The Sacred Valley - Urubamba & Ollantaytambo

April 12th - April 16, 2025

We made our way towards Machu Picchu from Cuzco via rental car. The kids and I rendezvoused with Francesca in Urubamba in the Sacred Valley for 3 days chilling at a farm.  She was in Urubamba for a 3 day Ayahuasca retreat.  

To be honest, there wasn't a ton to do in Urubamba if you weren't going to hike or do a retreat which was totally fine as we really just wanted to chill out and try to shrug off our travel burnout.  We rented a lovely farm house near the Urubamba river and enjoyed reading by the fire, playing with the animals on the farm and the occasional journey outside to a restaurant although we mostly cooked in our house. 

Sukha Sushi Restaurant in Urubamba. Decent food, but not amazing. It did have a climbing wall/gym next to it which the kids had fun with whilst they waited for their food. 

After four days of relaxing we moved on to Ollantaytambo the town where everyone gets the train headed to Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu.  Ollantaytambo has a decidedly more tourist friendly vibe than Urubamba, which, despite outwardly eschewing all things touristy, we all seemed to appreciate more than Urubamba's local's only vibe.  

Ollantaytambo is small, but vibrant with a multitude of restaurants and shops as well as the impressive Ollantaytambo Acheological Center, ancient Incan ruins.  These ruins, which served as a military, religious, and agricultural center — and later, a stronghold during the Spanish conquest, are pretty spectacular in their own rigtht, although they are not Machu Picchu of course.  

I could not persuade the family to join me on the climb up the 200 steps to the top so I went solo and boy was I rewarded with breathtaking views in the golden hour lighting.  The complex is made up of several areas including the Temple of the Sun, The Terraces, The Fortess, The Princess' Bath and the Storehouses. 

A celebrated my ascent up the 200 steps with a juicy beer at Panorama Bar that overlooks like ruins. 

We took the kids out to a fancy dinner at Chuncho which was recommended by our hotel owner - an affable Belgian who met his Peruvian wife in his home country and then traveled back to hers to start a hotel business. At Chuncho, that specializes in creative renditions of traditional peruvian dishes, we sampled both Guinea Pig and Alpaca, two of the more "exotic" culinary treats common on Peruvian plates. Francesca, Ryan and I all agreed that neither was particularly tasty.  

Francesca and I also had a date night, dining at Amanto, one of the many cheaper local places where I had my favorite Lomo Saltado (salted beef) and Francesca had a ceviche dish.  We followed that up with a massage that turned out to not be particularly relaxing.  Better than our experience in Nepal, but not nearly as good as our beloved massages in Thailand.