|  Cusco
offers the traveller an incredible array of attractions and activities,
and it is very worthy of being the main tourist destination in
Peru. The city is located in beautiful mountain scenery, and offers
a wonderful combination of colonial Peru and the Inca heritage
of the country. The nearby archaeological sites of Sacsayhuaman,
Pisac and Ollantaytambo are some of the most interesting
in the country, and the fabled lost city of Machu Picchu is every
bit as beautiful and mystical as the famed images suggests. The
Cusco area is also home to one of the most famous hikes in the
world: the Inca Trail. This walk through Inca settlements offers
some stunning scenery, rising through the Andes before descending
into the cloud forest and arriving, magically, at Machu Picchu.
For visitors wishing to get
away from the tourist crowds, there are many nearby areas of outstanding
interest, which are far less visited. The major Inca ruins of
Choquequirau, in a setting  every
bit as impressive as Machu Picchu’s, are rarely seen by
visitors, and the last Inca city of Vilcabamba, from where Manco
Inca launched guerrilla attacks on the Spanish conquistadors,
is a fascinating site set in verdant jungle. Both of these sites
are reached by hikes through beautiful mountain scenery, and present
wonderful alternatives for travellers wishing to escape the crowds
on the Inca Trail.
Cusco is one of the best bases
in South America for adventure sports, and there are some fine
mountain biking routes near the city, and it is possible to go
paragliding in the Sacred Valley. The Apurímac River, a
couple of hours from the city of Cusco, offers excellent white-water
rafting, with rapids of up to class V, and the Urubamba River
also offers good, although gentler, rafting. For hikers, in addition
to the routes mentioned above, there are some spectacular treks
around the 6,400m Ausangate, and other snow-capped peaks.
 The
Cusco area is home to some sites of outstanding natural beauty.
The Pongo de Mainique, a long, but beautiful, bus ride from Cusco,
is a narrow gorge, with 300m-high cliffs on either side of the
Urubamba River, with waterfalls pouring down into the river. Tres
Cruces, only four hours from the city, offers one of the world’s
most spectacular sunrises, with optical illusions giving the impression
of the sun dancing, splitting in two and changing shape.
Known to the Incas as the
"navel of the world", Cusco is an exciting and
colorful city, built by the Spanish on the sumptuous and solid
remains of Inca temples and palaces, and as rich in human activity
today as it must have been at the height of the empire. Enclosed
between high hills and visually dominated in equal degree by the
imposing fortress of Sacsayhuaman and a more recent white-stone
Christ figure, the city attracts visitors eager to see both its
substantial Inca ruins and the many churches and monasteries of
Catholic Spain. Despite the high level of tourism in Cusco, most
of the surrounding towns and villages have remained unaffected
and still cling to ancient ways of life and traditions.
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