Sol & Luna Resort - Sacred Valley of the Incas

We take the train from Ollantaytambo (a 15-minute drive from the hotel) and enjoy a short ride to the 104 km mark of the Inca trail. Here we disembark and walk this famous trail for approximately 6 hours. During the walk, we see wonderful landscapes and the ruins at Wiñayhuayna. We arrive at Machu Pichu through the Sun Gate, Inti Punku where we get our first spectacular view of the Lost City of the Incas.

Below us are dense green forests, the same forests through which Hiram Bingham, an American explorer, made his way in his search for Machu Picchu. He finally found it in 1911 with the help of campesinos, local farmers who had been cultivating corn in the ruins. The site was so overgrown and covered with vegetation, that it took him some time to realize what a monumental find it was.

Machu Picchu, which means old mountain, is one of the most perfectly preserved Inca cities in Peru. Its existence was never known to the Spaniards and so escaped the destruction they wrought on other Inca cities. It may even have been the capital of an entire lost province. It was built in the mid-1400s for Pachacuteq the revolutionary Inca leader who began the ferocious expansion of the Empire. The city was obviously an important agricultural, religious and administrative center, but details about its inhabitants and why it was never found by the Spanish remain a mystery.

Our tour of Machu Picchu with an expert guide covers all the major sites of the city (and many minor ones as well). These include: Fountains: 16 small waterfall fountains, arranged in steps, an amazing feat of engineering; The Sun Temple with its trapezoid niches and a massive black rock with a notch tailor-made for the June solstice sunrise; the Royal Tomb area, which many believe to be a temple for Pachamama, the Earth Goddess; the Principal Temple with its fine stone walls; and a stone carved to resemble the Southern Cross; the Intiwatana a black rock sundial with a stone column, which roughly translates, according to guide and author Peter Frost, to “Hitching Post of the Sun,” because the “Incas are said to have ritually tied the sun to such stones during solstice sunrises.” This is the only perfectly preserved Intiwatana in all of Peru; the Sacred Rock carved to resemble the snow-capped peak opposite it; the Temple of the Condor, a towering condor-shaped rock which features, at its base, a stone carved with the eyes and neck of a condor. We end the day with a 20-minute walk up to the top of all the terraces, which gives us a stunning view of the whole city. This area also houses the Funerary rock, where, many believe, the dead were prepared for mummification. We pay our respects to the Inca ghosts on this rock and then descend down a shorter path to the exit.

We have dinner and spend the night at either the luxurious Sanctuario Lodge located at the entrance to the ruins or the well-appointed El Pueblo in the village.

The next day, we return to Machu Picchu to continue our tour or for one or more of the following hikes:

Inti Punku or the Sun Gate sits between two ridges above and south east of the city. It is the official entrance to Machu Picchu from the Inca trail. We can walk towards it from the city, about a one-hour round trip journey on a wide stone path at the end of which we enjoy breathtaking views.
Wayna Picchu or Young Mountain is a towering peak to the north of Machu Picchu. For the young of heart and body, this hike is a mostly vertical climb on the original Inca path. A challenging 1.5-hour journey to narrow terraces at the summit, which may have been used for gardens that provided a band of color above the fabled city.
Inca Drawbridge: A high-adrenalin 1.5-hour walk from the cemetery, around the edge of the mountain, following a trail cut into a sheer precipice to a stone Inca drawbridge leading to no one knows where exactly, as part of it has crumbled. A walk that requires a love of heights and ends in a mystery.

A short bus ride down to village where you will catch the train back to Ollantaytambo.