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Pachamanca lunch in the Sacred Valley
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Peruvian paso horsemanship at Sol y Luna
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Moray Inca terraces near Machu Picchu
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Paddle boarding near Cusco
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Lake Huaypo Cusco
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Wayra theatre at Sol y Luna, Sacred Valley
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Family cooking at Sol y Luna
Sacred Valley for the Family
A lot of visitors pass through the Sacred Valley quite quickly, stopping to see the most important Inca ruins such as the fortress at Ollantaytambo and then making their way onwards to Machu Pichu before returning to Cusco. However, in many ways the Sacred Valley is the embodiment of Peru with amazing scenery, a combination of pre-Inca, Inca and colonial era history and the remarkably unspoilt culture of the local Quecha-speaking indigenous inhabitants.
For a family, there are opportunities to add on other activities which we hope will make the holiday memorable for all. The more obvious ones are trekking and mountain biking, we can even arrange cycling with electric bikes to ease the pain when going uphill. But did you know stand-up paddle-boarding has its roots 3000 years ago in Peru? Long before the Incas, Peruvian fishermen were riding the waves on small reed platforms known as ‘caballos de totora’ (reed horses). Now you can try this fast-growing sport at the highest stand up paddle board base in the world, over 3500m or 11,000 feet at Lake Huaypo outside Cusco.
Then you can shower and relax at a base on the banks of the lake and enjoy a traditional ‘pachamanca’ lunch. You can watch as the cooks prepare a pit in the ground, fill it with hot stones on which your lunch is placed in carefully arranged layers and covered with earth and stones to cook underground. Lunch will be cooked and ready to eat unexpectedly quickly and is delicious, surrounded by the scenery of the Andes.
After lunch you head off on the short drive to Moray to see the remarkable Inca site there, consisting of large stone circular terraces leading down into a hollow which were used for experimenting with growing crops at high altitude. After this you visit the equally striking salt pans at Maras which emerge from behind a hill. These are still worked today by hand, forming a patchwork of bright whit small enclosures.
Afterwards you will be ready to return to your hotel to relax after a rather different day out. Or try your hand in the kitchen at one of our favourite hotels, the Sol y Luna.