Ollantaytambo

Ollantaytambo is a town and Inca archaeological site in the Sacred Valley of the Incas in southern Peru, in the district of Ollantaytambo, Urubamba province, Cusco region. It lies at an altitude of 2,792 metres, about 72 kilometres by road northwest of the city of Cusco, along the Patakancha River near where it joins the Willkanuta River. In the mid-15th century the Inca emperor Pachacuti conquered and razed an older settlement here and rebuilt it as a royal estate with a town, a ceremonial centre and extensive agricultural terraces and irrigation works. During the Spanish conquest it served as a stronghold and temporary capital for the Inca resistance leader Manco Inca Yupanqui, who defeated a Spanish expedition nearby in 1537 before withdrawing to Vilcabamba. The town keeps an orthogonal Inca street grid and some of the oldest continuously occupied dwellings in South America, and today it draws many visitors for its ruins and as a gateway to the Inca Trail.