Knowing your food issues from Rick Steves I volunteered the grocery store issue for O. There are 2 or 3 tiny convenience stores, there�s a multistory public market were you can buy fruit and bread, but no reasonable food store, so you would have to carry food in if staying for 3 nights.

You won�t have this issue in the cities.

The term �sacred valley� appears to be just a successful marketing scheme, so don�t think it�s that great to do an additional day trip from O. A taxi tour from O to Cusco will pick up 3 major sites, but not Pisac which is an easy day trip from Cusco. I would prioritize Pisac.

"The term “sacred valley” appears to be just a successful marketing scheme," hardly!

It comes from the Quechua words for the Urumbamba River Valley , "Willka Qhichwa . Has been around for centuries.

Anyway, day trips in and around said valley include Moray , Maras and Chinchero on the way between Cusco and Ollantaytambo. Easily done by hiring a taxi or using taxidatum.

Alternatively, a nice trip from Cusco is to get a collectivo to Pisac, explore the ruins and then return to Cusco by collectivo stopping off at Tambo Machay and then hiking back to Cusco via a few Inca sites and Sacsayhuaman. Three hours all level or downhill.

You clearly have concerned re food but, having travelled extensively in South America, I would say that teh food in Peru is the best on the continent. There are some excellent restaurants in Ollantaytambo. We lived there for a few months volunteering for a small NGO that ran Hearts Cafe in teh centre of Ollantaytambo. It was set up by a food writer and nutritionist, Sonia Newhouse who then ran the NGO. The aim was to promote good food hygiene amongst the villages in the Mountains. You should feel relaxed about eating there and indeed in most Ollantaytambo restaurants who raise their standards to compete.

I would steer clear of Ollantaytambo market where hygiene standards are not good. We tended to head to Urumbamba for most food shopping or left it till when we visited Cusco

Your preconceptions about food in Peru are incorrect. There is no reason to consume tinned fish, nuts and preserved fruit when healthy meals are easy to find. I would be more cautious about these types of foods (and dairy) than the "menu del dia" at local places, where it is all freshly prepared. Eating a little bit of salt might be a good idea to help with staying hydrated. You may find at altitude that your appetite is diminished. Most tourist restaurants know how to prepare fresh produce for consumption (and will used purified water) but I would not eat anything straight from a market that you cannot peel yourself.

No you cannot bring food into Machu Picchu historic site , if seen it will be confiscated. There really are no restaurants on site that would be suitable for you. Recommend eating in advance and then when you return.

Thanks for all your input. Maybe I will cut back to just 2 nights in Ollantaytambo and see Pisac and maybe somewhere else as a day trip from Cusco.

I didn't eat any restaurant food in Florida, southern California, Spain, or Germany. I ate some restaurant food and street food more than once in Mexico, not more than once a day. I know perfectly well that you need some sodium to survive well but you don't need more than 250 milligrams of sodium a day on average; most restaurant food is made with a boatload of salt, oil, and/or sugar; if it wasn't made with those ingredients, people would feel like it was disgustingly bland and most people are addicted to those ingredients. Fresh junk food is still junk food. But is it really that bad to eat a little bit of fruit like grapes or apple in Peru?

"most people are addicted to those ingredients" really? How could you possibly know to what most people are addicted?

�most restaurant food is made with a boatload of salt, oil, and/or sugar� you are clearly visiting the wrong restaurants.


�Fresh junk food is still junk food.� suggest you look up the definition of junk food�

�But is it really that bad to eat a little bit of fruit like grapes or apple in Peru?�! No one has suggested that it is.

A properly balanced diet will keep you healthy regardless of whether you are in Peru or Pittsburgh. However, looking back at your previous posts it is abundantly clear that you will do whatever you decide reoffend anything that is said here, so why ask?

Having read your Rick Steves posts I know you have demanding food requirements that aren�t really hygiene related. I think that�s what the others are assuming, that hygiene is your main concern, when it�s more about avoiding processed food and junk ingredients.

There�s a lot of great fresh fruit in Peru, also a lot of great dried fruit. Personally I would not hold back from eating grapes or other unpeeled fruit. There�s also only-in-Per� fruit.

Have you settled on an itinerary? I like 2 nights in O and a Pisac trip from Cusco. You should peruse the Taxidatum website to line up a taxi from Cusco airport to O, then a taxi tour back to Cusco, and a taxi tour to Pisac with the other tourist sites heading back to Cusco. Taxidatum is very reliable and it�s hard to get better pricing on your own (for a private car). You could say in your booking that you want to stop at the Plaza Vea supermarket south end of the Cusco historical area on the way from the airport to O, maybe for a little more money, but it�s a good store (bring bags). Also bring cash to O, remember the taxis are paid with cash. There are ATMs in MP town also. Get to O early enough from the airport to pick up one or both ruins. If you need to buy your tourist ticket in O it�s cash only, 240 soles.

OP has gone into great detail about his food anxieties on this and other travel threads. A combined fear of a heart attack and concern about catching another virus as in Spain. With regard to fruit, it isn't a stretch to assume it's sanitation. As in any country with unpurified tap water (outside of Lima) it's safest not to eat unpeeled fruit or produce such as lettuce without knowing the source or relying on the restaurant to soak it in a disinfecting solution. Just like Mexico. But you are free to 'spin the wheel' and take your chances.

Plaza Vea is a nice supermarket, not a local market. Doesn't mean someone might not have touched whatever pear you were intending to eat. As far as pears, that's a rather strange choice in Peru, most likely they will be "importado".

My worst case of food borne illness was eating fresh cherries bought in Chile and even rinsing them in supposedly clean tap water, I still think I caught something. But as crellston says, you can never really know. It could just as easily be from touching a contaminated door knob or seat back!

It looks like there is a "COSTITUC - Boleto Turistico del Cusco" office in Cusco where they sell the combination ticket for 16 sites, for 130 soles. I would rather buy the ticket at the office in Cusco than get ripped off paying 110 more soles for the same ticket, at the ruins in Ollantaytambo.

I am going to try prioritizing what ruins and museums I will judge to be must see places, see those first, and acquiesce to skipping the others or only going to the out of the way sites and little places in case I really have extra time.

Does one of the following sound better than the others I listed, or does it matter?

Arrive in Cusco approximately 8am to noon. Transportation to Ollantaytambo. Ruins in Ollantaytambo if time. Sleep in Ollantaytambo.
Trip to Machu Picchu. Sleep in Ollantaytambo.
Transportation to certain major sites in the sacred valley area, I guess Pisac ruins, Chinchero, maybe Moray and Maras, driver takes me to my hotel in Cusco instead of back to Ollantaytambo. Sleep in Cusco
Museums in Cusco. Sleep in Custo
Ruins in and near Cusco (sacsayhuman, whatever else if time). Sleep in Cusco

OR

Spend time in Cusco first and then Ollantaytambo and Machu Picchu.
Various museums on the day I arrive in Cusco. Sleep in Cusco.
Various ruins near Cusco. Sleep in Cusco
Transportation to various major sites in the sacred valley area, getting dropped off at my hotel in Ollantaytambo.
Macchu picchu. Sleep in Ollantaytambo.
Ruins in Ollantaytambo, whatever else if extra time. transportation to Cusco. Evening flight to Lima. Sleep in Lima.

Or some other variation?

The first one is better as nearly everyone has suggested (I'm not sure who has suggested otherwise but won't take the time to read back over the thread again). It is better to spend the arrival day getting to Ollantaytambo or even Pisac, where you will sleep at a lower elevation, mitigating the effects of altitude. Even if you don't get a headache, you will still not be at 100%. BTW I know someone (older than you) who had a stroke at altitude while visiting Cusco.

I am assuming that you will not be taking Diamox in advance. If you feel good in the afternoon, you can "knock off" one of the two major ruin sites in those towns. Or just visit the town centers.

As several have mentioned, the Cusco museums are not really very good. I would not rush through other parts of the itinerary to set aside a day just for those. Better spent in Lima for museum visits. It is the Inca sites such as Sacsayhuaman, the town center, and the Qoricancha/Cathedral that are worth visiting.

Where do you see that the same ticket (110 soles) costs more in Ollantaytambo than it does in Cusco.?
I assume you realize that the complete ticket does not include admission to Machu PIcchu, Maras Salt pans, and the Qoricancha site itself (not the museum).

Doing a web search for those words, the ticket pricing quoted seems to be from May 2021.

There are a number of private ticket expeditors where you can land by Google Search, not all of them honest.. The official website for the Cusco boleto turistico is still https://cosituc.gob.pe/tarifario/# and if you use the English translation tab, it does say that the purchase is made directly at any of the points of visit included in our Ticket or at the main office of the Counter Central of Galer�as Tur�sticas - Av. El Sol 103.

I can only think that the OP is either looking on some bogus travel agent website or confusing different types of tickets (partial circuit or resident vs foreigner) but nothing I see adds up to 110 soles more than 130 soles for the comprehensive ticket. The last time I went I bought only the two-day ticket and visited Ollantaytambo and Pisac on consecutive days. But I had already seen Moray and Chinchero so didn't need to include those.

PS It's probable that the tickets have not been repriced since 2021 (remember they are still recovering from the pandemic lockdown) and also possible that the ticket prices for 2025 could change. They usually publish something official in the local press as well as the website.

I have posted my Pisac experience elsewhere here, but noting again I really thought the hike down to the town was a trip highlight, perhaps more enjoyable than Machu Picchu, although it took 3-1/4 hours and I thought we were fairly good shape. (A travel blogger said they went up in 2 hours and down in 1, only a trail runner in top shape could make time like that.). Having the most sacred part of the site entirely to ourselves at midday was an incredible experience (I�m thinking that that part of MP is roped off, but it�s so crowded there and tour leaders stop their groups in the worst places to impede circulation and distract others from enjoying the site, I might have missed it). Remember that overweight people would not be able to do this hike due to tunnel halfway down.

Taxidatum offers 2 Pisac day tours, one with the full walk down, the other with just the top/back of Pisac then the 3-4 other boleto sites on the way back to Cusco. An early start and youthful energy and you might be able to do both in one day for an extra fee, if interested in a combination put your requirements in the comments section on the booking form.

I also enjoyed that Pisac walk all the way into town. At the time I could squeeze through the tunnel. I paid a local a little bit of cash so that I wouldn't get too lost, glad that I did that. When I went the local authorities were helping tourists with arranging taxi rides up to the top. When I went to MP you could stay as long as you wanted and l could walk up to the Sun Gate on your own. Now a lot has changed and you cannot walk up to the Sun Gate from the main site.

Getting perhaps too detailed and personal, I am 6�-2� and 200 lbs, and still got through the tunnel just fine, brushing the sides but not really that close to having to turn around. There�s a short ravine right after that where I did have to remove my day pack to pass through that.

I mention this because after 4 weeks in Peru where people are mostly slender (and short), during the 6 hours we spend in the American lounge in Miami, I was transfixed by the size of some Americans, amazing large in some cases.

Thats a lot to haul around at altitude, LOL....

"Get to O early enough from the airport to pick up one or both ruins. If you need to buy your tourist ticket in O it's cash only, 240 soles."

It looks like the ticket is actually 130 Soles even if purchased in Ollantaytambo.

So far I know that I am fine with elevations up to about 7,500 feet because I didn't notice a problem in Mexico that I could attribute to the elevation. I thought I was out of breath just once in Mexico City, just briefly, after going up a flight of stairs fast enough to keep up with a group tour but the problem might have been imaginary. Mexico City is about 7,350 feet (in the center or wherever that was measured). I suspect that I am one of those people who doesn't notice elevation related problems. If I spend 2 nights in Arequipa before Cusco, wouldn't I already be acclimated to at least the elevation of Arequipa, about 7,661 feet, when I arrive in Cusco? My apartment is only 642 feet; my parent's house is approximately somewhere between 890-900 feet. Cusco is about 11,152 feet. Ollantaytambo is about 9,160 feet. Wouldn't I want to be close to a fancy medical facility for at least a day until I prove that I am surviving the elevation?

As for Pisac, would I be missing anything major if I go to the Incan fortress only and skip the town, assuming the only reason tourists go to the currently inhabited town is for the market but my interest in gawking at products I don't need is low?

Sorry, I misremembered the price. I bought 2, but now thinking at the time that I needed to see 2 of the 3 main ruins to break even, and those are 70 soles each. So the 130 must be correct.

Pisac is a bit confusing because the ruins flow across the top a mountain ridge for 2 miles south of the drop off down to the town of the same name. We skipped the town.

Here�s a trail map but the green trail is washed out so you need to follow the high trail, the dashed line with the camera icon, just to the left. Bring a hiking pole and a gallon of drinking water. Best months to hike trail listed are wrong.

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/peru...uinas-de-pisac

If there is a bag storage place before the entrance to Machu Picchu and if I bring a smallish backpack with some food, could I leave my bag with the food at the baggage storage place so I could eat it Later, or would they still make me throw the food away?? Would Machu Picchu be like what happened at the Chicago Institute of Art, where they wouldn't let me enter with food but they also wouldn't store my bag at the bag check either if the bag had food in it and they induced me into having to throw a package of dates away that cost $5.99 but they smiled their rear ends off and acted like it was my choice whether I threw the dates away so that they would block themselves from appearing to be responsible for making me waste $5.99 so that any belief about the situation would be supposed to be coming from me and not them??

edit: Yeah I know you guys don't appreciate my food related comment or question; the action of communicating that I perceive restaurant food as junk food would be construed as insulting your choice to eat restaurant food. I am considering health effects not costs. If I save money by eating little restaurant food, the money I save will be just a coincidence or side effect.