We didn't spend any nights in the SV. We spent 4 nights in Cuzco before the Inca Trail. So your plan seems fine to me. Why do you have to collect tickets for the IT?

I booked with perutreks and they would only collect half the money online in advance, and we have to pay the rest in person to collect the tickets in Cusco at least 2 days prior to the trek. This is their way of making sure that people stay in Cusco area for at least 2 nights to get acclimatized to the high altitude

We spent all nights except one in Cusco. We did day trips to the Sacred Valley sights from there. It was very easy. (We did use a private driver/guide, but there are group tours as well.)

Our itinerary for that portion of the trip was:
1 - Inka Express Bus Puno to Cusco. Overnight Cusco.
2 - Tour Cusco sights. Overnight Cusco.
3 - Tour Sacred Valley sights. Overnight Cusco.
4 - Inca Trail
5 - Inca Trail
6 - Inca Trail
7 - Inca Trail/Machu Picchu. Overnight Aguas Calientes.
8 - Machu Picchu. Overnight Ollantaytambo.
9 - Sacred Valley sights. Overnight Cusco.
10 - Sacred Valley sights. Overnight Cusco.
11 - Day in Cusco. Overnight Cusco.

I also used Peru Treks. You do have to go pay the balance and when you do, they talk to you in depth about the trail and how to pack. When they tell you the weight you can put in your bag (if you booked a porter), don't panic! We ended up greatly underpacking because we were worried we'd be over.

Also, when you go to their office, it's on the west side of the street, kind-of hidden in a row of offices and apartments.

Thanks for the details shutterbug85.

After reading some of the reviews, I have decided not to do the typical one-day sacred valley group tour. It looks like they spend more time in the shopping areas than in the ruins. You must have done separate trips to Pisca ruins and the ones near OLlantaytambo, isnt it?

Could you give me details about your private guide, how much they cost and is there a place where we can find guides? Also, do we have to reserve them in advance?

I was going to take the Inka Express tourist bus from Cusco to Puno too. How was your experience with them?

Our guide planned out an itinerary for us before we arrived and we tweaked it over email. We used Percy Salas. He is highly recommended on this forum along with David Choque (not sure on the spelling). We found him on this forum. We booked him last October for our trip this previous May. I'm not sure how far in advance you'd need to get on their schedule, but sooner is always better.

Our four days were broken down like this:
1 - Sacsayhuaman, Quenko , Pukapukara, Tambomachay, weaving facility
2 - Tipón, Pikillacta pre-Inca ruins, Piñipampa roof-tile factory
3 - Ollantaytambo archaeological site, Pisaq ruins and market
4 - Maras salt pans, Moray experimental terraces , Chincheros Inca Town, Colonial Churche, ruins

Percy's email is: smunditur@hotmail.com. He can sometimes take a few days to respond if he is out with clients, but he will get back to you.

For the four days, our total was $460 for two people. Included his time and travel expenses. We paid for our tourist ticket to the sights separately.

Inka Express - We liked the trip. Mostly we enjoyed stopping at the sights along the way. The guide was good and we had a good trip.

I have booked a half day trip with Perutreks for Sacsayhuaman, Quenko , Pukapukara, Tambomachay. I want to split SV into 2 full days.

Nov 8 - Start at Cusco
Sights to see - Pisac Mark, Pisac ruins and Ollantaytambo
Overnight - Urubumba

Nov 9 - Start at Urubumba
Urubumba, Maras, Moray and Chinchero.
Drop off - Cusco

I have emailed some private guides to check for availability. Since there is not much time left, based on what people have said in the forums I am very skeptical of finding a reputed guide from the US. If I hire take care of transportation, will I be able to find local guides near the ruins? Based on your experience, if I do my groundwork research on the sights, would I be missing a lot without a guide? In the worst case, is it worthy to visit these sights without a guide?

You may have too much on November 8 and not enough on November 9

Pisac Market and Ruins can take most of the day if you are walking all the way from the top into town (which is worthwhile)/

Personally I don't think Urubamba is worth a stop. Most one day tours include it as it is centrally located and has some tourist buffet restaurants.

Finding guides near the ruins - not likely at many spots. We only saw local guides hanging out at Machu Picchu and Pisac.

I agree with mlgb - Urubamba isn't worth a stop. Very small. I do think you can do Pisac and Ollantaytambo in one day if you don't hike down the mountain from the ruins to the town. We did not and we did both in one day. The hike is a few hours, I believe. We thought about it but opted to see more sights instead. I have heard it's good, though.

I have read in many forums that the walk from the Pisac ruins down to the town is totally worth it but since we are going to do the Inca Trail on Nov 10, I didn't want us to exert ourselves too much before that just as a precautionary measure.

If Urubamba is not worth the time, then staying at Ollantaytambo overnight and doing Ollanta, Maras, Moray, Chinchero a better option than clubbing Ullanta with Pisac? I read somewhere that there is no point in reaching Chinchero late.

You won't be at Chinchero for the Sunday market, so it won't matter the time frame. There is a chapel xnd town square that are interesting (and sometimes a stray vendor). If you put Pisac on a Tuesday or Thursday there is a bit more activity.

If you don't spend a lot of time at the markets and skip Urubamba as a stop you can see it all in a day if you wish. Or you might still split out Pisac and do that separately r/t from Cusco (Awana Kancha and some if the Cusco ruins are in the same direction as Pisac).

You can have lunch in Pisac, Ulrikes has a lunch special and a great view from the top level. Be sure to visit the colonial horno as well.

I am doing the Cusco sights of Sacsayhuaman, Quenko , Pukapukara, Tambomachay next Wednesday as a guided half day trip with Perutreks.

Pisac Market and ruins visit would be on Thursday.

Maras Salt Pans, Moray, Chinchero town/ruins would be on Friday.

I have booked a hotel in Ollanta called "Hostal Iskay". Depending on how much time is left fro us to spend in Ollanta on Thursday, we will do the Ollanta sights on Thursday evening or Friday morning.

I am glad that you suggested Awana Kancha. I was not aware of it and after your suggestion, I did the reviews on TripAdvisor and they are extremely good. I am going to try and fit that into the drive from Cusco to Pisac. Thank you very much, mlgb!

My final concerns/questions

1. I emailed a few reputed guides and they seem to chare $150 per day and unfortunately, I can't spend $300 because of the generally expensive nature of the trip. Would you know how much a taxi would charge me if I were to hire all day? If I do that, would it be very difficult to explore these sights without a guide? Would it be cheaper to hire separate taxis for Cusoc - Pisac and Pisac to Ollanta?

2. Could you tell me what are the must do spots in Chinchero? From what I read, there are some ruins and the town is generally beautiful

1. A typical tourist taxi to go from Cusco to Pisac with waiting is $50. However you can also go by bus from Cusco to Pisac for a few $$. Or you can hire taxis separately without paying for them to wait (although you may not save much more than the half day taxi doing it this way). Without bargaining I paid 60 soles one way from Cusco airport to Pisac, it should be a bit less from town, so it will be maybe $20 each way. There are guides up at the top of ruins on Sunday, not sure about during the week though.

It would make more sense to combine Ollantaytambo with Friday. But if you are staying in Ollantaytambo, it doesn't need to be part of a tour. Just do it in the morning on Friday and make your tour (or taxi) for later. I believe a round trip taxi from Ollantaytambo to Moray/Salineras/Chinchero with stops will be around 80 to 100 soles. You can ask your hotel to help you chose a taxi from the square in Ollantaytambo (make sure they have seat belts). You really do NOT need a guide for these, you can read a bit about them ahead of time.

2. I listed the two main sites in Chinchero, the chapel and the plaza. There are also weaving coops but it may be too similar to Awana Kancha (although a bit more authentic than A/K). If I didn't mention it, ask your drive to stop at the Descanso Bar near Maras to visit the lady who does tourist samplings of the chicha. She just charges a tip.

Although the Sacred Valley and particularly Ollantaytambo are quite safe, when catching a taxi from Cusco you may want to ask the hotel for assistance.