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Exploring the Cusco Surroundings

Cusco – the beautiful city, nestled in the Andes in Southern Peru – is the perfect starting point for hikes and visit to interesting Inca sites and beautiful nature. While traveling to the Sacred Valley or the Southern Valley, you can’t stop wondering about the impressive architecture of the Inca culture. Here are some tips for Exploring the Cusco surroundings.

First things first: Cusco Tourist Ticket

If you want to visit the archaeological sites in the surroundings of Cusco, first buy the tourist ticket or the so-called Boleto Turístico. I would recommend buying a ticket that is valid for ten days that will allow you to visit everything. The ticket costs S./ 130, however, if you have an ISIC student card, you only need to pay S./ 70. (more…)

Choquequirao: Trek to so-called Sacred Sister of Machu Picchu

Only a 4-hour bus ride away from the city of Cusco you can find the amazing Inca ruins of Choquequirao, another “lost city of the Inca’s.” Choquequirao is bigger than Machu Picchu but almost “undiscovered” (like any other remote part of the Andes here in Peru). While the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu is so popular that it is very hard to get Inca Trail Tickets, we could not join a group of hikers to do the Choquequirao Trek, simply because there were no groups available for the date we wanted to go. Unlike Machu Picchu, Choquequirao (or Choqueqirow) was not thoroughly explored and excavated until the 1970’s.

How it is possible that Machu Picchu has 1,4 million visitors every year and Choquequirao only 5,5 thousand? The answer lies in the remoteness of this archaeological site. Of course, this is what makes it so unique too. During the Choquequirao Trek, you will get a more intense feeling of achievement; and, at the same time, an immense appreciation of Peruvian nature. How it is possible the Incas have built this magnificent city here, at this incredible location in the saddle of a high Andean ridge, 3000, above sea level and 1,500 meters above the roaring waters of the Apurimac River? The Sacred or the Lost Sister City of Machu Picchu – as Choquequirao is often called – is only accessible through an (at least) 4-day hike through the beautiful mountains and valley passing over the wild Apurimac river. (more…)