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CUSCO

Introduction 

Cusco is really a very nice place to spend a few days and organize some trips in and around the city. The atmosphere is great, there are a lot of good restaurants, plenty of travel agents, good bars and also some interesting sights.  

Take into account the altitude before planning any activity. Consider taking Diamox (see general info 2 about altitude sickness), or else consider spending 1 or 2 nights in the Sacred Valley. 

Arrival at the airport 

Plenty of taxis will be waiting for you. We paid 10 Soles, but later we found out you can do it for 5 as well (9/02). 

ATM 

There are 4 places where you can get money with a Visa or Cirrus/Maestro 

Hotels

Los Portales 

This is a 2-star hotel at a 5 minutes walk from the Plaza. Staff is very friendly, will store luggage while away. Double rooms are rather small and include a decent bathroom. Normal price is 44$, but discounts are available. Breakfast is just toast, marmalade, coffee and juice. They have their own website at http://www.portalescusco.com and take reservations via e-mail. 

Hotel Ruinas 

This is a good 3-star hotel at 3 minutes walk from the Plaza, actually between the Plaza and the San Blas area. This is a rather new hotel, staff is also very friendly. The lobby looks good, they give a Pisco sour as welcome drink. Rooms are OK, not too big, and bathroom looks also quite new. Rooms are quiet. They have an American  buffet breakfast with fresh juices which opens already at 4.45 am! This is handy if you need to catch an early morning flight or trip. Rack rates are rather high at 125 $ for a double, but they readily give discounts of up to 40%. They have their own website at http://www.hotelruinas.com/default.htm  and take reservations via e-mail. Recommended in this price range. 

Royal Inka 1 

The Royal inka has an excellent location at the Plaza de Recojico which is at 100 meters from the Plaza de Armas. It is located in a historical building which was transformed into a hotel 20 years ago. The hotel is charming, and has a covered patio. Personnel is very friendly. Bathroom is OK but shows its age. Rooms are a bit noisy both due to the busy neighborhood. There is a breakfast buffet starting at 5 am. They take reservations via e-mail at royalinka@aol.com. Rack rate is 78$ for a double. Recommended in this price range. 

Hotel Monasterio 

If you really want the best, this is the place to go. This hotel is situated on a nice plaza not far from the Plaza de Armas. It was an old monastery beautifully restored into a hotel. Walk in to have a look at the church and the patio. Prices are well above 200 $ for a double room. 

They have a website at www.orient-express.com. 

Restaurants 

Around the Plaza de Armas, you find plenty of restaurants all offering about the same food, but the main advantage is they have great balconies overlooking the plaza. Places we visited were Trotamundos, Keiros and others. There's 1 thing you should remember though: you are usually lured inside by someone on the street showing you a cheap tourist menu with 3 courses + a drink. Once you get inside, they often show you a more expensive menu. Insist on getting the first menu if you wish this one.  

A recommended restaurant, though somewhat more expensive is the Macondo restaurant up from the Plaza towards San Blas. This is a really cozy restaurant with room for 30 people offering original Andean food as you've never tasted it. Reservations are sometimes necessary, they give 10% discount for SAE members.  

Another popular restaurant is Inka Grill on the Plaza. It is packed with tourists, and reservations are needed. Prices are again a bit higher, live music is often available. 10% discount for SAE members. 

What to do 

There are plenty of things to do in Cusco. Just wandering around the city, do some shopping can be nice, although the souvenir shops will soon become boring as they all sell the same stuff.  

If you want to visit some historical sights, buy first your "Boleto touristico". This costs 10$ (5 for students), and gives you entrance to plenty of historical buildings (like the Cathedral), some museums (but not the Inca museum), and some ruins like Sacsayhuaman and also ruins in the Sacred Valley like Pisac and Ollantaytambo. It's only valid for 10 days, but you can get an extension of 3 days starting from the day you ask if you present yourself at the OFEC office on Av. El Sol with your passport. however, this extension excludes the cathedral, so visit that one during your initial 10-day period.  

To get to Sacsayhuaman, you can either do the walk by foot (about 1 hour up), or else take a taxi for 5 Soles. We made the mistake of going in the afternoon, and as often happens in Cusco, weather is good in the morning, and in the afternoon it starts raining. We should've known that!!

You can also combine this with the 3 other temples/ruins around, but we didn't do that.   You can also visit the South American Explorers if you're a member. They're now at Choquera. 

Other activities 

Please take into account that most activities organized in places outside Cusco have to be organized from Cusco. 

Trekking 

For info on the Inca trail, have a look at the Macchu Pichu section.   If you want to do something else then the hypertouristic Inca trail, then the walk to Choquequiraw might be something for you. Choquequiraw has some nice Inca ruins which have been recently excavated. I saw pictures of it and it looked pretty nice. You cannot get there by car, and this makes the place so special. There are 4 day trips starting from Cusco costing around 180 $ all-inclusive. However, beware this is a difficult trek, more difficult then the Inca trail. You can find more info on www.machetetours.com, one of the companies organizing this. For this trail, several companies work together to get 1 group, especially in low season. In low season they need 6 people, otherwise they take bigger groups. 

Mountain biking 

There are 2 companies which can be really recommended here: 

For the shorter trips, Loretotours at Calle del Medio near the Plaza is the place to go. See also my report on our trip with them under Urubamba. They don't have a site yet, but you can mail them at loretotours@planet.com.pe.  

The real specialist on mountain biking in Cusco is Perudiscovery. Have a look at their site for info on their trips. It is a German-run company, and they offer quality trips for a longer duration, at least 2 days. Their equipment is really professional. This is a short overview of their trips: 

Bunjee jumping 

PerúFly S.A. Lima and Cusco, El Comercio H11 – Residencial Huancaro - Cuzco , Tel: (51-84) 229-439 & 970-1547. they have a website at http://www.perufly.com. Cost is 59 $ to jump from a hot air balloo

n. 

Paragliding 

Viento sur, San Juan de Dios 278 – Cuzco, Tele: (51.84) 249-128 E-mail: viento-sur@terra.com.pe. They have tandem jumps around the region of Chincheros. Cost is 50$ including transfer and lunch box, minimum 2 persons needed. They can also organize courses. 

Hot ballooning 

It's possible to go ballooning in the Sacred Valley with Globos de Andes. Have a look at www.globosperu.com. They are in Cusco at Calle Arequipa. 

SACRED VALLEY

Introduction 

We absolutely loved the Sacred Valley, and I'm very glad we spent 2 nights there, 1 in Yucay and 1 in Ollantaytambo. However, there's 1 thing which is important to know: if you want to organize anything here like mountain biking, rafting or doing the Inca trail, you should make prior arrangements from Cusco as there are virtually no operators in the valley itself. Exception on this are probably horse riding and paragliding. One company I found is www.aventurasvientosur.com. They offer mountain biking trips, horseriding and paragliding. 

Pisac 

I went to Pisac without much expectations, but boy was I wrong. We went by bus from Cusco which takes about an hour and arrived at 3 pm.  

To visit the ruins, you can either walk all the way up, either take a taxi. The taxidrivers are very smart and have made a kind of agreement with each other. Thus their prices are somewhat fixed, and also there's a certain order so that each one gets his fare share. This makes bargaining quite difficult, though not impossible because you still have the option to walk. So, price to go to the lower ruins is 10 soles one way, 15 soles to the higher ruins. They will try to double the price for a return trip, but will eventually settle for 20 to 25 Soles return.  

Personally, I think the best way is to go up by taxi, and to come down by foot, but this depends on your time and physical condition of course. We had excellent weather, and the walk as well as the views on the ruins were really marvelous. In the beginning, the path to go down is well marked but at some point we did get lost a little bit, although no harm was done as you still know more or less which direction to go.  

Getting out of Pisac is easy. If you want to go on to Urubamba, you must first take a bus to Calca, and then change to another bus. Don't believe the taxidrivers who will say that there is no bus anymore!! As long as it's clear, a bus will most probably come. 

URUBAMBA

Accommodation 

We spent the night in what is probably the most beautiful hotel in Peru, the Posada del Inca in Yucay (there are 2 opposite to each other, make sure you have the one with the colonial church in the courtyard). This hotel used to be a convent but was later transformed into a hotel. They added new structures and gardens, but all in the original style of the convent. Price is 119$ for a double, but you can get some discounts. They get a lot of (expensive) tourgroups. It is also an ideal base to explore the Sacred Valley. 

Mountain biking 

We actually came to Urubamba because we wanted to do a mountain biking trip visiting Moray, Maras and Salinas. This can only be arranged in Cusco, and only in the direction mentioned, not vice versa because otherwise you have to climb too much.  

I did some research on mountain biking companies in Cusco, and the best is definitely Loreto tours (apart from Perudiscovery, see Cusco under Mountain biking). They have excellent material with bikes with front suspension (they will have double suspension in the near future). The usual price is 35$ p.p. for the whole trip including lunch. If you are in a larger group, this price will go down a bit. Normally, you take a public bus from Cusco to Chinchero, and from there you start biking. As we were staying in Urubamba, we made an appointment with our guide in Cruzpata at 10 am and we started to bike from there. Our guide was Arthuro who is an expert mountain biker (also in downhill), and he is also a good mechanic.  

The first part of the trip was pretty tough with some uphill parts ("subida" in Spanish). Once we had passed the mountain pass things went better. We had marvelous views on the snowcapped mountains behind the valley, and we met shepherds with sheep and lamas, very photogenic. We visited Moray which are nice Inca terraces. From there on, the track became a single track and thus more technical. Arthuro lowered our saddles, put some oil on our bikes and off we went. We occasionally had some climbing to do, and some parts were really technical. We stopped for lunch in Maras. Then we continued towards Salinas, which are nice salt terraces. Unfortunately, the sun had gone by then, but it was still impressive. From there the track got really technical, and the descent ("Bajada" in Spanish) toward the Urubamba had to be done on foot for a big part (except for Arthuro who did everything by bike).  

All in all, this was a great trip which took 5 hours from 10 am till 3 pm. If you start this trip from Cusco, add 3 hours for the transport towards and out of the valley. It is physically OK although my girlfriend had to be pushed several times by Arthuro. Some bits are also pretty technical, but walking is limited. Loreto tours are really recommended for this, and Arthuro is a great guide. He should only improve on his English a bit. You can contact them at loretotours@planet.com.pe, they will also have a website in the near future. Another brand new project of them will be a pure descent from A Lares to Calca. I saw the pictures and they looked very spectacular. You start from 4800 m altitude. 

Walking 

If you don't like mountain biking, you can also do this trip by foot. We met Belgians who had taken a bus + taxi to Maras, and from there started walking to Salinas and down to the Urubamba river. They did get lost a little on the way. You then walk over a suspension bridge and you arrive on the main road about 3 km from Urubamba.   

Horse riding 

Perol Chico, Tel: 624 –475. They have a website at www.perolchico.com.  

The Dutch owner Eddie has built a great ranch with accommodation available in rustic cottages. He can arrange riding for1 day to 12 days, taking in all the great sights of the Sacred Valley. The horses are the famous Peruvian Paso horses, strong and a wonderfully smooth ride. For the longer tours previous experience of riding is preferable. Prices from $35 to $2,400 for the 12 days tour, all-inclusive.   Avonturasvientosur also organizes horseriding, contact Hotel Sol y Luna for info.    

OLLANTAYTAMBO 

After our biking trip, we took a minibus from Urubamba to Ollantaytambo. This is the last town in the Sacred Valley reachable by car. The town itself has some buildings around a central plaza, and then a road leading towards the ruins, and from there a road leading towards the river and railway station.  

We didn't actually visit the ruins, but they looked quite nice. 

There are some cheap places to eat around the plaza. Towards the ruins, there's the more upscale Mayupata which gets some tourgroups. It's very cozy with candlelights and fireplaces, the food is good although understandably more expensive.     

We stayed at the famous "El Albergue" which is actually in the railway station. It is famous because it is kept by Wendy Weeks, an American women, for over 20 years now. I must admit that the place has some charm, and rooms are f.i. decorated with paintings from Wendy herself. There's also a nice patio. Nevertheless, I think the place is a bit living of its fame and thus overpriced at 30$ for a double which doesn't even have a private bathroom. Also breakfast is very expensive for what it is at 3 $ for a juice, toast, marmalade and tea. Members of SAE get this for free. 

Nearby is the new Hotel Pakaritampu (3-stars). This is the best place in town with nice rooms and excellent bathrooms. Price is 104 $ for a double, though discounts can be given. They have a website at www.pakaritampu.com, but it's not always online.  

Ollantaytambo is an excellent base to visit Macchu Pichu or do the Inca trail, as all the trains to MP stop here. On top of that, you'll be able to sleep till 8 am, because the backpackers train arrives here at 9 am. 

If you want to use Ollantaytambo as a base for the Inca trail, you'll have to make prior arrangements again in Cusco, as there are no travel agents in Ollantaytambo.

Article Comments:

08/09/2006

Atlas (1)

On my site, you can find photographs and ask us for a quote for some tours in Cuzco, or anywhere else in Peru.

05/07/2006

Chris McNeese (1)

I have been looking for something about mountain biking around Urabamba. Finally I found it. Thank you very much. Is Ollantaytambo worth a visit or is it just another town?

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