Because the world was meant to be experienced, not imagined.
For years, we have been talking about going to South America and for our first visit, in our minds the obvious pick was to see - Machu Picchu in Peru.
Finally, after a long flight from Philadelphia, we set foot to our sixth continent, and at last we met Peru. We flew directly to Cuzco and we decided to skip the city of Lima because we only had ten days to see Peru (we wanted to see Machu Picchu for two days), we wanted to explore the Peruvian countryside more with the given amount of days. Before going to Machu Picchu, it is very important to know that you have to be acclimated first with the altitude before going there. You can acclimate anywhere you want: Cuzco, Urubamba or Ollantaytambo. Cuzco has a much more busier vibe than the Sacred Valley area, since its the biggest city near Machu Picchu. Urubamba and Ollantaytambo are both in the Sacred Valley area, Urubamba is 1 hour and 30 minutes drive from the airport while Ollantaytambo is around 2 hours and 30 minutes drive. Ollantaytambo is much more touristy than Urubamba, so you can decide wherever you want to stay based on your interests. We chose to acclimate in Urubamba, we figured the flight was already long and a taxi ride of 2 hours plus is too much to handle. On our vacations, we usually want our first day to be relaxing.
From Cuzco airport, we took a taxi to go to Urubamba. Taxi rides around Cuzco is your main means of transport, if you are going for comfort. It wasn't that expensive since they have flat rate from the airport to your hotel or you can hire them to drive you around the sites. For us, it was a reasonable price. We stayed at a very quaint hotel called Sonesta Posadas del Inca Sacred Valley in Yucay (still the Sacred Valley area). We loved everything about the hotel from the ambiance, location and customer service. The hotel itself is an 18th century colonial-style monastery and is surrounded by beautiful gardens. The view of from the hotel gives you a glimpse of the region, it was phenomenal in every corner. We went during off-peak season in Peru and we got the hotel on a bargain. On my next posts, I will discuss how to get to Machu Picchu from your desired acclimation point.
Finally, after a long flight from Philadelphia, we set foot to our sixth continent, and at last we met Peru. We flew directly to Cuzco and we decided to skip the city of Lima because we only had ten days to see Peru (we wanted to see Machu Picchu for two days), we wanted to explore the Peruvian countryside more with the given amount of days. Before going to Machu Picchu, it is very important to know that you have to be acclimated first with the altitude before going there. You can acclimate anywhere you want: Cuzco, Urubamba or Ollantaytambo. Cuzco has a much more busier vibe than the Sacred Valley area, since its the biggest city near Machu Picchu. Urubamba and Ollantaytambo are both in the Sacred Valley area, Urubamba is 1 hour and 30 minutes drive from the airport while Ollantaytambo is around 2 hours and 30 minutes drive. Ollantaytambo is much more touristy than Urubamba, so you can decide wherever you want to stay based on your interests. We chose to acclimate in Urubamba, we figured the flight was already long and a taxi ride of 2 hours plus is too much to handle. On our vacations, we usually want our first day to be relaxing.
From Cuzco airport, we took a taxi to go to Urubamba. Taxi rides around Cuzco is your main means of transport, if you are going for comfort. It wasn't that expensive since they have flat rate from the airport to your hotel or you can hire them to drive you around the sites. For us, it was a reasonable price. We stayed at a very quaint hotel called Sonesta Posadas del Inca Sacred Valley in Yucay (still the Sacred Valley area). We loved everything about the hotel from the ambiance, location and customer service. The hotel itself is an 18th century colonial-style monastery and is surrounded by beautiful gardens. The view of from the hotel gives you a glimpse of the region, it was phenomenal in every corner. We went during off-peak season in Peru and we got the hotel on a bargain. On my next posts, I will discuss how to get to Machu Picchu from your desired acclimation point.
This is the hotel we stayed at in Urubamba.
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On our balcony, we found two hatchlings, quietly sleeping on one of the hanging flower pots.
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Then we walked around town, had a delicious Peruvian meal and see what locals do.
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Categories: South America, Peru
