Sights in Cuzco & The Sacred Valley
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Wayna Picchu
The most famous of several short walks around Machu Picchu, the climb up the steep mountain of Wayna (also spelled Huayna) Picchu is located at the back of the ruins. At first glance, it appears a difficult climb but, despite the steep ascent, it's not technically that hard. The scramble, which takes anything from 45 to 90 minutes, takes you through a short section of Inca tunnel.
The fabulous views from the top are definitely worth the huffing and puffing, even for trekkers just stumbling in off the Inca Trail. Take care in wet weather as the steps get dangerously slippery. Beyond the central plaza between two open-fronted buildings is a registration booth, where you hav…
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Cusco Planetarium
Cusco Planetarium is a nifty way to learn more about the Inca worldview. It was the only culture in the world to define constellations of darkness as well as light, and studied astronomy seriously: some of Cuzco’s main streets are designed to align with the stars at certain times of year. Recommended before you go on a trek – you’ll feel clever pointing out the Black Llama to your fellow hikers. Reservations essential; price varies with group size, and includes pickup and drop-off.
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Intipunku
The Inca Trail ends after its final descent from the notch in the horizon called Intipunku (Sun Gate). Looking at the hill behind you as you enter the ruins, you can see both the trail and Intipunku. This hill, called Machu Picchu, or 'old peak', gives the site its name.
It takes about an hour to reach Intipunku and, if you can spare at least a half-day for the round-trip, it may be possible to continue as far as Wiñay Wayna.
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Qorikancha
If you visit only one site in Cuzco, make it these Inca ruins, which form the base of the colonial church and convent of Santo Domingo. Qorikancha was once the richest temple in the Inca empire; all that remains today is the masterful stonework.
In Inca times, Qorikancha (Quechua for ‘Golden Courtyard’) was literally covered with gold. The temple walls were lined with some 700 solid-gold sheets, each weighing about 2kg. There were life-sized gold and silver replicas of corn, which were ceremonially ‘planted’ in agricultural rituals. Also reported were solid-gold treasures such as altars, llamas and babies, as well as a replica of the sun, which was lost. But within months…
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Biomuseo
The whimsical Biomuseo explains (only in Spanish, alas!) world bio-diversity through the medium of the potato. Opening hours and admission prices are erratic.
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La Catedral
Started in 1559 and taking almost a hundred years to build, the Catedral squats on the site of Inca Viracocha's palace and was built using blocks pilfered from the nearby Inca site of Saqsaywamán. The cathedral is joined with Iglesia del Triunfo (1536) to its right and Iglesia de Jesús María (1733) to the cathedral's left. El Triunfo, Cuzco's oldest church, also houses a vault containing the remains of the famous Inca historian, Garcilaso de la Vega.
Born in Cuzco in 1539, whose remains were only recently returned to Cuzco by the king and queen of Spain.
The cathedral is one of the city's greatest repositories of colonial art, especially for works from the escuela cuzqu…
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Machu Picchu
For many travelers to Peru, a visit to the lost Incan city of Machu Picchu is the whole purpose of their trip. With its awe-inspiring location, it is the best-known and most spectacular archaeological site on the continent. Despite being swamped by tourists from June to September, it still retains an air of grandeur and mystery. Alejandro Toledo, the country's first indigenous Andean president, impressively staged his inauguration here in 2001.
Apart from a few indigenous Quechuas, nobody knew of Machu Picchu's existence until American historian Hiram Bingham stumbled upon it in 1911. When Bingham returned in 1912 and 1915, he also discovered some of the ruins on the so-…
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Templo y Convento de la Merced
Cuzco’s third most important colonial church, La Merced was destroyed in the 1650 earthquake, but was quickly rebuilt. To the left of the church, at the back of a small courtyard, is the entrance to the monastery and museum. Paintings based on the life of San Pedro Nolasco, who founded the order of La Merced in Barcelona in 1218, hang on the walls of the beautiful colonial cloister.
The church on the far side of the cloister contains the tombs of two of the most famous conquistadors: Diego de Almagro and Gonzalo Pizarro (brother of Francisco). Also on the far side of the cloister is a small religious museum that houses vestments rumored to have belonged to conquistador …
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Plaza de Armas
In Incan times, the plaza, called Huacaypata or Aucaypata, was the heart of the Incan capital. Today it's the nerve center of the modern city. Two flags usually fly here - the red-and-white Peruvian flag and the rainbow-colored flag of Tahuantinsuyo, representing the four quarters of the Incan empire. Foreigners often mistake the latter for an international gay-pride banner, to which it bears a remarkable resemblance!
Colonial arcades surround the plaza, which in ancient times was twice as large as it is today, also encompassing the area now called Plaza Regocijo. On the plaza's northeastern side is the imposing cathedral, fronted by a large flight of stairs and flanked b…
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Moray
The impressively deep amphitheater-like terracing of Moray, reached via the small town of Maras, is a fascinating spectacle. Different levels of concentric terraces are carved into a huge earthen bowl, each layer of which has its own micro-climate, according to how deep into the bowl it is. For this reason, some theorize that the Incas used them as a kind of laboratory to determine the optimal conditions for growing crops of each species. There are three bowls, one of which has been planted with various crops as a kind of living museum.
Though refreshingly off the beaten path, this site is not challenging to reach. You can take any transportation bound between Urubamba an…
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Piquillacta & Rumicolca
Literally translated as ‘the Place of the Flea,’ Piquillacta is the only major pre-Inca ruin in the area. It was built around AD 1100 by the Wari culture. It’s a large ceremonial center of crumbling two-story buildings, all with entrances that are strategically located on the upper floor. It is surrounded by a defensive wall. The stonework here is much cruder than that of the Incas, and the floors and walls were paved with slabs of white gypsum, of which you can still see traces.
On the opposite side of the road about 1km further east is the huge Inca gate of Rumicolca, built on Wari foundations. The cruder Wari stonework contrasts with the Inca blocks. It’s interes…
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Intihuatana
A staircase behind the Sacristy climbs a small hill to the major shrine in Machu Picchu, the Intihuatana . This Quechua word loosely translates as the 'Hitching Post of the Sun' and refers to the carved rock pillar, often mistakenly called a sundial, which stands at the top of the Intihuatana hill. The Inca's astronomers were able to predict the solstices using the angles of this pillar. Thus, they were able to claim control over the return of the lengthening summer days.
Exactly how the pillar was used for these astronomical purposes remains unclear, but its elegant simplicity and high craftwork make it a highlight of the complex. It is recorded that there were several o…
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Museo Irq’i Yachay
More an art and craft exhibition than a museum, Museo Irq’i Yachay is the fascinating by-product of an NGO that seeks to give opportunities for cognitive development to kids in remote communities. Of course, the most isolated and neglected communities are the ones in which traditional culture is best preserved, and the result is an engrossing and unique insight into Andean culture. The kids paint what they know – animals, mountains, rivers, people – and incorporate the symbols of the weavings that surround them from birth: north is hope and future, red is love and revenge. Along with the art itself, there’s an impressive display of textiles. Accompanying interpretive in…
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Tipón
A demonstration of the Incas’ mastery over their environment, this extensive Inca site about 30km from Cuzco, just before Oropesa, consists of some impressive terracing at the head of a small valley and boasts an ingenious irrigation system. Take any Urcos-bound bus from opposite the hospital in Av de la Cultura in Cuzco, or a colectivo from outside Av Tullumayo 207 (S3, 55 minutes), and ask to be let off at the Tipón turnoff (S2, 45 minutes). A steep dirt road from the turnoff (an excellent spot for eating cuy to build up your strength) climbs the 4km to the ruins. For S80 (for the whole car), a colectivo from outside Av Tullumayo 207 will drive you into the ruins at …
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Hut of the Caretaker of the Funerary Rock
To get a visual fix of the whole site and snap the classic postcard photograph, climb the zigzagging staircase on the left immediately after entering the complex, which leads to a hut. Known as the Hut of the Caretaker of the Funerary Rock , it is one of a few buildings that has been restored with a thatched roof, making it a good shelter in the case of rain. The Inca Trail enters the city just below this hut.
The carved rock behind the hut may have been used to mummify the nobility, hence the hut's name.
If you continue straight into the ruins instead of climbing to the hut, you pass through extensive terracing to a beautiful series of 16 connected ceremonial baths that c…
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Iglesia de Santo Domingo
The church of Santo Domingo is most famous as the site of Qorikancha, which was Cuzco's major Incan temple. It has twice been destroyed by earthquakes, in 1650 and 1950, as well as being damaged in the 1986 earthquake - photographs in the entrance show the extent of the 1950 damage. Also in the entrance is a doorway carved in Arabic style - a reminder of the centuries of Moorish domination in Spain.
The remains of the Incan temple are inside the cloister. Colonial paintings around the outside of the courtyard depict the life of Santo Domingo (Saint Dominic) and contain several representations of dogs holding torches in their jaws - these are God's guard dogs (dominicanus …
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Iglesia San Francisco
More austere than many of Cuzco’s other churches, Iglesia San Francisco dates from the 16th and 17th centuries, and is one of the few that didn’t need to be completely reconstructed after the 1650 earthquake. It has a large collection of colonial religious paintings and a well-carved cedar choir.
The attached museum houses supposedly the largest painting in South America, which measures 9m by 12m and shows the family tree of St Francis of Assisi, the founder of the order. Also of macabre interest are the two crypts, which are not totally underground. Inside are plenty of human bones, some of which have been carefully arranged in designs meant to remind visitors of the…
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Central Plaza
At the back of the Intihuatana is another staircase. It descends to the Central Plaza, which separates the ceremonial sector of Machu Picchu from the more mundane residential and industrial sectors, which were not as well-constructed. At the lower end of this latter area is the Prison Group, a labyrinthine complex of cells, niches and passageways both under and above the ground.
The centerpiece of the group is the Temple of the Condor, which contains a carving of the head of a condor, with the natural rocks behind it resembling the bird's outstretched wings. Behind the condor is a well-like hole and, at the bottom of this, the door to a tiny underground cell that can only…
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Museo de Arte Precolombino
Inside a Spanish colonial mansion with an Inca ceremonial courtyard, this dramatically curated pre-Columbian art museum showcases a stunningly varied, if selectively small, collection of archaeological artifacts previously buried in the vast storerooms of Lima’s Museo Larco. Dating from between 1250 BC to AD 1532, the artifacts show off the artistic and cultural achievements of many of Peru’s ancient cultures, with exhibits labeled in Spanish, English and French. Highlights include the Nazca and Moche galleries of multi-colored ceramics, queros (ceremonial Inca wooden drinking vessels) and dazzling displays of jewelry made with intricate gold and silverwork.
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Cathedral
Started in 1559 and taking almost a hundred years to build, the cathedral squats on the site of Viracocha Inca’s palace and was built using blocks pilfered from the nearby Inca site of Sacsaywamán. The cathedral is joined with Iglesia del Triunfo (1536) to its right and Iglesia de Jesús María (1733) to the left. El Triunfo, Cuzco’s oldest church, houses a vault containing the remains of the famous Inca chronicler Garcilaso de la Vega, who was born in Cuzco in 1539 and died in Córdoba, Spain, in 1616. His remains were returned in 1978 by King Juan Carlos of Spain. )
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Iglesia de San Blas
This simple adobe church is comparatively small, but you can’t help but be awed by the baroque, gold-leaf principal altar. The exquisitely carved pulpit, made from a single tree trunk, has been called the finest example of colonial wood carving in the Americas.
Legend claims that its creator was an indigenous man who miraculously recovered from a deadly disease and subsequently dedicated his life to carving this pulpit for the church. Supposedly, his skull is nestled in the topmost part of the carving. In reality, no one is certain of the identity of either the skull or the woodcarver.
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Tarawasi
Limatambo, 80km west of Cuzco, is named after the Inca site of Rimactambo, also popularly known as Tarawasi, which is situated beside the road, about 2km west of town. The site was used as a ceremonial center, as well as a resting place for the Inca chasquis (Inca runners who delivered messages over long distances). The exceptional polygonal retaining wall, noteworthy for its 28 human-sized niches, is in itself worth the trip from Cuzco. On the wall below it, look for flower shapes and a nine-sided heart amid the patchwork of perfectly interlocking stones.
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Iglesia y Convento de Santa Clara
This 16th-century church, part of a strict convent, is difficult to visit but it's worth making the effort to go for morning services, because this is one of the more bizarre churches in Cuzco. Mirrors cover almost the entire interior; apparently, the colonial clergy used them to entice curious indigenous peoples into the church for worship.
The nuns provide the choir during Mass, sitting at the very back of the church and separated from both the priest and the rest of the congregation by an ominous grille of heavy metal bars stretching from floor to ceiling.
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Salinas
To get here, cross the Río Urubamba over the bridge in Tarabamba, about 4km down the valley from Urubamba, turn right and follow a footpath along the south bank to a small cemetery, where you turn left and climb up a valley to the salt pans of Salinas.
It’s about a 500m uphill hike. A rough dirt road that can be navigated by taxi enters Salinas from above, giving spectacular views. Tour groups visit via this route most days. A taxi from Urubamba to visit Salinas and the nearby Moray costs around S80. You can also walk or bike here from Maras.
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Museo Histórico Regional
This eclectic museum is housed in the colonial Casa Garcilaso de la Vega, the house of the Inca-Spanish chronicler who now lies buried. The chronologically arranged collection begins with arrowheads from the Preceramic Period and continues with ceramics and jewelry of the Wari, Pukara and Inca cultures. There is also a Nazca mummy, a few Inca weavings, some small gold ornaments and a strangely sinister scale model of the Plaza de Armas. A big, helpful chart in the courtyard outlines the timeline and characters of the escuela cuzqueña.
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