Machu Picchu is on just about everyone’s bucket list, but if you visit Peru don’t overlook some of the other incredible Inca archaeological sites you can visit! To be clear, this is a list of other accessible Inca sites you can visit in the Sacred Valley. There are lots of treks to Inca ruins too, whether you want an alternate trek to the Inca Trail, or one to a different ruin in the Sacred Valley, like the trek to Choquequirao.
This list, however, will focus on sites you can easily visit, either by walking from Cusco or taking a bus or taxi to them. Ten of these sites can be visited on the boleto turístico, which is available for purchase in Cusco and could save you quite a bit of money if you visit them all, plus gives you access to a few museums in Cusco. Without further ado, here are 12 Inca ruins (besides Machu Picchu) that you can visit in the Sacred Valley!
1. Ollantaytambo
If you’re on a really short schedule in the Sacred Valley (mainly there to visit Machu Picchu, for example), at least try to make it to Ollantaytambo as well! The city is known as the “living Inca” city because so many of the houses were originally built by the Incas. There are also water channels running through the city and lots of nice souvenirs available. The ruin overlooks the city and is quite large! It was actually not completed when the Spanish came, so you can see Inca building techniques, like ramps and knobs sticking out of the stones that they would tie ropes around. Later these ramps and knobs would be removed. As I said, this site is definitely one worth visiting, especially since Ollantaytambo is often a stopover on the way to Machu Picchu for many travelers anyway!
2. Sacsayhuaman
Sacsayhuaman is another of the largest sites you can visit, and it’s just up the hill from Cusco! You can walk, but I recommend, if you have the time, taking a taxi up to Tambomachay, then walking down to Puka Pukara, Qenqo (sites #3-5 on this list), and finally Sacsayhuaman. If you don’t have time for all four, make sure you make Sacsayhuaman your one stop! It has very impressive Inca stonework and huge stones; in fact, many of the stones left at the site were left there because the Spanish couldn’t move them!
3. Qenqo
Qenqo is the next archaeological site up the hill from Sacsayhuaman, and the Cristo Blanco sculpture is in between so be sure to stop there on the way for some great views of the city of Cusco. Qenqo is a smaller site in a forested area with a canal cut through it. Of the sites close to Cusco, this was the one I most wished we had had a guide for, because I felt like there was a lot more to the site than I was able to understand on my own. Consider hiring a guide if you go, or at least read up on the mysterious possible purposes of Qenqo beforehand!
4. Puka Pukara
Further up the road from Qenqo is a site called Puka Pukara. The name means “red fortress” which accurately describes the structure. This one was really fun to walk around and explore, and had some really great views of some farmland and the valley. It is quite close to Tambomachay, the next site on the list, but a little further from Qenqo so we took a taxi down from Puka Pukara to Qenqo, so if you’re feeling a bit tired that might be a good, cheap option (even cheaper: take the bus)!
5. Tambomachay
Tambomachay might have been my favorite of the sites close to Cusco. It was the highest elevation, so breathing was a bit challenging, but it just felt like a really special place. Its true purpose is unknown, but some think it may have been an Inca spa. This would make sense since the site has numerous aqueducts, canals, and waterfalls running through its terraced stones.
6. Qoricancha
Qoricancha was the most important Inca temple – the Sun Temple – and at one time its walls were covered in gold and its courtyards filled with gold statues. Much of that gold went to ransom their leader Atahualpa, and the Spanish built a church (the Convent of Santo Domingo) on top of the site, so it certainly isn’t as impressive as it was in its heyday, but you can still see some of the original walls with their amazing Inca stonework inside! This site is not covered by the boleto turístico, although the museum of the site (Museo del Sitio de Qoricancha) and the little park whose only entrance is through the museum, is!
7. Moray
And now we move on to some more sites that are outside of Cusco and a little further afield in the Sacred Valley. There are buses you can take to these sites, but we ended up hiring an English-speaking guide and driver for a day to take us around to the Sacred Valley sites we most wanted to see. It cost about $150 USD and was worth every penny! Manuel provided us lots of insight to the sites we visited that we wouldn’t have had otherwise. This site, Moray, was his favorite. It was likely an Inca agricultural lab, since the climate at the site is actually vastly different between the different levels of the terraces.
8. Salineras de Maras
Not far from Moray are the Salineras (salt ponds) of Maras. The original ponds here, used for drying salt, were built by the Incas. More were built over time, and they are still used for the same purpose today! This is the other site not covered by the boleto turístico, so be ready to pay the very reasonable 10 soles/person (about $3 USD) fee when you get there. The landscape is unlike any I’ve ever seen before, and possibly unlike any other in the world, so do your best to make it there!
9. Chinchero
Chinchero isn’t the most impressive of the sites on the list–it has plenty of terraces and some structures that used to be temples, and that the Spanish built churches on top of. However, the town of Chinchero is really interesting, because there are lots of people who are keeping the Inca artisan techniques alive. Our guide brought us to a place where they served us tea and demonstrated the traditional way of cleaning, dyeing, spinning, and weaving alpaca wool, and also explained what some of the traditional woven designs meant. It was a really cool experience, and we were even able o meet some alpacas and buy a nice scarf before we left!
10. Pisac
We had full intentions of going to Pisac, but since we ended up getting pretty sick our last couple of days in Cusco, we didn’t make it there and stuck closer to the city. Besides the ruins of the citadel, the big draw for Pisac is the market and its proximity to Cusco. The markets are biggest on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday.
11. Tipón
The ruins at Tipón look pretty cool–terraces and channels fed by an underground spring. It’s possible that, like Moray, this could have been used as an agricultural lab. However, we just didn’t have time to fit it in on this trip. It’s to the east of Cusco, when most of the rest of the ruins on this list are to the west, which also makes it hard to fit it in on a one day tour. If you’re in the area and have an extra day for exploring, definitely consider making the trip, and possibly combining it with Piquillacta (#12 on this list), which isn’t far.
12. Piquillacta
This last site on the list (and on the boleto turístico) is actually not an Inca archaeological site. It is a ruin of the Wari culture, which actually predates the Inca culture by quite a bit. The site has some pretty cool pyramidal structures that look nothing like the other sites on the list, but since it’s a bit out of the way (in the same direction from Cusco as Tipón), I think only the really die hard archaeological fans make it here. But hey, that could be you!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this overview of some of the archaeological sites you can visit in the Sacred Valley of Peru! Don’t overlook these gems on your way to Machu Picchu!