Cusco to Tipon and Pikillacta: Private day trip

While Tipón is not the biggest Incan site that you can visit, it certainly has one of the best views, the neatest excavated ruins in Peru, and one of the most intact, too. The terraces, defensive walls, housing, classrooms, and gardens are all clearly visible - the megalithic stones used in much of the construction will not fail to impress you. Most notable are the still-functioning water channels, fed by a natural spring, which fed the lush terraces and still keeps them green today. Although the true nature of Tipón is lost today (even the name is a mystery), it is likely that the deliberately varying microclimates of each terrace were part of a crop-growing experiment (similar operations have been noted in other Incan sites). Tipón is also likely to have doubled up as a palace built by King Viracocha Inca for his father after he usurped his throne.

The ancient Wari people occupied Pikillacta for about 600 years from 550AD, predating the Incas by around 300 years. Although not as architecturally competent as the Incas, they nevertheless constructed a great city of 10,000 people that influenced the surrounding Wari settlements. Archaeological evidence is scarce but it was likely to have been a place of great religious ceremonies and civic administration, and by extension a center of trade too. While imports were high in Pikillacta, they did produce a lot of maize, helped by the fertile soils and reliable rainfall, supplemented by 48,000 metres of canals during the few dry months. Amongst the extensive ruins are Qaranqayniyuj (second largest residential area), Kunturqaqa (Rock of Condors, a rocky structure of undefined importance), Urpicancha (Bird House, a set of united platforms with great cultural importance), and Choqepucjio (the main structure, with foundations of stone, rising up to mud bricks).