Machu Picchu vs the Sacred Valley: Where to Elope in Peru
The iconic citadel where ceremonies are not allowed against the terraced valley where they are. Here is how to use both, and why the answer is usually not one or the other.
You assume you choose between marrying at Machu Picchu or in the Sacred Valley.
The citadel does not actually allow ceremonies, which settles half the question.
Machu Picchu gives the portrait; the Sacred Valley gives the ceremony. The best Peru elopement usually uses both.
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The Inca citadel on its ridge is the portrait of a lifetime, best in the dawn light, but it is a protected sanctuary with timed entry where formal ceremonies, props, and staged setups are not permitted. So Machu Picchu is where you take the iconic images, not where you say your vows.
Machu Picchu: the portrait
The Inca citadel on its ridge is the portrait of a lifetime, best in the dawn light, but it is a protected sanctuary with timed entry where formal ceremonies, props, and staged setups are not permitted. So Machu Picchu is where you take the iconic images, not where you say your vows.
The Sacred Valley: the ceremony
The Sacred Valley below, with its terraced Inca sites at Ollantaytambo and Pisac among the mountains and rivers, is where a ceremony can genuinely be held, in a setting nearly as dramatic and far more private. Together, the valley ceremony and the citadel portraits make a complete Peru elopement.
Choose the valley for the vows and the citadel for the portraits, and use both. As your Elopement Curator I plan the trip, secure the permits, coordinate the ceremony, and both shoot and film it. Twelve years and 240+ couples in, the couples who used both got the whole of Peru.
