Travel Guide: 4 Day Itinerary Exploring Cusco & Sacred Valley, Peru.

Cusco is the historic capital of the Inca Empire, and the place everyone goes before heading to Machu Picchu. You’ll hear stories from backpackers of how they spent months living in Cusco, or travellers who spent weeks exploring the beautiful Andes Mountains and Sacred Valley.

But what if you only have a few days to explore Cusco and the Sacred Valley?

Well, earlier this year I had just that, so I have the perfect 4-day itinerary for you, to ensure you see as much as possible…including Machu Picchu!

Day 1 in Cusco

12:30 – Check-in at Aranwa Cusco Boutique Hotel

If you get a flight from Lima around 11am, you’ll land around 12:30 and be at the hotel by 1pm. It also means you won’t be overtired from an early morning flight!

Check-in at the Aranwa Cusco Boutique and enjoy the complimentary coca tea they offer on arrival to help with the altitude.

I loved my stay at the Aranwa Cusco, it was the most perfect location, and the hotel itself was gorgeous!

Warning: if your employer runs regular drug testing, the coca tea will show up in your system as cocaine for 24-hours after consumption, because coca tea contains alkaloids, which are the source of cocaine base when extracted chemically.

Don’t let this worry you though – coca tea is not cocaine. Chewing coca leaves and drinking coca tea is the natural way the Incans have helped reduce altitude effects for hundreds of years. I’ll do a separate blog post soon all about how to cope with the altitude though!

13:00 – Lunch at Qura

After dropping your bags at the hotel, walk (slowly!) to Qura for lunch. It’s about a 10-minute walk from the hotel, down a little back street off the main square in Cusco.

You’ll be surprised just how the altitude will affect you – your breathing will be heavier, it’s harder to walk up steps (even little ones), and will need to take things much slower than usual. I found my usual London power-walking slowed down to more of a crawl.

Serving the most beautiful fresh food and famous for their Acai bowls, I needed something a little more substantial than an Acai bowl, so I opted for avocado, roasted tomato and poached egg on toast. I also ordered a cup of coca tea, and a mango and passionfruit smoothie.

Because of the altitude levels, you need to drink a lot more than usual as the altitude dehydrates your body (you’ll also naturally find yourself *ahem* peeing more), so I tried to get 2-3 drinks with each meal (including a cup of coca tea, a glass of water, and then something tastier) to get my liquids up.

14:00 – Cusco Main Square (Plaza Mayor de Cusco)

Plaza Mayor de Cusco, aka, the main square in Cusco, is a really beautiful, bustling square where you’ll find the largest churches, lots of cafes and restaurants, shops full of souvenirs and soft alpaca clothing, and the famous Quechua women with their llamas and lambs.

It’s a busy hive of activity, and is always packed with people – even late at night!

The Plaza Mayor de Cusco has been the main public space of the town since before its Spanish foundation in 1534. Architecturally, it’s full of Spanish colonial buildings and long stone arcades.

One thing to be mindful of, is that you will be hassled constantly by Peruvians all over the square trying to sell you tours and massages. You need to be firm and polite in saying no to them.

However, you can also meet the Quechua women who walk around with their llamas, alpacas, and lambs. For a handful of soles you can take a photo with them, or of them. This is their job, so the recommendation is to give them 10 soles (around $2.50USD), but always negotiate the price before you take the photo.

Also please don’t short-change them with only a couple of soles.

There are loads of cute streets around the main square as well, so make sure to just wander and soak it all up!

15:00 – Cusco Cathedral

Of course, the main place to visit on the square is Cusco Cathedral. Nestled in the heart of Cusco, construction began in 1560 on the site of the ancient Inca palace of Huiracocha, with stones brought from the monumental Sacsayhuaman (which you’ll visit later).

The cathedral’s blend of Gothic, Baroque, and Renaissance styles makes it a must-see for those interested in history and architecture. I won’t lie though, all of the cathedrals in Peru have really creepy, realistic looking painted statues, and Cusco Cathedral is full of them, so be prepared for them!

Tickets cost roughly 12USD per person, and the cathedral is open 10am-6pm daily. It’s also important to note that like all historical places of worship in Peru, you’re not allowed to take any photos inside.

15:30 – Coffee & Muffin at Cercanía Pan y Café

Head to nearby Cercanía Pan y Café, which is located on a small side-road between the Cathedral and the next church. You need to keep your liquids and calories up – did you know you’re supposed to eat more calories when you’re at a higher altitude? Cercanía Pan y Café make the best freshly baked blueberry muffins (it was literally stuffed with blueberries!), so treat yourself and enjoy it with a drink!

16:00 – Church of the Society of Jesus

I visited the Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús Cusco (Church of the Society of Jesus) quite spontaneously. I was enjoying a pisco sour at the Museo Del Pisco, when I suddenly realised it was Maundy Thursday!

Feeling like a terrible Catholic, I left the Pisco Sour and rushed off to find a church. Naturally, I was spoilt for choice, but I ended up in the Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús Cusco, which was built in 1576.

It was honestly such a magical experience, and I encourage anyone who’s Catholic to visit Peru during Easter! The church was heaving with people, there was a huge queue out the door that was moving steadily. I joined it, and we slowly filed through the church.

18:00 – Dinner at Morena Peruvian Kitchen

Oh my gosh, the food in Cusco, you guys! I was astounded by how incredible it was! I keep telling everyone that the food in Peru was the best food I have ever had anywhere in the world.

And Morena Peruvian Kitchen was one of my favourite restaurants in Peru.

I didn’t have a reservation and it was fully booked, but as it was just me I sat up at the bar and had the loveliest meal!

Of course I started with a Passionfruit Pisco Sour and a basket of different breads, and then I chose three starters rather than a starter and a main: the Guacamole del Huerto, Croquetas de Choclo Con Queso (local corn and Andean cheese), and Ceviche de Trucha (Fresh Andean trout ceviche).

All three dishes were delicious – I was in Heaven!

Read my 8 Favourite Places to Eat & Drink in Cusco, Peru!

20:00 – Drinks at Museo del Pisco

Afterwards, head to Museo del Pisco for drinks! Their cocktail menu is vast, and I highly recommend trying anything with passionfruit or lemongrass, as those two ingredients are native to Peru!

Day 2 in Cusco

09:00 Breakfast at Aulita Cafe

Aulita Cafe is a cute little cafe just round the corner from the Aranwa. My friend Pia and I went here on our last morning, and although the service was veeerry slow, the food was amazing and it was the perfect breakfast spot! Just make sure you’re not in a rush…

10:00 Qorikancha – Convent of Santo Domingo

It’s really important to note that there are two different Qorikancha (also known as Coricancha) museums, so it’s a little confusing.

There’s the Convent of Santo Domingo, and then the Museo de Sitio Qorikancha which is just a small museum dedicated to the archeological side of the site. The latter was closed when I was visiting, so I could only visit the Convent of Santo Domingo, which is built on the site of the Inca temple of the sun (Address: Calle Ahuacpinta 659-A, Cusco).

After the looting of the Qorikancha temple by the Spanish in the 16th century, a religious order was commissioned to build a Catholic religious temple to replace the Inca gods with those of Europe.

The Spanish colonists built the Convent of Santo Domingo on the site, demolishing the temple and using its foundations for the cathedral. The construction took almost a century to complete, and although major earthquakes have severely damaged the church, the Inca stone walls still stand due to their sophisticated tightly interlocking blocks of stone.

You’re able to see the baroque architecture of the exterior of the temple, canvases of the walls made by the ‘Cusco school’ emphasizing ‘The life of San Vicente Ferrer’ and ‘The life of Santo Domingo de Guzmán’, and the Baroque Pulpit, as well as the stone church tower, a masterpiece of colonial stonework.

11:30 – San Blas for a Drink at L’Atelier & Shopping

After the museum, pop to the San Blas neighbourhood for shopping on these cute little laneways.

I’d definitely recommend getting a taxi or Uber up the hill to L’Atelier Cafe Concept, and then walking down the hill via the shops. It’ll help with the altitude – trust me, you think you can walk up a hill but when you can barely breathe because of how thin the air is, you’ll thank me for this tip.

L’Atelier has a really lovely view over the lane below, and I loooved their carrot cake! Of course I had a cup of coca tea with it.

One thing to note is that L’Atelier is absolutely tiny, and they don’t take reservations, so you might have to wait for a seat or sit up at the bar seating (which doesn’t have a view).

After re-fueling at L’Atelier, walk down the road in front of it, and explore the surrounding laneways with their little shops. You can also wander over to Hatun Rumiyoc Street, which is an ancient Inca cobbled street and where you can find the famous twelve-angled stone. It’s one of the best preserved original Inca roads in Cusco!

13:00 – Lunch at Pachapapa

Pachapapa is located in San Blas, so don’t stroll too far from the area! It’s just a couple of minutes walk from Hatun Rumiyoc Street, and located opposite the cute little church of Iglesia de San Blas. Pachapapa is such a great restaurant and I had the most delicious lunch here!

I chose the Chicken Causa (a traditional Peruvian dish made of layers of mashed potato and filled with chicken and avocado) and Empanadas, and then treated myself to the Quinoa biscuit for dessert. A perfect lunch!

14:30 – Church of San Cristóbal Viewpoint

After lunch get a taxi up to the San Cristobal viewpoint, where you can see the whole of Cusco, before taking that same taxi further up the hill to Saqsaywaman (apparently pronounced ‘sexy woman’). I’d recommend a taxi rather than an Uber for this, and I’ll explain why!

The San Cristobal viewpoint is a quick stop where you’ll want to take a few photos and maybe take a quick peek inside the church. The mistake I made, was then getting an Uber up to Saqsaywaman…and then getting stranded.

Saqsaywaman is quite far and up a very steep hill, so it’s definitely not advisable to climb it with the altitude. There aren’t a huge amount of Uber’s in the area, and when I had finished there and was ready to go, Uber told me they don’t actually operate up there! So it was literally impossible for me to get an Uber back to Cusco! So you can take one there, but can’t get one back. And because it’s in an isolated location in the Andean mountains, you’re stuck. There are no taxis just regularly coming along, because people hire the taxi to take them to Saqsaywaman and wait for them.

Which is what you need to do. When you get the taxi to San Cristobal, ask the taxi driver if he can wait for you at both San Cristobal and Saqsaywaman, and ask how much he’ll charge for this.

15:00 – Saqsaywaman

So what’s so great about Saqsaywaman? Well, firstly this is where you’ll see all the llamas and alpacas!! Secondly, it’s an Inca citadel on the northern outskirts Cusco sitting 12,142 ft above sea level, that’s a desgintated UNESCO World Heritage site.

Built in the 15th century, the dry stone walls are constructed of huge stones were built on the site, with the workers carefully cutting the boulders to fit them together tightly without mortar.

Of course, these days all that’s left of the citadel is the ruins, but it’s still worth visiting and has a fascinating history! And the llamas and alpacas are SO cute – apologies for all the photos but I just couldn’t choose which ones to use!

18:30 – Dinner at Chicha Cusco

After resting at the hotel and getting showered and changed, walk just round the corner to Chicha, one of Gaston Acurio’s restaurants. Gaston is known as the ‘Godfather of Peruvian cuisine’, and when you dine at Chicha, you’ll see why.

Focusing on native, regional ingredients, I really recommend getting the Lucuma Tortellini. Lucuma quickly became one of my favourite ingredients in Peru – it has a very light, sweet, caramel flavour. As well as the Tortellini, I also chose the Trout Ceviche as a starter, and a ‘Inca Kola’, which is a soft drink that was created in Peru in 1935 and has a light lemon verbena flavour.

Day 3 in Cusco

07:30 – Sacred Valley Tour

One of the best things I did in Cusco was a Sacred Valley tour! The 6.5-hour tour cost me under £15 through GetYourGuide, and they took us to Maras, Moray, and Chinchero, which are all located in the Sacred Valley.

It was such an amazing day and I’d highly recommend doing it! What I would say though, is you go to a much higher altitude than Cusco and Machu Picchu, so just be prepared and take things slowly.

The G Adventures team picked me up from my hotel around 7:30am, and took me to their little mini bus outside, where the rest of the group were already waiting.

We then started the drive up into the Andean mountains, stopping off part-way up for snacks and water from the gas station. There’s also a toilet there if you need it!

Book the tour here!

Stop 1: Chinchero

Our first stop was Chinchero. This was actually the stop I was a little disapppointed by. I thought we’d be visiting the actual village of Chinchero – which is open-air – to see the Quechuan women’s demonstrations, but they actually took us to a little indoor cultural centre called Centro Culture Parwa.

Cusco is famous for textiles and fabrics and the use of alpaca wool. The cultural centre shows how the process works, specifically the dyeing process. It was fascinating learning about the traditional dyeing process and how the Quechua use local, ancient vegetables, fruits and grains to create different colour dyes.

There’s also a shop at the centre where you can purchase wool and souvenirs.

Stop 2: Moray

Our next stop was Moray, a really striking archaeological site near Cusco, which was incredible!

We had about half an hour there to explore, take photos, get some food and drink from the little cafe stands, and browse the little souvenir shops. There was also a toilet, but I recommend taking your own pack of tissues because they didn’t have any toilet roll in the toilets!

Moray is among the most interesting remnants of the Inca civilization. Composed of three groups of circular terraces and surrounded by the breathtaking Andes., these descending rings stretch 150 meters deep, with the largest crater spanning a diameter of 600 feet.

The purpose of Moray’s design has been debated for nearly a century, since it was first discovered in 1930. With no written records left behind by the Incas, anthropologists and archaeologists have spent decades trying to figure out the site’s true function.

One of the most popular theories is that Moray served as an agricultural experiment station, a hypothesis proposed by anthropologist John Earls in 1975. His research revealed a sophisticated irrigation system, a dramatic 27°F (12°C) temperature difference from top to bottom, and varying angles of sunlight exposure—clues that suggest Moray was used to study microclimates for crop cultivation!

Earls’ theory guesses that the Incas used each terrace at Moray to simulate different environmental conditions, allowing them to optimize farming techniques and teach neighboring regions about crop production. This innovative use of their natural surroundings may have played a key role in the expansion of the Inca Empire across South America.

History lesson asside, don’t make the mistake I did and wear bright white trainers! I visited in March, which is rainy season, so the ground was muddy and it poured with rain, which meant my white trainers ended up a reddish-brown colour by the end of the day. Make sure you take and wear proper walking boots!! Also take a proper rain jacket if you go in rainy season, because I took a ‘shower-proof’ jacket, and it really wasn’t enough.

Stop 3: Maras Salt Mines

Our third and final stop on the tour, was the Maras Salt Mines. I loved it here, but it was definitely like a Pinterest vs reality situation haha. All of the photos online show the salt mines in the dry season, but in the rainy season they look veeeery different!

This part of the tour is quite strenuous and not accesible for those with mobility problems, as there are lots of steps you need to climb down (and then back up again), to see the salt mines. If you can do the steps though, the view is amazing and it was really incredible to get up-close to the salt mines!

After visiting the salt mines themselves, we were then taken into Maras the village, where we were able to have a wander and do some shopping in the salt shop. I stocked up on both bath and cooking salt while I was there!

The drive through the mountains back to Cusco was breathtaking – I honestly couldn’t peel my eyes away from the window!

15:00 – Drinks at Monasterio, a Belmond Hotel

We arrived back into Cusco around 14:30, and after dropping my backpack at the hotel and having a nice big glass of water, I walked over to Monasterio, A Belmond Hotel, for a fancy drink in their beautiful garden. I’ve previously stayed at the Belmond La Résidence d’Angkor in Siem Reap, Cambodia, and was blown away by the service and beauty of it, so I was excited to see what the Monasterio was like – even if it was just the tea room!

Of course, me being me, I couldn’t just have one drink, so I had three: water, a lemonade, and a coca tea.

The service was really, really friendly, and it was so lovely just enjoying the peace and quiet of the hotel garden after being surrounded by people all day. I’d definitely recommend stopping by here for tea, or lunch/dinner!

16:00 – Plazoleta de las Nazarenas

The Monasterio is located on the Plazoleta de las Nazarenas, a pretty little square. You can visit the Capilla de San Antonio Abad church which is next door to the hotel.

18:00 – Dinner at KUSYKAY

KUSYKAY was a restaurant that was on my list to try, but I didn’t have the time in the end, so pleaseeee go and eat there for me and let me know what it’s like? It has great reviews and looks amazing!!

After dinner, get an early night before Machu Picchu the next day!

Day 4 in Cusco

It’s Machu Picchu day!

Now, I personally didn’t visit Machu Pichu. I have a tachycardia condition, and none of the tours will take you if you have any sort of cardiac condition. I also didn’t fancy doing the trip by myself with public transport etc when I didn’t know how my body (and heart) would cope with the altitude.

My friend Pia, however, did do Machu Picchu. She arrived in Cusco a few days before I did so she could do the trek to Machu Picchu, and then we met up in Cusco and flew to Lima together to have a weekend in Lima at the end of the trip.

She said Machu Picchu was incredible and well worth the trip. Now that I know I can cope okay with altitude, I’d 100% do the trip next time I visit Peru and just make sure I was with people in case anything happened. I’m also super keen to do the Belmond train rather than hike it, just to make it a lil bit more luxurious!

If you are doing Machu Picchu, you can book a Machu Picchu day trip tour from GetYourGuide, but you need to make sure you book your tour at least 1-2 months in advance, as they sell out very quickly and once they’re sold out for the day you want to visit, that’s it, there are no more due to the limit in tourist number to Machu Picchu. The tours all cost around £250 per person, and just be warned, it will be a very early morning start to maximise the day!

You can fly out of Cusco to Lima on Day 5!

And if you have an extra day or two? Why not do Rainbow Mountain or Humantay Lake! Just be warned, you need to have a lot of stamina and physical fitness for both of these, as they require you to trek in much higher altitude levels than Machi Picchu and Cusco.

Read my Perfect One Week Travel Itinerary for Peru!

The Perfect 4-Day Sacred Valley Itinerary

Four days in the Sacred Valley really isn’t a huge amount of time, but I think this is the perfect itinerary if, like me, you have limited time to explore. It gives you a really great overview and insight into Cusco and the Sacred Valley, and will leave you feeling as though you’ve seen a lot!