Machu Picchu Travel Experts

Overview

Insider Access
Our team travels year-round, seeking out the most intriguing insider access experiences, and developing invaluable
Relationships with esteemed scholars, acclaimed artists, Olympic athletes, renowned chefs, and others, as well as with local leaders in politics and business. We can match families with spacious private estates handpicked to provide the perfect mixture of authenticity, luxury, and privacy.

Service
Each travel group is assigned a dedicated team composed of (1) a personal travel concierge in our offices, (2) a
Personal host in each destination, (3) on-site expert guides and scholars. In addition, a “behind the scenes” logistical expert is staffed on each trip in order to monitor every step of the journey. We serve our travelers before, during and after their journey, and are on call 24-hours a day during a trip. This level of coordination ensures that our travelers have a worry-free experience, and the flexibility to change the program while they are traveling if need be.

Duration: 04 days
Arrival: May 29th
Deparrture: June 1st
Destinations: Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu and Cusco
Travel Type: Family
Travel intensity: Moderate

Day 1 May 29th Arrival to Cusco, transfer to Cruzpata, bikes to Moray, Lunch in Maras.
Day 2 May 30th Transfer to Ollantaytambo, train service to Machu Picchu, transfer to the bus station, Lunch at local restaurant, afternoon visit to Machu Picchu, transfer to the hotel.
Day 3 May 31st Morning visit to Machu Picchu, optional hike to Huayna Picchu mountain or Machu Picchu mountain lunch at local restaurant, afternoon train service to Ollantaytambo and transfer to Cusco.
Day 4 June 1st Morning transfer and visit Sacsayhuaman archaeological site, lunch at local restaurant , afternoon musical lecture and late afternoon transfer to the Cusco airport.

MAY 29TH ARRIVAL TO CUSCO AND TRANSFER TO CRUZPATA, BIKES TO MORAY TERRACES, LUNCH AT ISKAY MARAS,

Upon your arrival you will be greeted by your personal guide and taken just outside of Urubamba into the valley where you will begin your adventure where you begin your 2/2.5 hour mountain biking excursion to the Moray ruins with your expert biking guide.

The top-of-the-line mountain bikes will be previously set to support your size and height, to be ready for use upon arrival. A bike technician will also be available to provide further support and/or modifications before and during the excursion. Along the way you will see traditional Quechua women tending their fields and the beautiful patchwork landscape. Excursion duration: 2.5 hours/ medium to strenuous; 7 to 8 miles. The terrain varies from flat to rolling hills with occasional steep inclines.

A backup vehicle driven by the bike technician with extra bikes, gear, water and snacks will be provided to offer support throughout the excursion. Should anyone in the party need to rest, they could continue on by vehicle.

Enjoy the last leg of your biking excursion arriving at the Moray ruins where you will enjoy a private guided tour.

Moray is famous for its amphitheatre-type ruins formed by circular terraces. The purpose of these depressions is uncertain, but their depth, design, and orientation with respect to wind and sun creates a temperature difference of as much as 15 °C (27 °F) between the top and the bottom. It is possible that this large temperature difference was used by the Inca to study the effects of different climatic conditions on crops. Speculation about the site has led to discussion about Moray as an Inca agricultural experiment station. Its microclimatic conditions and other significant characteristics led to the use of the site as a center for the ancient study of domestication, acclimatization, and hybridization of wild vegetable species that were modified or adapted for human consumption.

Private transfer (approx. 40 min transfer) to Maras to the house of a local chef, and enjoy a espectacular lunch with a breathtaking views of the andes.

After lunch, you will be transfer to Maras salt mines.

The Maras salt terraces display a spectacle of unusual beauty. Located on a wide, open hill above the Urubamba Valley, the salt water runs along channels which extend through the flooded lands and follow a more or less rectangular pattern, depending on the variations in the land. The water, which is exposed to the sun, leaves salt on the bed. Viewed from above, the myriad of rectangles look like an enormous painting designed by nature.

The salt mines traditionally have been available to any person from the community wishing to harvest salt. The size of the salt pond assigned to a family depends on the family’s size.

Transfer to the hotel in the Sacred Valley

Tambo del Inka

MAY 30TH TRANSFER TO OLLANTA , TRAIN SERVICE TO MACHU PICCHU, LUNCH AND AFTERNOON MACHU PICCHU TOUR.

After breakfast you will have a private transfer to Ollantaytambo trains station to board the train to Machu Picchu.
Train departs from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu).
Sit back and enjoy the spectacular landscapes of the majestic Andes, lush green fields and bright villages. The final portion of the spectacular rail journey to Machu Picchu follows the Vilcanota river down the impressive Canyon of the Vilcanota until it reaches Aguas Calientes. Upon your arrival you will be transfer to the Indio Feliz restaurant for lunch.

After lunch head directly to the bus station for the group bus transfer up the mountain to visit Machu Picchu Citadel, named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World and is perhaps the most awe-inspiring archaeological site in the Americas.

Upon arrival, enjoy a private tour with your personal expert guide. During the tour, explore the upper and lower sectors as well as the urban and agricultural sectors. You will also see the primary archaeological treasures including the In Watana, the Temple of the Sun, and the Room with Three Windows, each dedicated to In, their sun god and greatest deity.

Machu Picchu was never revealed to the conquering Spaniards and was virtually forgotten until the early part of the 20 th century when a young American historian Hiram Bingham discovered this lost city in 1911.

It was built by the Inca Pachacutec in the 15 th Century and is perched between two peaks offering incredible views of the Urubamba river valley and the snow-capped mountains in the distance. The architecture is adapted to the natural form of the mountains. Approximately 200 buildings are arranged on wide parallel terraces around a vast central square that is oriented east-west. The temples are part of the upper town, the warehouses the lower. Extensive terraces were used for agriculture and sophisticated channeling systems provided irrigation for the fields. Numerous stone stairways set in the walls allowed access to the different levels across the site. The eastern section of the city was said to be residential. The western, separated by the square, was for religious and ceremonial purposes.

Late Aernoon : Return down the mountain and check-in to your lodge in Aguas Calientes.

INKATERRA MACHU PICCHU PUEBLO HOTEL

MAY 31ST SECOND DAY MACHU PICCHU EXPLORATION, MACHU PICCHU MOUNTAIN HIKE, LUNCH AND TRAIN BACK TO CUSCO.

7:00 AM : Following breakfast, you will be greeted by your personal guide for your sunrise hike to the top of Machu Picchu Mountain (approx. 3 hour uphill hike).

Machu Picchu Mountain is the towering mountain which overlooks the entire complex complete with the iconic views of Huayna Picchu Mountain in the backdrop. The strenuous 3-hour hike to the summit is the most intimate way to experience the site of Machu Picchu due to the limited number of travelers who attempt the ascent. The summit offers the most spectacular and panoramic view of Machu Picchu, the surrounding mountains, and the ravines down to the river.

Lunch at Sanctuary Lodge restaurant.

Following lunch, your guide will walk you to train station.

Depart Aguas Calientes on the Vistadome train to the Sacred Valley (Ollantaytambo) with your expert guide. Upon arrival to the Sacred Valley, private transfer to your hotel in Cusco.

Check in and rest.

LIBERTADOR PALACIO DEL INKA