Sacred Valley tour from Cusco: 5 archaeological sites in 1 day

Five Inca sites, salt mines, and mountain valleys in a single afternoon

A full-day Sacred Valley tour from Cusco takes you to five archaeological sites—Chinchero, Moray, Ollantaytambo, Pisac, and the Maras Salt Mines—with a professional bilingual guide, hotel pickup, and buffet lunch. The Cusco Tourist Ticket covering four of the sites is optional and costs approximately USD 25 per person. You leave at 6:45 am and return by 7:30 pm, moving through colonial plazas, circular agricultural terraces, traditional salt harvesting pools, and cliffside temples built into the mountainside.

Step-by-step itinerary

Explore Sacred Valley highlights

• Pick up from hotel in Cusco
• Visit Chinchero craft workshop and ruins
• See Moray agricultural terraces
• View Maras salt mines
• Enjoy buffet lunch in Urubamba Valley
• Tour Ollantaytambo Fortress and Temple of the Sun
• Visit Pisac temples, palaces, and terraces
• Return to Cusco

The Experience

The day starts with hotel pickup between 6:45 and 7:00 am, then heads toward the Sacred Valley. Your first stop is Chinchero, where you visit a craft workshop and the Chinchero Archaeological Center before moving on. From there you drive to Moray, a site of concentric circular terraces that drop into the earth like natural amphitheaters—the Incas used them to experiment with different crops at different altitudes. The Maras Salt Mines come next: hundreds of shallow pools where locals still harvest salt using the same methods the Incas established for trade. A buffet lunch with vegan options waits in the Urubamba Valley, giving you an hour to rest before the afternoon sites.

After lunch you reach Ollantaytambo Fortress, an imposing complex built on a mountainside with the Temple of the Sun at its heart. The final stop is Pisac, an Inca city perched on a ridge where temples, palaces, and terraces cling to the edge of a precipice. The aqueducts that once fed water through the site are still visible and intact. You also visit two artisan workshops during the day, supporting Andean communities directly. The guide is bilingual in Spanish and English and carries first aid equipment and oxygen. The return to Cusco takes you back by 7:30 pm.

The Cusco Tourist Ticket—which grants entry to Chinchero, Moray, Ollantaytambo, and Pisac—is optional and costs approximately USD 25 per person if you choose to add it at checkout. Without it, you still visit all five sites and the salt mines; the ticket simply gives you formal archaeological access to the four included ruins. Transportation, the guide, lunch, and the craft workshops are included either way.

What’s included

• Round-trip transportation from your Cusco hotel.
• pickup between 6:45 and 7:00 am.
• visits to five archaeological sites with a professional bilingual guide.
• a craft workshop in Chinchero and a second artisan workshop during the day.
• buffet lunch with vegan options in Urubamba.
• first aid equipment and oxygen.
• a briefing about the tour at the office before departure.

Good to know

Easy physical levelPublic transport nearbyInfants must sit on laps

Operated by Mega Expeditions

Is this one for you?Your full day covers five archaeological sites, the salt mines, and lunch in one organized itinerary with hotel pickup included—no need to arrange transport or guides separately.

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Top questions

What exactly is Moray, and why is it worth visiting?

Moray Agricultural Terraces is a unique archaeological site made up of giant concentric circles that descend into the earth like natural bowls. The Incas built these terraces to test which crops would grow best at different altitudes and temperatures, making it an open-air agricultural laboratory. You walk down into the terraces and see how precisely they were engineered.

How does the Maras Salt Mines work, and will I see people actually harvesting salt?

Maras Salt Mines consist of hundreds of shallow pools fed by a natural salt spring. Local families have harvested salt here for centuries using the same evaporation method the Incas used—they flood the pools, let the sun and wind do the work, and scrape the crystallized salt. You see the pools in various stages of harvest and learn how the trade sustained Inca prosperity.

Is the Cusco Tourist Ticket worth buying, or can I visit these sites without it?

The Cusco Tourist Ticket costs approximately USD 25 per person and covers entry to Chinchero, Moray, Ollantaytambo, and Pisac. You visit all five sites and the salt mines on the tour regardless; the ticket simply grants formal archaeological access to those four ruins. If you want to explore them in depth, the ticket is worth it; if you prefer a quicker overview, you can skip it.

How long is the drive from Cusco, and what time do we actually return?

Hotel pickup happens between 6:45 and 7:00 am, and the full tour runs approximately 11 to 12 hours, with return to Cusco by 7:30 pm. The drive to the Sacred Valley takes roughly an hour, and you spend the middle of the day moving between the five sites and the salt mines, with a one-hour lunch break in Urubamba.

What's included in the buffet lunch, and are there options for dietary restrictions?

Lunch is a buffet served in the Urubamba Valley and includes vegan options. The meal is included in the tour price and gives you an hour to eat and rest before heading to the afternoon archaeological sites.

Will the guide speak English, or only Spanish?

The guide is bilingual and conducts the tour in both Spanish and English, so you'll hear explanations in both languages throughout the day.