Urubamba, Peru - September 2025

Описание: We made Urubamba Peru our home for 2-weeks and thoroughly enjoyed living in this small quaint town. It is located one hour from Cusco and is the largest town in the Sacred Valley of the Incas. As with other towns in Peru, the center of Urubama is the Plaza de Armas filled with restaurants, shops and local markets. We tend to prefer to shop in typical western grocery stores, but in Urubamba, the best and freshest fruits, vegetables and meats are found in the Mercado Modelo. We got used to carrying small bills and shopping at 4 or 5 booths within the Mercado.

Urubamba is located near some popular attractions including the Salt Mine of Maras and the Zona Arqueologica Moray (or simply Moray). The Salt Mine of Maras have a long history dating back hundreds of years and possibly even thousands. Today, there are around 400 families that own individual salt mines.

Moray is an archaeological site located near Urubamba. It is characterized by being made up of several circular platforms and is located at an elevation of 3500 m (11482 ft). Moray was possibly an Inca agricultural research center where crop experiments were carried out at different heights, with each terrace providing a different micro-climate. After the arrival of the Spaniards in 1533, there is no news of their use, and this place was forgotten and buried in a vast vegetation that was discovered in 1932 by Shirppe Johnson's who flew a plane over the place and discovered the ruins.

We really enjoyed the free hiking trails within walking distance of the city. We first hiked up to the Mirador de Tantanmarka, which starts out fairly easy from the Plaza de Armas, but has a steep incline at the base of the mountain. There are stations of the cross placed along the zigzag trail, with the last one at the top after about 300 meters elevation gain. The views from the top overlooking Urubamba and the Sacred Valley are well worth the trek.

The second hike from town is called Queroqancha on Google Maps but called Qerokancha locally, or Chullpas of Urubamba on All-Trails. This trail is about a 50-minute walk from the town center and entails about 200-meters of elevation gain to reach the archeological site. The large stone rooms may have been used as a sort of warehouse or food storage. The top has great views overlooking Urubamba.

Our favorite hike was to the Pumahuanca Valley and the Chupani Ruins. The trail head is about a 1 hour 45-minute walk from the town center, so we chose to grab a taxi there. It took us asking several taxis as the drivers didn't want to drive that far up hill in their little motorcycle taxis. It was well worth taking a taxi one-way, as we ended up walking back to town. Once we started hiking, it's about a 4 hour out and back hike. After about an hour, we reached the Chupani Ruins, and it took about another hour to reach the top of the waterfall area. It was about 600-meter elevation gain from the trail head. The trail continues further up the mountain, but we chose to walk back down to the starting point. From there, we walked back into town and stopped at the Bardock Beer Company for beer and sandwiches, which is a great way to end this hike.

Our 🧭 compass now points Northwest as we continue our Peru adventure to Ollantaytambo followed by Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu).

#Peru #Urubamba #Andes #MountainViewExperience #Moray #Maras #Hiking
#AlwaysAnAdventure #LoveLovingYou #ZachMan #MissingYouSoMuch #ThisIsLife #BeKind #Repurposed #ExperiencesNotStuff #NoMistakesOnlyLessons #coddiwomple #hodophile #TravelerLife #nomads #RovingRetirement #SlowTravel #SlowLiving #ForeverOnVacation

Chapters
0:00 Introduction
0:10 Plaza de Armas
0:42 Mercado
1:12 Mirador de urubamba Sergio Pérez Vences
1:19 Mountain View Experience
1:50 Salt Mine of Maras
2:43 Zona Arqueologica Moray
3:37 Hike to Mirador de Tantanmarka
5:05 Hike to Queroqancha
5:56 Hike to Pumahuanca Valley - Chupani Ruins