Huchuy Qosqo (Peru)

Nearly all travel agents offer this trek, even though it's quite off the beaten track. However, there many ways to reach the site so therefore plenty of alternatives to walking. It might therefore be a difficult choice to make if ever you decided to include this citadelle in your list of Peruvian destinations!

In my case, I made the excursion without a guide, starting from the very pretty village of Chinchero, going via Cuper Alto and finishing in Lamay.

A little trip report: paths lined with eucalyptus, breathtaking views over the valley, crops growing on terraces, isolated villages without electricity or with solar power, lakes, llamas, snow-covered peaks in the background... a perfect Andean patchwork! Arriving at the the site of Huchuy Qosqo, or little Cusco, is truly lovely especially the view, which left me speechless. It must be said that to have visited this spot with a guide would have been a bonus. I had read beforehand that it had been both a royal residence and an astronomical observatory, a slightly disappointing piece of information considering that the main point of the trip was to discover the site.

In any event, the hike was really nice, partly because the Sacred Valley is just sublime but also for the pleasure of discovering the local culture, which the people seem to be happy to share. Perhaps this is also because tourism is an additional source of income, which seems to be much needed in this isolated area...