South Valley of Cusco
The South Valley of Cusco tour starts mid-morning with pickup at your hotel and a comfortable drive to the south of the valley, the least crowded route in the region. The first stop is Tipón, a true masterpiece of Inca hydraulic engineering. Its agricultural terraces and water channels still work intact centuries later, distributing the flow of the springs with astonishing precision. The site was also a ceremonial center linked to the worship of water, and today it helps you understand the sacred relationship the Incas had with this resource.
You continue to Piquillacta, an extensive city of adobe and stone built by the Wari culture, long before the Incas. Its straight streets, walls and hundreds of enclosures reveal urban planning that was surprisingly advanced for its time, a rare feature in the Andean world. Walking through its ruins, almost always without crowds, takes you back to a civilization that flourished long before the Inca empire and left a deep mark on southern Cusco.
The tour ends in Andahuaylillas, whose colonial church of San Pedro Apóstol, decorated with murals, paintings and abundant gold leaf, is known as the Sistine Chapel of the Americas for the richness of its interior. At midday you return to Cusco after a peaceful cultural route that combines Inca engineering, pre-Inca archaeology and colonial art in a single morning. With a bilingual guide and transport included, the South Valley is perfect if you've already seen the classics and are looking for something different, authentic and free of the crowds of other routes.
