
• At the entrance of the citadel of Machupicchu, our tour guide will be waiting for you at the control gate of Machupicchu to start the guide service, the guide service will take approximately two hours where he will give us details of the majesty of the Inca citadel of Machupicchu since its discovery, findings, As well as explaining the most important areas within the citadel of Machupicchu, such as the astronomical observatory of Intihuatana where we will highlight the function that this fulfilled in Inca times, the temple of the three windows which is oriented towards the sunrise at the winter solstice and other urban and residential sectors that Machupicchu presents throughout its route.
• After the guided tour, we will have some time to take all the photos we want of this wonderful place.
• At the end of the guided tour we will board the ecological buses that will take us to Aguas Calientes, where you will have free time to visit this town on your own, as well as to take your meals.
• After a tour full of positive energy we will take the train back from the Aguas Calientes train station to Cusco, where we will be waiting for you to take you to your hotel.
• Thus culminates this wonderful tour of Machupicchu full day in a tour called Magical Machupicchu.

DAY 4: HUMANTAY LAKE

This day we will start the tour very early in order to enjoy this new natural tourist attraction of the city of Cusco.

• To start the Humantay Lake tour, we will pick you up from your hotel starting at 04:30 hrs. 
• Already located inside the tourist bus we will have a trip for an average of 2 hours to reach Mollepata where, in this place we will have breakfast and will be given the respective indications and recommendations by the guide to start this adventure.
• We will continue this tour to the Humantay lake after the instructions received with a walk for about 1 hour to reach Soraypampa starting point to begin the hike.
• From this point begins the ascent hike for about 1 hour and a half. On the way of this tour we can appreciate the beautiful wildlife until we reach our destination Humantay Lake.
• Already located in the lake of Humantay (4200 a.s.l.) we will be able to see the natural wonder located in the chain of Vilcabamba at the foot of the snowy Salkantay (6270 m.a.s.l.). This beautiful lake with its turquoise waters was formed by the melting of the snowy Humantay part of the snowy Salkantay and its turquoise hue is due to the presence of blue-green algae. In this beautiful natural landscape you can feel the energy of this mystical place and build the famous “Apachetas” stone towers that have the purpose of worship, to be providers of water, vital element, principle of existence in the Andean world, as well as generate fertility in animals, protection to its inhabitants and success in the harvest.
• Then we will return by the same route for about 1 hour where our tourist transport will be waiting for us to take us to Mollepata where we will have a delicious lunch after a walk.
• Finally, after the tour of the Humantay Lake we will return to Cusco city at about 18:00hrs.

DAY 5: SOUTH VALLEY

Our last tour in the city of Cusco will take us to the south of the city, where we can learn about the origins of the Cusco Valley, as well as appreciate paintings of the Cusco school in the Chapel of Saint Peter Apostle in Andahuaylillas.

• To start the tour we will pick you up from your hotel starting at 08:30 hrs.
• Already located in the tourist bus our first point of visit will be in the town of Oropesa, the archaeological site of Tipon whose name comes from the Quechua word Tímpuj which means boiling in allusion to the liquid that gurgles in its spring as a state of boiling and is also considered the icon of Inca hydraulic engineering, It presents 13 large terraces of agricultural production of an imperial style of pink granite, stairways and water channels made of stone with beautiful crystal clear water fountains that are part of a shrine where water was worshiped as the element of life for the Incas.
• Then we will continue this tour to the archaeological site of Pikillaqta located 33 km southeast of the city of Cusco its name comes from the word Piqui (flea, small) llaqta (town or city) town of fleas or better called small town a pre-Inca construction, belonging to the Wari civilization of the centuries dating from the years 600 and 1000 A.C. from this place you can observe the Huacarpay Lake, a protected natural area, a place of study for many ornithologists who visit this place to make studies of concentration and study of more than 120 species of migratory birds.
• Finally we will visit the town of Andahuaylillas, 39 km from the city of Cusco, important for having the chapel of Saint Peter Apostle founded in 1572 by the viceroy Francisco Toledo and built by the Jesuits in a space full of great religious works of the great Cusco school that collection shows works of the life of Saint Peter and many more pictorial works that will leave more than one amazed of this place, this temple of Saint Peter Apostle is also known in South America as the “Sistine Chapel of America”.
• Finishing the tour of South Valley with the return to Cusco city.

DAY 6: CUSCO – AIRPORT

Final day in Cusco, we will transfer you from your hotel to the airport of Cusco, Alejandro Velazco Astete.