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Ninety seconds on Sacred Valley Market (Pisac Sunday Market)
The Pisac market trades every day of the week. Sunday is the main and largest day, and Tuesday and Thursday are the other principal market days, busier than the rest of the week.
On Sunday the market runs from 9am to about 4.30pm, as of November 2026. On Tuesday and Thursday the stalls close a little earlier, around 4pm, and on the other days they keep broadly the same 9am to 4.30pm hours.
Stalls fill Plaza Constitución, the historic main square of Pisac, and the streets around it. Pisac lies in the Sacred Valley, 33 km from the city of Cusco, and the colonial church of San Pedro Apóstol stands on the same square.
Woven goods lead: knitted chullos and coats in alpaca wool, ponchos with Andean patterns, and small looms. Silver jewellery and ornaments, ceramics, flutes and backpacks fill out the rest of the stalls.
Shared colectivo vans and minibuses leave from Calle Puputi in central Cusco as soon as they fill, and take about 45 minutes to an hour. A taxi is quicker, at around 30 minutes. Return colectivos leave from near the bridge on the main road through Pisac until early evening.
Yes, and the day decides the kind of visit. Sunday is the largest and most crowded day, with the most to see, while Tuesday and Thursday keep most of the same craft stalls with far fewer people. Weavers at some stalls work on their pieces in plain view.
If you want Pisac's market at its fullest, go on a Sunday: highland communities trade produce behind the craft stalls, and the mass in Quechua lets out onto the main square.
Woven textiles fill most stalls, and at some of them women sit weaving the pieces on sale. Handmade belts and silver jewellery sit alongside the cloth.
One less common find is natural pigment powder, sold in vivid colours for mixing as watercolour paint.
Sunday changes the scale. Stalls spread over about half the town's streets, and behind the craft section villagers from the highland communities sell sacks of native potatoes, giant white Urubamba corn, quinoa, chuño, herbs and seasonal fruit.
Many sellers that day wear their communities' customary dress. The municipality backs the Sunday trade under the name chacra a la olla, farm to pot, with particular support for women farmers.
Start on the main square and work outward through the side streets, where more stalls continue the market.
Around midday on Sunday, the Quechua mass ends at the church of San Pedro Apóstol on Plaza Constitución. The varayoc, the communities' own authorities, attend it, and the congregation comes out in a procession led by the most traditionally dressed villagers.
For lunch, look for empanadas and bread from the wood-fired clay ovens, the hornos, set around town.
Pisac Ruins sit on the ridge above town. Spend the cool morning up there and come down by midday, or browse first and climb afterwards.
Carry cash in soles, since not all vendors take cards. Bargaining is expected over crafts and opening asks run high, but keep it friendly and settle on a figure that is fair to the seller too.
Much of what is sold as alpaca across the Sacred Valley is acrylic or a blend, so ask what a piece is made of before you pay. Ask before photographing anyone, or their goods.
Bring water and sunscreen: the sun is strong at this height.
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The official pages this guide was checked against.
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