Sacred Valley, Peru: Transportation costs and why colectivos are the best

We stayed in the Sacred Valley for two nights to acclimatize to the high altitude before staying in the even higher Cusco. Because we weren't part of a tour, we had to piece together lots of different transportation. 

Taxis (~1 soles/minute): very nice cars and very easy to book from your hotel or restaurant but more difficult when you're . Always negotiate your fare upfront before getting into the taxi. For example, from our hotel in Urubamba to Ollantaytambo, about 30 minutes, it was 30 soles (~$9 USD). 

Motobikes (also known as tuktuks in Asia!): mostly taken by locals, they help transport you that last mile but they won't travel far distances (>10 minutes). They are often at popular colectivo stops.

Colectivos (~1 soles/20 minutes): Run every 5 minutes along the major Sacred Valley road. These are more expensive and run more often than the local bus and seem to be private operators traveling on a community-agreed upon route. There are stops along the road that you'll be able to recognize by the awnings. In town, just ask! 2 soles from Ollantaytambo to Urubamba, 4-5 soles from Urubamba to Pisac, 10 soles from Urubamba to Cusco.

That being said, beware the availability and willingness of different modes of transportation. When we were coming back from Ollantaytambo to Urubamba, no taxis wanted to take us - they only wanted a much more lucrative fare to Cusco (2 hours, 100 soles). 

That's why colectivos are the best. They run frequently, are super affordable, and in a lot of the Sacred Valley, there's only one road so it's hard to get lost. Please note that there are two routes from Urubamba to Cusco (through Pisac or Chinchero) with two different departure points in Urubamba. There's a lot about colectivos that I don't understand but every time I took one, the drivers were friendly and my limited Spanish was enough to get us where we were going.