This section is dedicated to take away all your "I wish someone had told me that before I went!" experiences. This way, you can spend less time settling in, and more time making new friends in your chosen hostel.
While Urubamba, Peru, itself doesn't have an awful lot for visitors to enjoy, its location in Sacred Valley among beautiful countryside is one of the main reasons it remains on travelers' lists. It's also on the highway from Cuzco to Macchu Picchu, and gives travelers the opportunity to acclimatize to the higher altitude of Macchu Picchu before embarking on a trek. It's also lower in altitude than Cuzco.
One of the main attractions around Urubamba is the Salinas salt pans, four kilometers southwest of Urubamba. These pans have been in existence since Inca times and are fed by a salty, hot spring at the top of the valley. It's a beautiful and spectacular sight.
The ancient Inca site of Moray is also well worth a visit. Terraces of concentric circles forming a sort of bowl or amphitheater are an amazing spectacle. No one knows for sure what they were built for, but as each layer has a slightly different micro-climate, some think it was an experiment to see which crops grew best in which conditions. Moray is another spectacular sight.
Quispiguanca is the site of the royal estate of Inca emperor Huayna Capac from the fifteenth century. It is on the northern side of town.
Urubamba has a number of accommodation options. There are a handful of backpacker budget hostels in Urubamba, Peru, and they all offer dorm beds as well as private rooms. Urubamba, Peru hostels are also the best places to arrange transport out to the sites around the edges of town and can also help arrange your Macchu Picchu trip. Urubamba, Peru hostels are scattered along the highway through town; a couple of them are a few kilometers out of town, so get directions before you arrive and know when to jump off the bus!
Urubamba has excellent transport links, as it's on a main highway, and it's very easy to get to and from Cuzco and Aguas Calientes, for Macchu Picchu.
Written by local expertz for Urubamba
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