Community-based Tourism in Cusco and the Sacred Valley
Community-based tourism (CBT) in Cusco and the Sacred Valley offers significant educational benefits for learners of all ages by transforming travel into a participatory, immersive learning experience.
Rooted in Indigenous knowledge and local stewardship, CBT creates opportunities for deep, meaningful education that extends far beyond traditional classroom instruction, ideal for worldschooling families.
Concepts from geography, history, agriculture, and environmental science become tangible through the different activities these communities have to offer.
Furthermore, CBT also promotes intercultural understanding and cultural humility. Interaction with Quechua-speaking communities allows learners to explore Indigenous worldviews, values, and social structures. This fosters respect for cultural diversity and challenges ethnocentric perspectives, helping students develop empathy, global awareness, and cross-cultural communication skills.
Services/Activities
The specific activities offered depend on each of the communities that provide CBT; however, in most cases, the following is offered:
– Homestay accommodation and meals
– Collaborating to prepare typical Andean meals
– Andean ceremonies (Ex. Offerings to the Pachamama and the Apus)
– Traditional Andean dances
– Learning about textile art techniques
– Demonstration of sustainable farming practices
– Hands-on activities like plowing, harvesting, and weaving workshops
– Sheep herding – Ethnobotany
– Adobe making – Horse and donkey rides
Main Andean Communities that offer Community-based Tourism
Mullak’s Misminay
Location: 10 minutes from Maras
The name of this community means “Place of Wetlands” in Quechua.
They offer a 2D/1N program that includes private transportation, professional guides and entrance fees to Maras salt mines and Moray archaeological site. Two of the most iconic attractions of the Sacred Valley, which provide powerful learning opportunities for worldschoolers across multiple disciplines.
Moray is widely regarded as an Inca agricultural research center. Its distinctive circular terraces, built in a natural depression, create varying microclimates with significant temperature differences between levels. Educationally, Moray supports learning in agricultural science, biology, and climatology, as students can observe how the Inca experimented with crop adaptation, seed selection, and climate resilience. The site also invites discussion about Indigenous innovation, sustainability, and food security—topics highly relevant to contemporary global challenges.
Meanwhile, the Maras salt mines (Salineras de Maras), offer insights into traditional resource management and economic systems. The thousands of salt ponds, still used by local families today, demonstrate continuity between ancient practices and modern livelihoods. Learners can explore concepts related to chemistry (evaporation and crystallization), geography, and economics, as well as community-based management of natural resources. The site also highlights collective labor systems and shared stewardship, central values in Andean society.
Contact email: vivemisminay.trc@gmail.com
More information: Mullak’s Misminay
The following are two of the eight Quechua communities that form the association called La Tierra de los Yachaqs
Contact email: yachaqs@gmail.com
More information: La tierra de los Yachaqs and La tierra de los Yachaqs – Decode the secrets of our land
Amaru
Location: 30 minutes from Pisac
The floral welcoming is a tradition in Amaru to greet guests into their community.
This community offers one of the most relevant traditional activities: the Andean textile process. They teach the entire process of creating each textile.
For centuries, Andean textiles have served not only as clothing but also as carriers of knowledge, identity, and communication, making them a powerful tool for holistic and experiential learning. For instance, natural dyeing and weaving demonstrates deep ecological understanding. Andean communities show how they use local plants, minerals, and insects (such as cochineal) to produce natural dyes, connecting lessons in chemistry, botany, and environmental sustainability.
For ethnobotanical lovers, the locals will share their knowledge about natural plants used in traditional medicine, which bridges science, culture, history, and sustainability.
Plant medicine traditions reflect centuries of observation, experimentation, and oral transmission. Studying these systems helps learners appreciate Indigenous knowledge as valid and dynamic.
Patabamba
Location: 45 minutes from Pisac
The community offers breathtaking views of the Sacred Valley and surrounding mountains. Visitors can hike to viewpoints like “the Balcony of the Sacred Valley” or to the impressive ruins of Huch’uy Qosqo (Little Cusco).
This small Andean village of farmers, shepherds and weavers stands out due to its typical traditional dishes, such as the Sancc’u, a combination of cereals with aromatic plants, salt, and sugar, and cuy lawa, a cream soup with guinea pig. Typical drinks are chicha de jora, made of fermented corn, and white chicha, made of quinoa with corn and beans.
In Andean societies, cuisine is not only a means of nourishment but also a way of preserving identity, transmitting ancestral knowledge, and understanding the relationship between people and their land. Traditional cuisine also teaches history and cultural continuity. Many Andean ingredients and cooking methods predate the Inca Empire and have been preserved through generations despite colonization and globalization.
Five communities with about 7,000 Indigenous community members formed the Potato Park with the goal of working to preserve over 1,300 varieties of native potato, as well as the ancient agricultural knowledge.
Through educational workshops, visitors deepen their understanding of Andean culture, ecology, and conservation. They engage in hands-on activities and discussions led by local experts, to understand how their ancestors mastered environmental adaptation to preserve the delicate balance of ecosystems. For example, they adapted their diets to high-altitude environments through techniques like freeze-drying potatoes, which introduces concepts related to food science and chemistry.
Visitors may also gain insight into the ancient agricultural practices that sustain Indigenous communities in the Andes by joining local farmers in planting and harvesting crops such as potatoes, quinoa, and maize. To taste the fruits of their labor, they may enjoy a meal prepared using fresh, organic ingredients.
Location: 30 minutes from Pisac
Contact email: pdp@andes.org.pe
More information: Potato Park and Pdp – THE POTATO PARK