Pisac, Moray and Ollantaytambo are on your list. The following day, you hope to visit Sacsayhuamán above Cusco. As you look into arrangements, the same word keeps appearing: boleto. The Boleto Turístico del Cusco groups visits to several places, but its particular version and validity period determine whether it fits your days. Write down the places and dates first. Choose the ticket afterwards.
The aim is not to tick every place off. Time to look around one site is worth more than four names glimpsed through a bus window. A broader ticket may still make sense when you spread different visits across your stay. Compare what you actually intend to use, rather than the number of places you could theoretically squeeze in.
Four versions, three groups of visits
COSITUC, the organisation behind the Boleto Turístico, lists an integral ticket and three partial tickets. The partial versions follow circuits I, II and III. The integral version combines the sixteen listed places across those three groups. These circuit numbers belong to the Cusco ticket; they are separate from the circuits and route codes used for Machu Picchu.
Circuit I groups Sacsayhuamán, Q’enqo, Puka Pukara and Tambomachay. Look at this version when your plans focus on the archaeological places around Cusco. Sharing a ticket does not turn them into a single site: transport and the time between visits still belong in your day.
Circuit II combines city visits with the southern valley. COSITUC lists the Museo de Sitio Qorikancha, Museo Histórico Regional, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Museo de Arte Popular, Monumento a Pachacuteq and Centro Qosqo de Arte Nativo, together with Tipón and Pikillaqta. Treat that combination literally: a city museum and an archaeological site outside Cusco each need their own place in your plans. Tipón: following water through an Inca landscape
Circuit III brings together the archaeological parks of Pisac, Ollantaytambo, Chinchero and Moray. It fits many Sacred Valley plans. If you want to visit Pisac and Ollantaytambo, start with the dates you will be there. A night between visits can suit a valley stay, while a longer stop makes the ticket’s validity period worth checking carefully.
What else needs arranging?
COSITUC states that the Boleto Turístico does not include a guide or transport. An agency may package those services with admission. Ask for a quotation that specifies the ticket version, journeys and guiding separately. “Sacred Valley tour including admission” alone does not tell you whether a second provider is offering the same programme.
Machu Picchu and the Maras salt ponds do not appear in the published list of sixteen places. Do not automatically count those visits as covered when adding up ticket costs. Exact names matter too: COSITUC lists the Museo de Sitio Qorikancha. If a programme simply says “Qorikancha”, ask which visit it means and which admission it includes.
Put price and validity beside your calendar
On 31 October 2026, COSITUC’s published tariff listed the integral ticket for foreign visitors at S/130, valid for ten days. Each partial ticket is S/70. Circuit I lasts one day; circuits II and III last two days each. These amounts describe the general foreign-visitor rate on that list. Check the current version before buying; they are not a quotation for every travelling party.
COSITUC’s FAQ says validity starts on the purchase date. Avoid treating the purchase as an arrival-day errand if your first included visit comes later in the stay. Set out your visiting dates first and time the purchase accordingly. At the sales counter, ask for the exact final day on which your ticket can be used.
Three plans to compare
One day around Cusco
You want to see Sacsayhuamán, then choose another place in the same group. Compare the partial circuit I ticket with that day’s plan. Do not add Pisac merely to “make better use” of it: Pisac belongs to another group. If you also want a museum day or a valley day, consider those visits before deciding solely on the first ticket.
Two consecutive days in the valley
You spread Pisac and Ollantaytambo across two consecutive days. The partial circuit III ticket is a logical version to examine. Add Moray or Chinchero only if you genuinely want time there. If you are staying longer in the valley and your visits fall further apart, compare validity again: the same places on different dates can lead to a different ticket choice.
Cusco and the valley during one stay
You want to visit Sacsayhuamán, then Pisac and Ollantaytambo later. At the general foreign-visitor rates listed above, two partial tickets total S/140, while the integral version is S/130. The longer validity may also fit this combination better. Saving S/10 is no reason to visit every listed place. It is a reason to compare the full stay before buying two separate partial tickets.
Buying without arranging the day around it
COSITUC lists in-person sales and says in its FAQ that online purchase is unavailable. Its central sales counter is listed at Avenida El Sol 103, Oficina 101. The FAQ also lists sales at included places, with exceptions. Check whether your first stop actually sells tickets, or allow for the central counter. A search result advertising “online tickets” is not automatically a COSITUC sales channel.
Travelling with children, students or someone who may use another rate? Compare their tickets separately. Ask COSITUC which amount applies to each visitor and what documents are needed. Include the specific places you intend to visit; do not apply a single assumed child rate to every part of the trip. Add up the whole party’s costs only after those points are clear.
A useful note for the counter or your travel provider can be short: these places, on these dates, for these visitors. Match the ticket version and validity to that note. Then use the Cusco and Sacred Valley guides to shape the visits themselves. Machu Picchu retains its own ticket and travel planning; give it a separate line in the budget.