Humantay Lake Trek
Soraypampa, Mollepata District, Cusco Region
Humantay Lake is a turquoise glacial lake at 4,200 metres in the Vilcabamba range — a day-trek destination that has become one of the most popular excursions from Cusco for its extraordinarily coloured water (a milky turquoise from glacial sediment) set against the snow-capped peak of Mount Humantay (5,473m).
Inca Trail to Machu Picchu
Inca Trail, Peru
The Inca Trail is the most famous trek in South America — a four-day, 43-kilometre hike along the original Inca road system from the Sacred Valley to Machu Picchu that passes through cloud forest, alpine tundra, Inca ruins, and the Sun Gate (Inti Punku), where the classic first view of Machu Picchu has made hikers weep since Hiram Bingham's porters first cleared the path in 1911.
Machu Picchu (Day Trip)
Machu Picchu, Urubamba Province, Cusco Region
Machu Picchu is the most famous archaeological site in the Americas and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World — a 15th-century Inca citadel built on a mountain ridge 2,430 metres above sea level, abandoned before the Spanish conquest and hidden by cloud forest until the American historian Hiram Bingham brought it to international attention in 1911 (though local Quechua farmers had known about it all along).
Moray & Maras Salt Mines
Espaderos, Cusco, Peru
Moray and Maras are two of the most visually extraordinary Inca sites in the Sacred Valley — Moray is a series of concentric circular terraces carved into a natural depression that functioned as an agricultural laboratory (each terrace level has a slightly different microclimate, allowing the Inca to test crop varieties at different temperatures), and Maras is an ancient salt-mining operation of over 5,000 terraced salt pans cascading down a mountainside, fed by a natural saline spring.
Q'enqo
Q'enqo, Cusco
Q'enqo is an Inca ceremonial site carved from a massive limestone outcrop on the road between Cusco and Sacsayhuamán — a sacred rock whose surface is covered with carved channels (the name means 'zigzag' in Quechua, referring to the zigzag channel carved into the rock's surface), niches, steps, and the altar-like platforms that suggest it was used for astronomical observations and ritual ceremonies.
Rainbow Mountain (Vinicunca)
Vinicunca, Cusipata District, Cusco Region
Rainbow Mountain (Vinicunca or Montaña de Siete Colores) is a geological wonder 100 kilometres southeast of Cusco — a mountain whose exposed sedimentary layers create stripes of red, yellow, green, turquoise, and lavender across its slopes, producing one of the most visually extraordinary landscapes in the Andes.
Sacred Valley (Ollantaytambo & Pisac)
Ollantaytambo, Sacred Valley, Cusco Region
The Sacred Valley of the Incas (Valle Sagrado) is the Urubamba River valley northwest of Cusco — a fertile corridor between the highlands and the jungle that was the agricultural heartland of the Inca Empire and now contains the most accessible concentration of Inca ruins outside Machu Picchu.
Salineras de Maras (Salt Mines)
Espaderos, Cusco, Peru
The Salineras de Maras deserve their own entry beyond the combined Moray & Maras listing — they are one of the most visually stunning landscapes in Peru.
Tambomachay & Inca Water Temple
Tambomachay, Cusco
Tambomachay is an Inca ceremonial site of flowing water — a series of stone channels, aqueducts, and cascading fountains carved into the hillside above Cusco that demonstrate the Inca's reverence for water and their mastery of hydraulic engineering.
Tipon (Inca Water Gardens)
Tipon, Quispicanchi Province, Cusco Region
Tipon is the most impressive example of Inca hydraulic engineering in the Cusco region — a system of terraces, channels, fountains, and aqueducts 23 kilometres southeast of Cusco where water is moved, divided, and directed with a precision that modern hydraulic engineers study and admire.
Explore nature in Cusco
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