The sacred valley is full of overwhelming sights. There are few places on the earth with such a wealth of preserved ancient cities, majestic mountains with awesome backdrops. Many international tourists underestimate the amount of time they need in order to get an adequate impression of "Peru's Sacred Valley" and they end up quickly jumping Cusco to Machu Picchu and aren't even aware of the rest.

Apart from Cusco, Ollantaytambo is the other city that offers a train service to Machu Picchu, thus it is conveniently located as a destination spot for tourist. You must inquire about combo trips to Ollantaytambo from Cusco. Once you arrive at Ollantaytambo, you'll find it to be a pleasant little village with a kind of mountain retreat atmosphere. There is a tourist influenced section at the foot of the town's magnificent ruins, but you need only walk a few hundred feet in any direction to get a better sense of what rural Peruvian life was and is like.

The ruins are simply breathtaking. Many people say that if Machu Picchu didn't exist, other sites like  Sacsayhuaman or Choquequirao would be just as much of a tourism destination. Ollantaytambo falls into this category, and provides for an excellent day of 3 to 5 hours of hiking. The fact that Ollantaytambo is included on your tourist ticket (the one that gets you into such places as Sacsayhuaman and Pisaq) make it an unbelievable value.

Ollantaytambo's ruins are spread out along a fairly steep ridge. Upon entering the gate, you'll see an immense terraced stairway that is the primary focal point of the site. Compared to some of the hikes in Machu Picchu, navigating the steps is fairly easy.

Once you've climbed to the top of the stairway, you'll get an excellent view of the Urubamba valley. As you walk through the area, you'll also find many truly superior examples of Inca stonework. When you have exhausted all that there is to see above the terraced stairway, you'll have two options for further exploration. One is a narrow pathway at the back of the ruins, and the other is a stone walkway that leads off across the ridge face at the ruin's front.

The stone walkway is little easier to find as it is centrally located in the center of the site. However, it can induce a sense of vertigo as it seems to hang out over a cliff face. This pathway leads out across another set of terraces that line the ridge and eventually arrives at a small house that sits beside a descending stair. You can walk back to the site's entrance along another path that leads through a series of gravity-fed fountains which are just as spectacular as any similar fountain at Machu Picchu.

Ollantaytambo is the kind of historical site that really obliges you to stretch your legs in order to get a sense of it. It is a pleasant discovery for any visiting tourist since it is such an extensive site that seems to be simply "added on" to the tourist ticket  Plus, the fact that it's located right next to the premier train station to Machu Picchu Ollantaytambo offers a much wider range of departure times and makes it convenient as an-on to your Cusco itinerary.