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... registered taxis. May be worth approaching taxidatum to see if they have a English speaking driver guide for a day. Hotel B will doubtless offer guiding facilities but I imagine the mark would be enormous - worth asking though.

Back again after a short trip-planning hiatus.

So I did finally reach out to Percy and got a proposed itinerary back. Even though I've told him we really want a lot of time to explore on our own, it feels like he's over-proposed an itinerary. Understand why, of course, for his own sake--but this seems a bit heavy-handed nonetheless. I'd hate spending our entire two days in the SV touring nonstop. I would like some time to actually enjoy the scenery at our hotel too.

Curious to get your thoughts about which of these require a guide vs things we could just do on our own with the help of taxidatum.

[Sorry for the broken English, just copying and pasting his email responses and then some additional questions from me to you guys]

Nov. 17th
Transfer & Sacred Valley tour - Visiting Awanacancha; after arrive to Pisaq Ruins and market, lunch time, go through the Valley to Ollantaytambo historical site and then drop you off at your hotel in Urubamba.
Cost : $140.00 USD
[**Question: doing all this seems like it'd make us arrive at our hotel really late. We arrive Cusco around 12:15 PM this day]

Nov. 18th
Sacred Valley tour - Visiting Maras salt pans, Moray experimental farming terraces, Ollantaytambo historical site, after return to your hotel
Cost : $140.00 USD
[**Question: seems like an all-day tour timing-wise. Is it?]

Nov. 21st
Cusco City Tour (AM) - Visiting Sacsayhuaman, Quenko, Pucapucara, Tambomachay, Qoricancha (Temple of the Sun).
Cost : $90.00 USD
[**Question: is this really half a day's worth of stuff? Seems like much more to me]

Nov. 22nd
Cusco Valley Tour - Visiting Tipon archeological site, Pikillacta pre-Inka site and Andahuaylillas chapel.
Cost : $100.00 USD
[**Question: all day tour again?]

This does not make a great deal of sense to me!

17 - Pisac is in the opposite direction to Urumbamba and Ollantaytambo is 20-30 mins further on from Urumbamba so there would be a lot of doubling back! Plus, if you arrive at Cusco at 12.45, I can't see how you will be at Pisac for lunchtime or indeed, your hotel before dark!

18 - visit the Ollantaytambo ruins first before the buses from Cusco arrive. Moray and Maras are relatively close to both Urumbamba. A half day trip from your hotel at most. Chinchero appears to have been omitted and really should be visited. It is usually visited along with the other two sites.

21 - all those sites are outside of cusco on the road to Pisac. I would suggest getting a taxi to Tambo Machay and walking back to Cusco. An entry on our old blog covers this
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog...ai/6/tpod.html Entry no. 19 it takes around 2-3 hours of easy walking to get back to Cusco. Alternatively, you could combine with a tour to Pisac and see those sights on the way back. Taxidatum will do this for $75 I think. Unless you have a major interest in Inca history, I think a guidebook will suffice. It does help if you speak a little Spanish though as the driver likely won't. (Or use google translate on your phone).

Is he suggesting those sights in the pm and Cusco in the am? If so, that is nowhere near enough time for Cusco city.

22 - I don't think I have visited those sites so can really comment.

It doesn't seem to be a particularly efficient use of your time to me. Perhaps I am missing something though.

Tell him day one you are planning to go straight to the hotel to rest from your flight and take advantage of the facilities, so will just be using a taxi tranfer. I don't normally recommend any organized touring on the first day. Urubamba is central but not really on the way to anything and the Moray circles, Chinchero and Salineras are at a very high altitude. So best left for at least day 2 or better yet on the way back from Ollantay. If you want to see the tops of the Pisac ruins, after a few hours relaxing you could call for a taxi in the afternoon from your hotel. It's also possible to do it from Cusco. If you look on a map you can see it's to the east and Ollantay is to the west.

Day 2 is the normal SV tour, seeing Moray and the Salineras doesn't take a huge amount of time. Agree it is better to see Ollantay in the morning as crellston mentions as there are fewer people then. It would be nice to add a quick visit to Chinchero but I doubt you will have time for the weaving center there (it probably adds a few hours) you can ask if that is possible. Also fun in Maras if it's still available is to stop at hte house of the lady who makes chicha for tourists. It used to be called something like Descanso Bar. Some people do add Pisac in as part of the day but THAT would be far too much.

The sights listed in the morning on the 21st include a circuit outside of Cusco. Qoricancha is in the center of Cusco and it isn't clear whether he is including a walking tour in the center of Cusco. Sacsayhuaman isn't far from the center and the other sites are relatively minor so if you feel you might not want to see all of them you could ask to spend more in the center, such as a market visit. He may have included them because they are all on the same ticket 'Circuit' No, it doesn't seem like too much for half a day to me, actually. As I said other than Sacsayhuaman they are minor sites and after seeing MP not too impressive. With a car leaving from Cusco and not walking or taking public transport I don't think it's more than a half day.

Another option is to do Sacsayhuaman and Pisac on the same day, if you are not using him on day one, with perhaps a Cusco orientation and Qoricancha on that day.

I have not been to Tipon but I know people like this circuit, which is harder to do on your own (so I haven't), that day has a lot more travel time. Tipon is near the town Oropesa that is famous for its bakeries. I think you are interested in food so you might ask if it is possible to include that. I think that might be a more interesting day than day 21 and not too much redundancy