Hi. I would like to spend 3days/2nights in the Sacred Valley to visit Pisac (market & ruins), Salinas, Moray, Ollantaytambo (village & ruins), and possibly Chinchero. Which would be the best and most convenient town to use as a base? I would probably hire a car & driver for transportation. I think my preference would be to stay in one town rather than two towns, but would consider two.

My thinking is that, upon my flight arrival in Cusco, I would go directly to my base in the Sacred Valley in order to more slowly acclimatize to the altitude and to visit the Valley, before heading back to Cusco. I will then spend several days in Cusco before going off on my Inca Trail trek.

Before my flight arrival in Cusco from Arequipa, I will have spent 5 days in Arequipa and the Colca Canyon. With having spent this time in Arequipa/Colca, perhaps I won't need to spend time in the Sacred Valley in order to acclimatize more easily to Cusco, but I would like to visit the Valley anyway.

One last thing, I hope to stay in a mid-range hotel ($40-70) and my research tells me that all three towns have such accommodation.

There are several hotels like that in Ollaytantambo and Urubamba. In Cusco I would recomment Hostal Sweet Daybreak, a hostel run by a Belgian- Peruvian couple. They have a website www.hostalsweetdaybreak.com. I liked it a lot. Chill and an astonashing panoramic view in the San Blas region.