Peru 4U

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Cusco Peru information

Visiting Cusco Peru is vital for your Peru travel adventure. This colorful, picturesque town still breaths the atmosphere of the status it once had: the center of the Inca Empire. Cusco Peru is the doorway to Machu Picchu, and with almost 300,000 residents it remains an important city. Although Cusco was heavily damaged by the Spaniards, the Inca city is still very much in evidence. Walls, doorways, foundations, arches, and even decorative stonework are found throughout the city, incorporated into newer structures. Cusco also contains extensive Inca ruins like the Temples of the Sun and the Moon. The city is also the acclimatization point for the celebrated high altitude trek: the Inca Trail. Below you will find information about interesting places in the area of Cusco.

Sacred valley of the Inca's

You can not miss the beautiful and attractive Sacred Valley of the Incas. It stretches out from Pisac to Ollantaytambo along the Urubamba river or "Sacred River". This valley was very much appreciated by the ancient Incas because of its excellent qualities to cultivate agriculture. Due to the amount of soil, it was one of the areas where the best corn was grown. It was also the favorite place of the Viceroys because of its excellent weather. The Sacred Valley is one of the most important parts of Cusco. Numerous rivers converge in it. Most of them have their origin on the Icy Mountains. It is absolutely worth while going to the Sacred Valley of the Inca's.

Pisac

Pisac is a picturesque town with colonial and mestizo characteristics. Every tuesday, thursday and sunday they have a souvenir market on the plaza, and on sunday a mass in Quechua with the presence of the local authorities. On top of the mountain, right on the back of Pisac, you can find the fascinating archeological complex the most outstanding remains are: Qanturaqay, Amaru, Punku e Intihuatana and Tanqanamanka, considered the largest pre-Colonial remains in Latin-America.

Ollantaytambo

Ollantaytambo is considered as a very interesting city because they still keep the old ways of living, the amazing Irrigation Systems.Even though they have modern restaurant and hotels all of them get their water supplies by this irrigation system. Up on the mountain you can see the gorgeous Andes and the monoliths made out of granito rosado or pink stone. Another attraction would be the narrow roads drawn on a perfect straight line and just like old times they still keep their aqueducts located on the middle of the road. All these streets have kept their Inca names and the people living here still wear the traditional costumes.

Chinchero

There is no way you can leave Cusco without visiting Chinchero, this little town is quite important because there is the possibility of seeing the exchange of products instead of buying or selling for money on the sunday market, this was a tradition taught by the Incas, caused by the absence of an official currency. It also has a fantastic church where you can appreciate some artworks from the Cusqueñan Art School as well as great ornaments which show off its decoration.

Moray

Moray (3,500 meters) lies 74 km from the city of Cusco. It is famous for its sunken amphitheater, made up of four circular terraces which appear to disappear into the earth like an artificial crater. The site was apparently an Inca agricultural research station designed for experimenting with crops at various altitudes (some of which run down to depths of 100 meters). It is believed that the terraces, built over containing walls filled with fertile earth and watered by complex irrigation systems, enabled the Incas to grow more than 250 plant species.

Train Cusco-Puno

The train ride from Cusco to Puno is gorgeous. We offer you the opportunity to go by train to Puno. The train rides only on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, vice versa.