If you are anything like me you feel like you know all about Machu Picchu, but have never even heard about the Inca ruins in Pisac, which is closer to Cusco. If we hadn't happened to read about the place on our guidebook we might have missed the place completely, which would have been a shame because we found it to be well worth a daytrip. Not only are the ruins cheaper to see than those at Machu Picchu, they are also infinitely more accessible with regular buses doing the short trip between Cusco and Pisac. We ended up seeing Machu Picchu later as well and though I have to admit that the ruins there were more spectacular, the difference still wasn't too big. So if you want to save some money and still see some great Inca ruins while staying in Cusco, this might well be the thing for you. The place is a little touristy, but we found out that if you step a little off the beaten path you can find yourself enjoying some spectacular piles of rocks all by yourself!

Getting there

Following the advice we got from the iPerú tourist information in Cusco we went to stand at a bus stop on Av. Tullumayo to wait for a bus marked with Pisac (locally Pisaq). A local guy helped us spot it, or so we thought. We were eventually dropped a few blocks away at a spot where there was a minibus gathering up passengers. The driver of the minibus asked for S/4 per person for Pisac but the lady in charge told us S/6. We settled on S/5, but the three other western people coming in right on our heels got the trip for S/4… Weird. It took a few minutes for the minibus to fill its seats but after that we took off. It took about 40 minutes to reach Pisac this way and it was fairly comfortable, so no hard feelings for spending a few Soles more than in a local bus. Once in Pisac we did the unthinkable and took the first taxi that was offered to us and paid S/25 for the ride up to the ruins. It felt reasonable since it was a bit of a drive. The entrance to the ruins was included in the Boleto Turístico we had bought in Cusco, so there was no extra charge there.

The ruins

Even though we had never even heard about Pisac, the ruins there are apparently included in the itinerary of every single local travel agency. We passed dozens of tour buses at the parking lot, waiting for the masses to return to them. Hence it didn't surprise us to find the ruins at the top of the hill overrun with package tourists breathing heavily in the thin air. We had to walk in lines to see anything and I found it very comical that there were some sheep nearby making sheepy sounds. We felt like we were a part of a massive herd grazing on the hill, walking single file and only stopping to take pictures at same exact spots. The ruins were spectacular, set on a cliff and with terraced fields below, but all in all the masses of people made it hard to enjoy it properly.

Luckily that was not all there was to see. After seeing the ruins about 90% of the people seemed to turn on their heels and return to the buses. We took the path that went in the opposite direction and were extremely glad we did. As we went on the amount of people seemed to diminish on every step with most of who came there turning back at some point. My advice is: don't. Keep following the path and you'll end up seeing much more spectacular ruins than those at the top of the hill. We passed through a short tunnel and by a few smaller ruins before ending up at a larger site. Turned out that this was actually the place that's in all the pictures you see of Pisac. The stones were incredibly well crafted and in much better shape than the ones at the top and down here there were hardly any people sheep-walking around.

We continued up to the viewing platform and beyond, following a path that was clearly less travelled by. Actually, the further we went the narrower the path got but still the sights kept on improving, which means that most people miss the best of the whole thing. We followed the path to some spectacular ruins set above the terraced fields and overlooking the town below, before doubling back to see a larger site that we had spotted from the well preserved place. On the way we passed some ancient houses that still had some of their clay walls standing, on a path so narrow that we had to push through some vegetation. The ruins we came to next were big but almost covered in hay, that's how few people come down to see them. We were the only ones there, which was amazing since the path wasn't hard going downhill, as we were. Every once in a while we would see someone coming uphill, usually looking ready to pass out. We on the other hand were having the time of our lives. Coming up with a taxi and walking down was clearly the best way to see the ruins, in our opinion.

The town and the way back to Cusco

We followed the path all the way down to the town, passing the terraced fields and all sorts of other views the other tourists were missing. Eventually we found ourselves right in the middle of the Sunday market with crafts being sold on seemingly hundreds of stalls spread out on nearly every street of the town. We ended up having one of the dirtiest meals of our trip there after seating ourselves at a food stall that seemed to be favored by many other westerners. The food itself wasn't too bad, but the plates and forks were cleaned by dumping them into a bucket full of grey water and bits of food, followed by a quick wipe with a dirty towel. Food was set on those plates with equally dirty hands that were so fast in ripping through the grilled chicken that we didn't have time to say that we wanted the vegetarian option. In the end the lady charged us double for the meal (S/8 per person) because of the tiny bit of chicken that Sini didn't even eat. To finish a perfect meal she gave us a fake S/2 coin for change, which we didn't notice until afterwards. Fake money is a real problem here, earlier we got a S/5 coin from somewhere that no-one seems to want. Fake coins I can deal with but fake bills are the real problem. Luckily no-one has handed us those yet, but we check them every time.

For the way back to Cusco we took a local bus because we happened to see one passing us. They charged S/2.5 per person for the trip to Cusco and we paid the same even though we asked to be dropped off earlier at Tambomachay, one of four Inca ruins set along the way between Cusco and Pisac. After the awe-inspiring greatness of the ruins from earlier in the day the "Bath of the Inca" wasn't that impressive. We walked to see the nearby Pukapukara ("Red Fort") which was a little grander but still nothing we hadn't already seen, so we decided to hop on the bus once more and skip walking the whole way back and seeing Q'enqo and Sacsaywamán. The ride cost us just S/1 each which was nice, but the guy handling our money tried to push us another fake S/5 coin. I refused it loudly and he handed us the equivalent in S/1 coins, real as far as I know. Afterwards we ended up finding out the hard way why the local bus had failed us when trying to get to Pisac. The buss dropped us off outside of the edge of our map of Cusco. We found our way following the signs for the historic center.