This is the first day the Sacred Valley opens up properly — not glimpsed from a bus window on the way to somewhere else, but driven at its own pace, with the freedom to linger wherever it's worth lingering. Four stops of very different character lead to two nights based in Ollantaytambo, the valley's best-preserved Inca town.
Chinchero
The road leaves Cusco at 9:00, climbing onto the high plateau before dropping toward Chinchero. The town's colonial church sits directly atop Inca foundations — a common pattern across the valley, though here the contrast is unusually stark: squat adobe walls and a beamed ceiling painted with floral motifs, built over polished stonework that predates it by a century. Chinchero is also one of the surviving centers of traditional weaving in the region, with women's cooperatives demonstrating the whole process, from washing raw wool to natural dyeing with cochineal and local plants. This is also the gate to buy the Boleto Turístico's Circuit III, covering everything the rest of the day will pass through.