Getting to Machu Picchu from Cuzco is really a half day affair, which pretty much requires spending the night in the small town of Agua Calientes (Hot Springs) located at the bottom of the mountain.  From Cuzco it's a 2 hour car ride to the train station of Ollantaytambo and then an hour and a half train ride. So like most visitors, we tied in a trip to some of the Sacred Valley sites on our way to the train station.  The Sacred Valley is an area located north of Cuzco that has a large concentration of archaeological sites considered to be important to the Incas.

Our trip through the Sacred Valley tour included two sites; Pisaq and Ollantaytambo.

Pisaq is a site located on the side of a mountain that contains a huge number of terraces used for agricultural purposes (mainly corn and potatoes).  Although it seems like you are already so high up, there is still a huge series of mountains behind it which provides the endless supply of water required to irrigate the terraces.  In addition to the terraces there was a small city thought to be used for defense purposes located on top.











Ollantaytambo was the Royal Esate of  the Inca Emperor Pachacuti.   He built this town as a ceremonial center.  Like many of the other Inca ruins there are many terraces used for agricultural purpose also.







From the city of Ollantaytambo, there are two companies that operate trains that ferry tourist to the city of  Agua Caliantes; Peru Rail and Inca Rail.  Both have a number of different classes of trains (backpackers, expedition and VistaDome). Once you get to Agua Calientes, you will see that the town really only has one industry, the tourism of Machu Picchu (restaurants, hostels, craft markets, etc).