Machu Picchu is located in southern Peru, in the Machupicchu District within the Urubamba Province of the Cusco region. It sits on a mountain ridge in the Eastern Cordillera of the Andes at an altitude of about 2,430 meters (7,970 feet) above sea level. The site is approximately 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of the city of Cusco, above the Sacred Valley, near the Urubamba River which flows through a canyon below the citadel
. It lies between the peaks of Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu mountains and is surrounded by subtropical mountain rainforest. The location is strategically protected by steep cliffs on three sides and is part of the Vilcanota mountain range in the Peruvian Andes
