Staying in Cusco and the SV and one night in AC for about 8 days in late June. Wife and I were going to plan Puno but deiced to relax instead of trying to cram it all in. That being said, knowing the proximity of the towns all in relation to one another in the SV and MP and Cusco, how easy is it to travel between them? Do I need a car? Or will Taxi's and Buses work? How about the train to AC? Do I need to book tickets now or can one do it when there?

Planing to take day trips to all the ruins. The salt pans, markets etc and also just relax if that helps with the travel advice. Will local guides suffice if needed, or do i even need a guide?

Was looking at some of the custom guide/ travel agents folks were recommending here on the forums and boy oh boy what a ridiculous cost they want charge. I can book my own hotels but...... $2500 to $3k each for what? Hotels are under 100 a night. Food is cheap and cars can't be that much. I just do not know what the added value is in that cost. Maybe a lazy tourist surcharge but I'm a bit more hands on.

Thanks,

Craig

There are guides at some of the individual ruins you will find them best at Ollantaytambo and MP. Personally, I didn't feel a guide was a great added value at MP, it wasn't like you could avoid the massive tourist hordes and overhear what was being said at each typical stop (with varying suggetions). The other sites do not have interpretation panels, so a good idea to latch onto a good guidebook and read it ahead of time, since it will give you an idea of the layout of other ruins as well. I lucked upon one of the archaeology staff at Olly and had a free guided tour (a benefits of speaking a bit of Spanish and traveling alone).

Easy to get around by taxi, or for far less by local bus and combi if you are adventurous (although they are crowded). It should not cost more than $75 for a full day of taxi service (and that is a high-end cost). Guides who speak English cost more, obviously.

The train should be booked ahead , but if you are not doing it as a day trip it is less difficult (usually the early trains, late afternoon & least expensive trains will sell out). It isn't that hard to change a ticket with 24 hour notice for a small fee. There are guides at the Qoricancha site as well. That way you are paying for a guide for a few hours, not all day.

You may want to look into a weaving village tour hosted by Awamaki in Olly $70 for two people to visit Patacancha. Contact them ahead of time.

http://www.awamaki.org/quechua-community-visits

The most cost effective way to do it, imo, is group tours to cover a lot of territory and also just stuff on your own. AC and MP are easy to do on your own. I did a group tour of the SV for $20 for a full day, English speaking guide, includes buffet lunch etc. I just had to buy entrance passes. Traveling solo, I also enjoyed it for meeting other travelers.

You can check out my recent trip report for costs; I agree with you that it can be ridiculous. I did a 9-10 day trip for about $1100 total.

Firstly I totally agree with your analsis of the prices charege by tour operators, I am amazed that anyone pays those sort of prices but I suppose somebody must.

mlgb provides a lot of good advice above, with the aid of a good guide book it is easy to DIY in the SV. Bus is entirely possble if you speak a little Spanish but it does take a bit of time to get anywhere. We spent a month in teh SV based mainly in Olly and Urumbamba and used a combination of buses and taxis to get around, including occasional trips to and from Cusco. Urumbamba is the bus "hub" from the SV from where is is possble to get to most places. As you have limited time it is probably best to hire a taxi on a daily basis -$50 per day should be possible if you bargain hard. Make sure the driver appreciates that you are hiring the whole car and that he cannot, under any circumstances, pick up anyone en route.

In Cusco it is probably best to get your hotel to arrange a taxi (this will cost considerable more!) Alternatively if you use a taxi say from the airport and he seems good then ask fore a price for the day (bargain hard). In Olly and Urumbamba it is easy to pick up a taxi form teh main squares or bus stations.

I really would not hire a car. When we were there, there were strikes going on every few days and strikers would block the roads around the SV with boulders. Bad enough with if you are witha Peruvian driver but horrendous if on your own. I have rented self drive cars all over the world and Peru is one of the few places I would not do it under any circumstances.

We just got back from 2 1/2 weeks in Peru on Monday. We did the trip totally on our own (not with a group) and had no trouble. We usually rent a car wherever we go but didn't in Peru and opted instead to hire drivers and or take taxis to ruins, etc. Glad we did that as the roads are often not good as others have already commented. You can easily hire a guide at ruin sites like Ollantaytambo, Pisac, and even MP. I strongly suggest you do that rather than just wander through on your own. You will get so much more out of the ruins. Guide books point out the obvious points but you really need someone to explain the finer details and guides are not that expensive. If possible, hit the ruins early in the day before the tour buses arrive and when it is cooler. Also it often gets windy in the Sacred Valley around 2 PM and is not as nice for climbing around ruins. I also strongly recommend you read "The Last Days of the Incas" by MacQuarrie. It will give you a thorough background on the Inca culture and make the trip so much more meaningful.

For MP I disagree about the necessity for a guide. For the other ruins, they are less documented so a guide gives you more.

A recommended guide book for Machu Picchu is Ruth M. Wright (the older one, Machu Picchu a Self-Guided Tour). Extensive information and maps, far more than any guide is going to be able to go into in 2 hours. Plus as I mentioned you will find yourself surrounded by guided groups coming thru the major points of interest every 2 seconds if you just can't get oriented. You will hear a slightly different spin from just about every guide, too.