Discover the best time of year, based on historical climate, temperature, and precipitation.
The best weather in Ollantaytambo is from June, July, August. — consistent weather climate
🌥Mild
| Score | 55 | 71 | 73 | 85 | 93 | 96 | 96 | 94 | 90 | 84 | 78 | 65 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Climate | Cool & rainy | Cool & rainy | Cool & rainy | Mild | Mild | Mild | Mild | Mild | Mild | Mild | Mild | Cool & rainy |
| Temperature | 11–20°C | 12–20°C | 11–20°C | 10–20°C | 8–21°C | 7–21°C | 7–21°C | 7–22°C | 9–22°C | 10–22°C | 11–22°C | 11–21°C |
| Feels like | 10–21°C | 11–21°C | 10–21°C | 9–21°C | 7–20°C | 5–19°C | 5–20°C | 6–21°C | 7–21°C | 9–22°C | 11–22°C | 11–21°C |
| Precipitation | 158mm 22 days | 132mm 21 days | 121mm 19 days | 59mm 11 days | 23mm 5 days | 12mm 3 days | 10mm 3 days | 22mm 5 days | 35mm 8 days | 67mm 11 days | 97mm 14 days | 129mm 18 days |
| Sunshine | 6.3h ☀︎ 49% | 5.6h ☀︎ 45% | 6.3h ☀︎ 52% | 8.4h ☀︎ 71% | 10.8h ☀︎ 94% | 10.7h ☀︎ 95% | 11.1h ☀︎ 97% | 11.3h ☀︎ 97% | 11.2h ☀︎ 93% | 8.9h ☀︎ 72% | 7.3h ☀︎ 57% | 6.4h ☀︎ 49% |
| Wind | NW · 9 km/h | NW · 9 km/h | NW · 8 km/h | NW · 9 km/h | NW · 10 km/h | NW · 11 km/h | NW · 12 km/h | NW · 13 km/h | NW · 12 km/h | NW · 12 km/h | NW · 11 km/h | NW · 10 km/h |
| Humidity (%) | 72% | 73% | 73% | 71% | 67% | 63% | 60% | 61% | 63% | 65% | 66% | 69% |
| Day length | 12.8h | 12.5h | 12.2h | 11.8h | 11.5h | 11.4h | 11.4h | 11.7h | 12.0h | 12.4h | 12.7h | 12.9h |
This traditional festival re-enacts the legend of the rebel Inca general Ollanta right in the town's Inca ruins and stre…
Conventional travel guides crown June and July as the untouchable pinnacle of the Sacred Valley, but September quietly beats them by matching their golden mountain clarity while ditching the crushing tour-bus crowds.
Ollantaytambo is the only living Inca town left in the Andes, an intact fifteenth-century street grid of stone doorways and murmuring water channels sheltered beneath colossal agricultural terraces. Most travelers treat it merely as a train whistle-stop on the dash to Machu Picchu or the staging ground for the Inca Trail, but staying here reveals something far rarer: the private estate of Emperor Pachacuti functioning as a breathing highland village. Life unfolds between the fortress terraces of the Temple of the Sun and the steep grain storehouses clinging to the cliffs of Pinkuylluna. When you time your visit right, these ancient granite alleys feel entirely your own; time it wrong, and you will spend your days elbowing tour groups on narrow stairways under an indifferent alpine sun.
A pure weather chart will tell you to visit in June or July, when rain is virtually absent. That advice is incomplete. The sharpest way to experience Ollantaytambo is September, when the high-winter tourist torrent abruptly recedes, yet the valley remains drenched in brilliant sunshine. Days are crisp, bone-dry, and comfortable for hiking up to the storehouses of Pinkuylluna without wiping sweat from your eyes or competing for footing on the jagged paths.
By October and November, the mountain air softens. The mornings stay luminous and warm, though the afternoons begin to invite wandering rain clouds that brush against the mountain peaks. Rain here does not mean tropical washouts; it arrives as gentle, roving showers that knock the dust off the eucalyptus leaves and scent the cobblestones with damp earth. For anyone who prefers wandering the maze of the old town without dodging selfie sticks, this late-spring window offers the ideal compromise between manageable weather and authentic town life.
When the summer rains settle over the Sacred Valley between December and March, the character of the town changes radically. Moisture gathers on the monumental granite walls of the ceremonial center, turning the stones a deep, brooding charcoal. The rivers that flank the village swell into thunderous torrents, and the steep slopes behind the terraces vanish into shifting banks of cloud.
January and February bring the heaviest precipitation. It rarely falls in violent cloudbursts, settling instead into persistent, soaking drizzles that keep the stone paths slippery and obscure the mountain peaks for days at a time. The Inca Trail closes entirely in February for maintenance and trail preservation, which dampens the transit traffic through town. If you visit now, you must be content with an introverted, misty Andean settlement where woodsmoke hangs low in the streets and wet wool dries beside hearths. For hikers eager to climb high into the ruins, the footing is treacherous and the views are often swallowed by whiteouts.
April is the Sacred Valley's great exhale. As the rains diminish, the valley floor and terraced mountainsides are left intensely, vividly green. The moisture is swept away by increasing hours of crystalline sunshine, though an occasional evening shower still sweeps through the gorge to freshen the orchards.
May brings even clearer skies and sharpening night-time chills, signaling the start of the dry season. The mountain ridges sharpen against the horizon, and the agricultural terraces look lush and manicured. Visitor traffic begins to build as hikers arrive for early-season treks, yet the atmosphere around the Plaza de Armas remains relaxed. It is a splendid, hopeful interlude before the mid-winter influx overwhelms the town's quiet cadence.
June through August delivers the crispest, clearest weather of the entire year. Days bring boundless blue skies and unbroken solar radiation that warms the stone plazas, followed by nights where the temperature plunges toward freezing the moment the sun slips behind the peaks. June also brings the spectacle of Ollanta-Raymi, an atmospheric local pageant that fills the stone terraces and street corners with costumed performers reenacting the ancient rebellion of General Ollanta.
Yet this perfection comes at an immense logistical cost. July represents the absolute peak of congestion in the valley. The narrow stone corridors laid out by Pachacuti's architects were built for foot soldiers and llamas, not for hundreds of modern tour buses disgorging day-trippers from Cusco. Moving through the monumental fortress requires patience in single-file queues, and the serenity that defines the town's magic evaporates into the midday clamor. If you come during these winter months, seek refuge at dawn or dusk, when the day-trippers retreat and the chill returns the ancient stones to their rightful silence.