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Cusco Soft Adventure

Full day mountain biking tour

You will be collected at 9am and taken to Chinchero by private vehicle. From here you will descend by mountain bike past Laguna Huaypo to the archaeological site of Moray where you will have a guided tour.

Moray, an Inca site, was an experimental agricultural centre. It comprises numerous terraces carved into a large, natural amphitheatre, each one with a different microclimate from those above and below. After a packed lunch we descend past the town of Maras to the "Salineras" or salt pans until you arrive at Pichingoto bridge.

The salt pans are still used today to crystallize salt from water. These mines were exploited in pre-hispanic times and reach back to the pre-Inca period. The spectacular scenario of the salt pans forming from an underground river source is a bizarre contrast with the fabulous Andean landscape. The total distance covered is 30km and takes around 5 hours with spectacular views of the snow covered mountains around Cusco.

Return to Cusco by private vehicle.

Half day tour by mountain bike to the outlying sites of Cusco and on to Enaco.

You will be collected at 8:40am and taken by vehicle to the Archeological zone of Sacsayhuaman. From here we will travel by mountain bike to the sites of Q´enqo, Puca Pucara and Tambo Machay before decending through beautiful scenery from the Ccorao pass to Enaco.

The enormous Fortress of Sacsayhuamán is one of the most important Inca sites in South America. Its Quechua name means "satisfied falcon", for it was the falcon that guarded the capital of the empire. Qenko; a sanctuary dedicated to the adoration of animals, and consists of ruins formed by a rocky site with stairs in zigzag, and a main building similar to a circular amphitheatre where 19 window sills are located as a way of seats.

We then proceed on to visit Puca Pucara (Quechua for red fortress). This is an Inca archaeological site located again on the peak of a hill and is thought to be a military position and an administrative centre.

Tambomachay was an Inca sanctuary dedicated to the cult of water, and it was a reserved place for the Inca Royalty. Consisting of a group of walls that are united by stairs, there are springs that cascade to a pool through several channels. The waterfalls in these ruins form part of a terrace to the second wall where the drainage cascades on the first and forms a small pool.