You don't need or want a car in Ollantaytambo village...all walking.

Personally I would use the guide services as they know their way around and are virtually the same price as a hire car.

PS if you go thru the trip reports here you will see lots of links to photos.

Hi vibhav,
We spent 7 weeks in Peru in 2008 and, being a keen (amateur!) photographer, fully understand your desire to get to some of these places at dawn /dusk for the right lighting. We rented cars in various places in SA but not in Peru but the drivingsatndards did not seem at all bad to me (certainly nowhere near as bad as India!). I guess the problem for me would be the possiblity of inadvertently straying into on on the may no-go areas in places like Cusco or Lima. Other problems would be lack of signage in rural areas etc.

we spent 3 weeks in the SV commuting daily from Urumbamba to do some voluntary work in Ollantaytambo, the problem we experience there was the roads were blocked frequently by striking demonstrators who would roll large boulders across the road - not an everyday occurrence but it does happen relatively frequently.

I agree with mlgb's recommendation to secure the services of a driver/guide - should be easy enough to arrange in the SV -a search for guide (top right) should yield results (David Choque gets rave reviews here although I have no personal experience. I suppose the only problem is, as you say, relying on the guide to get up at 5,00am!

The SV is relatively compact so a couple of days there should provide time to cover many of the sights - Pisac is amazing, as is Olly (where I would suggest you base yourself. Chinchero is superb at dusk and the inside of the church is special 9although you may need a permit to photograph.

A link to our blog with more info and photos:
http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog/candcthai/1/tpod.html

Always do best with 3 hiring a nice driver/guide from

$35-50 per half day... usually cheaper better than bus

Rental cars expensive and VERY risky

plates label you thieves and cops shake u down the whole way

bus is cheap for cheap bus the good ones like Ormeno

and Cruz Del Sur can get more expensive with 3...

Huaraz in particular and the jungle many thieves and scammers

never wire money and always insuremytrip.com

Happy Travels,

Percy Salas David Choque Yure Chavez all good reviews for SV

adventures.worldnomads.com/destination/168/itinerary/23.aspx

If you only have 2 weeks with a child would follow the Gringo

Trail take time to adjust to altitude mdtravelhealth.com

maybe a little manuadventures.com inkanatura.com for jungle

from Cusco... Huaraz is in the other direction not enough time

www.casa-andina.com quality hotel chain at good price

everywhere you want to be pretty much...

Might do DoubleTree Paracas Islands Galapagos of Peru

worth a stop or an overnite no Casa Andina there

Colca-lodge.com pretty amazing in Colca worth a visit

Thanks mlgb, for your feedback ... I am leaning towards staying with guide/ driver option, but just wanted to explore what is the possibility of driving ourselves...

Crellston, thanks a lot for the detailed feedback... I will be contacting some of these highly reviewed guides and enquire what is their experience with working with someone who likes to be out at odd hours of the day ... We are actually perfectly happy coming back to the hotel from 12-4 for some slow/nap time ... But like to be out and about from before sunrise to about noon and then again from 5 PM till after sunset ... Of course, depends on the location and how far you are from your hotel ...Loved your blog, will spend more time looking through it ..

Qwovadis, WOW!! Thanks for so much wonderful information .. Will definitely look into the Gringo trail and also the manuadventures and casa andina ... very good suggestions ... will find out more details about these and get back to you with any questions...

Anyone have any first hand feedback from having driven around in the SV or Huaraz region, would very much welcome that ..

Also, for all Fodorites, please continue to give your feedback on this proposal of driving for parts of the trip ... Anyone that did not drive, but regretted it and thought it could have been done? The reason I am asking that is that is what happened to us in our Swiss trip recently ... Regretted not driving ...

One thing to be aware of is that because you are so close to the equator, there isn't much twilight..it gets dark quickly.

I would recommend staying at least one night (more is better) in Ollantaytambo, which will allow you to visit (by walking) the archaeological when it opens in the morning.

http://picasaweb.google.com/kiwifann/PeruOllantaytambo

Hello vibhav,

just found your post by accident as I am planning with my boyfriend a trip to Peru for next month and wanted to do the same as you: to rent a car and drive through the country. though our plan was maybe a bit too ambitious (rent a car in cusco and drive to puno, arequipa, colca, nasca, lima). but when i tried to find out why is it not recommended to rent a car in peru and drive on your own, i got only one reply (mostly pointing to the unsafe roads) - so I was wondering how did it go in your trip? did you rent a car? if not, was it the right decision? or were you sorry you did not rent it in the end? for us it would be the best to rent a car, as we like to travel on our own pace, avoid crowds of tourist and try to find more secluded places.
it would be great if you could help with any advice!
thanks!

Hi Denis... We ended up not renting a car... But we did rent a guide and a driver with a car for Huaraz and then again for the Sacred Valley region... After having been there, we felt that having a guide and a driver is the best thing to do... Even though I am also a fanatic for controlling the pace and style of my road trips, but my advise is that unless you have driven in some very tricky places like India/ Asia or South America before, I would suggest hire a driver and a guide... Just make sure the guide is very good and understands your need to slow it down and avoid touristy places... Overall, Peru is amazing, you will have a trip of a lifetime!!

Thanks a lot for your answer, very useful! we decided to replace the driving with bus & flights. this will also give us more time to visit other places - now we're looking into travelling to Tarapoto and then taking a boat ride to Iquitos and flying back to Lima. Any impressions on this boat trip would be more than welcome.
have fun in your next travels!

one more question - would you recommend the guide and driver you hired for Sacred Valley?
thank you!

yes absolutely... We thought he was a very good guide... Very reliable, understood our needs and was always on time... His name is Mario Tapia Meza, goes by the name Chino, phone 0051 984668522, email -- chino920@hotmail.com

Have a fun time...

For the boat ride to Iquitos, sorry no experience there at all...

thanks a lot!! looking very much forward to the whole trip

Hi vibhav- We used Chino too, and liked him a lot! One day he sent us off with his friend Jose, who we also liked. Our third day both Chino and Jose took us and 3 other people touring on horses. They both are good riders, and it was a lot of fun.