Classic Cusco 3D/2N
Cusco and Machu Picchu in a long weekend

Welcome to Cusco, at 3,399 m above sea level. As you leave the airport our team is waiting to take you to your hotel, where you can rest in the morning and give your body time to adapt; that's why it's best for your flight to arrive before noon. In the afternoon the tour starts at the Plaza de Armas, in front of the Cathedral, one of the great works of Andean colonial art, and continues at the Coricancha, the most sacred temple of the Incas, on top of which the Spanish built a convent.

Then we head up to the outskirts of the city. Sacsayhuamán impresses with its walls of giant, perfectly joined stones; Q'enqo is a shrine carved inside the rock; Puca Pucara was a checkpoint on the Inca road, and Tambomachay keeps water channels and fountains that still flow. It's a calm-paced day to start acclimatizing. At the end, we return to the hotel.

The second day is reserved for the wonder of the world. We pick you up at your hotel very early and drive to Ollantaytambo, in the heart of the Sacred Valley. From its station departs the Vistadome Observatory, a panoramic train with a glass roof whose observatory car lets you see the Urubamba canyon and the cloud forest up close. On arriving in Aguas Calientes, a bus takes you up the mountain to the gates of Machu Picchu, at 2,430 m.

Once inside, an official guide tells you the history of the Inca llaqta as you walk through its temples, plazas and terraces; entry is assigned by circuits and depends on available spots, so we arrange it in advance. After the explanation, you have some time to photograph the scenery at your own pace. Back in town you take the Expedition train to Ollantaytambo and from there our transport brings you back to Cusco in the evening.

On the last day we explore the Sacred Valley of the Incas. We start in Chinchero, where the weavers show how they turn wool into colorful threads with local plants and minerals. We continue to the Maras Salt Pans, hundreds of salt pools terraced down the hillside that local families have worked by hand since pre-Inca times, and to Moray, the circular terraces the Incas used to experiment with crops. A buffet lunch awaits us in Urubamba.

In the afternoon we visit Ollantaytambo, an Inca town still inhabited at the foot of a great terraced fortress, and finish in Pisac, with its terraces on the mountain and its craft market. Back in Cusco we take you to the airport; since the tour ends at nightfall, we recommend a departure flight as late as possible or adding an extra night in Cusco. So ends your Classic Cusco 3D/2N: the Inca city, Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley in three days.