Ullantaytampu

Ollantaytambo lies where a tributary joins the Urubamba in the Sacred Valley. Great terraces climb the rocky hill above the town, supporting ceremonial buildings and massive stonework. The settlement below retains the ordered layout of an Inca town, while water channels and fountains run through its streets. The complex was reshaped under Pachacuti as part of the royal landscape of the valley.

During the Spanish conquest, Manco Inca made Ollantaytambo a stronghold after the siege of Cusco. In 1537 his forces defeated an expedition led by Hernando Pizarro, using the high terraces and flooding the plain to hinder the attackers. Manco later withdrew farther into the mountains of Vilcabamba, where an independent Inca court continued to resist the Spaniards for several decades.