We paid a guide on-site (in Spanish) to take us around the ruins. He was so enthusiastic and had been doing this for about 20 years! He taught us so much and really made the experience worthwhile.
We took the steps from Cusco to Sacsayhuaman instead of a taxi, and its pretty easy to find, you can also stop on the way up to get lovely views of the city. Christo Blanco is not far from here also. Our guide was 50 soles which was quite lot in comparison to other places and was really not very good, we fell into that '50 soles for one hour' when one hour was up we said we would look round ourselves. Had that before when you get charged double as you have ran over time. We also just paid for entry into this site instead of a tourist ticket as we were not visiting any of the other sites. Good views of the city and if you do it yourself looks for the cave.
While we were here touring this site, the temperature was 65 degrees and we got a sunburned head and face. The air is thin so if one has trouble breathing, think hard before going to visit.
We were told by our guide that this is a big temple site where the Incas would gather to make decisions.
Make sure to visit “sexy woman” in your visit to Cusco. And plan plenty of time. We were a bit rushed due to scheduling and really wanted more time to explore otherwise a wonderful site to behold.
The view from the top is beautiful. The ruins themselves are quite interesting and quite large but it was the view that really made an impression. There were also alpacas there that we could watch and even pet (they didn't really like it but were nice enough to tolerate it). From there you can also walk up to Cristo Blanco - the statue of the white Jesus Christ that's visible from almost anywhere in the city. It looks smaller from up close but very nice to see. Best bet is to buy the Tourist Ticket ahead of time- you can't just pay for this alone it's part of a package. We didn't know that and were hesitant to spend the money for the ticket to see all of them since we were leaving the next day. However, we got there quite late and a local resident offered to drive us up there for half the price of one ticket. He lives in the community and can enter for free. I'm sure it's not quite legal but it's a way for him to make a living I suppose. It worked great for us. We got in for much less and didn't have to walk. We didn't plan to go there- just happened to be close after wondering the city- otherwise we would have bought tickets. It's well worth it.
