Písac Ruins

The Písac site runs for kilometres along a ridge above the town, and it is bigger than most visitors expect: terraced flanks curving around the hillside, residential sectors, water channels, gates, and at the top the Intihuatana group, the ceremonial core, built in the fine coursed masonry the Inca reserved for important buildings, with a carved rock at its centre. Across the gorge the cliff face is pocked with hundreds of holes - an Inca cemetery, one of the largest known, comprehensively looted in the colonial period and after. Most tours drive to the upper gate and walk down; walking up from the town takes an hour and a half and is steep. The town below has a well-known market, busiest on Sundays, which has grown from a produce exchange between highland and valley communities into a mainly tourist-facing craft market.

What you actually see

• The terraces - curved flights wrapping the mountainside for kilometres.
• The Intihuatana group - the ceremonial core in fine coursed masonry.
• The tomb cliff - hundreds of looted burial holes across the gorge.
• The scale - a site far larger than a single viewpoint suggests.

When to go

April to October for dry paths. Early morning before the coaches from Cusco arrive. Two to four hours; the full ridge takes longer than most people allow.

Honest expectations

The site is spread out and involves a lot of walking on uneven stone at 3,300 metres. Steep drops with no railings in places. Crowded from mid-morning. The town market is largely aimed at tourists now.

Nearby

Písac town and its market are below; Calca and the Sacred Valley are downstream.