South Valley: Tipón, Pikillacta and Andahuaylillas

The South Valley is half an hour from Cusco and almost nobody visits, though it holds three sites from three distinct eras. Tipón is the best surviving example of Inca hydraulic engineering: its channels still carry water across the same terraces after five centuries, with drops calculated so the flow does not erode the stone. Pikillacta predates the Incas — a Wari city on an orthogonal grid built around AD 600, with straight streets and multi-storey walls. Andahuaylillas closes the route with its 17th-century church, known as the Sistine Chapel of the Americas for the murals and gold leaf covering its interior entirely.