Explore Peru Group Tour

Today the group meets up at your home city’s airport and travel together on an overnight flight bound for Lima, Peru.

Meals as indicated, B=breakfast, L=lunch, D=dinner

Upon arrival into Lima International Airport, you will be met by our representative and private driver and will be transferred to your hotel. Our representative will assist you with check-in procedures and provide you with a detailed itinerary, vouchers covering all the services included in your tour and additional information on the organization of your Peru trip.  You will also receive a contact information sheet with all the hotel details as well as our offices contact information for each city and a 24-hour emergency number.

This afternoon you will visit Pueblo Libre district for a stop at the Larco Museum, an excellent overview of Peru’s ancient past. Tour through the old Hacienda House built upon a pre-Incan sacred site (huaca). It holds the best private collection of pre-Columbian art in the country belonging to Peruvian scholar Don Rafael Larco Hoyle. Hundreds of ceramic, textile, gold, silver and other metal pieces with semiprecious stones are exhibited chronologically. Another attraction of great interest to visitors is the erotic pre-Colombian art exhibition. This museum is one of the few in the world that allows such intimate access to its deposits, around 45,000 pieces.

After the visit you will be transferred to your hotel.

Overnight in Lima.

Meals: B

Get ready for a busy morning, starting with a guided sightseeing tour to the most attractive and important sites in Lima, the “City of Kings”. The tour includes Lima’s Historical Center, passing by Plaza San Martin, Plaza Mayor, the Government Palace, the City Hall, the Cathedral and its Religious Art Museum (closed on Sunday and Saturday pm; Santo Domingo Convent is provided instead on these days) as well as San Francisco Monastery and its famous underground crypts known as the Catacombs.

Finally visit the residential Districts of San Isidro and Miraflores, passing by the Huaca Pucllana, a Ceremonial and Administrative Centre of the Lima Culture built in the II Century A.C. that the Incas considered as “Ñaupallaqta” or Sacred Town. Also visit El Olivar Park with olive trees brought from Spain in the XVth Century, the Central Park of Miraflores and El Parque del Amor, or Peruvian Love Park.

The Love Park, located on the cliffs of Miraflores overlooking the Pacific Ocean, is a beautiful natural lookout, where you can see the waves of the Pacific rolling in towards the coast below and the Morro Solar in Chorrillos at a distance, with the coast extending further along the bay until the port of Callao. This is also the perfect spot for a romantic view of the setting sun in the late afternoon, right in front of you.

Then head to private Hacienda Los Ficus, located in the Valley of Lurin, a place devoted to breeding of the traditional Peruvian Paso Horse. Relax in contact with nature and learn first-hand about the history of this particular type of horse and its characteristics. Admire newborns, horses being trained and adult horses showing off all their qualities in their luxurious “apero” outfits, ridden by our “chalanes” in typical garments. Enjoy the opportunity of riding the smoothest horse in the world and feel the elegant “paso” walk that resembles a dance.

Lunch will be served at the restaurant and you will enjoy typical Peruvian cuisine.

After the visit you will be transferred to your hotel. Dinner is on your own this evening.

Overnight in Lima

Meals: B, L

Your local tour guide will meet you at the hotel lobby at a pre-determined time and transfer you to the Lima Airport to board your flight to Cusco. Our representative will assist you with check-in procedures and all departure formalities.

Flight Lima – Cusco: Many tout this flight path as one of the most spectacular scenic flights to be experienced anywhere in the world. During the course of the flight (which travels from sea level to 11,400 feet) the major glaciated peaks of the Cordillera Vilcabamba and Vilcanota ranges can be seen, surrounded by an agricultural patchwork quilt of tranquil Andean fields and small hamlets (some of which we will explore in the coming days). The approach to Cusco Airport is unique in that it requires the pilot to make a sweeping 180-degree turn to enter the valley, providing a staggering panorama of the Inca city center.

Upon landing in Cusco you are met by an English speaking guide to start your exploration on the way to the Sacred Valley.  The Sacred Valley of the Urubamba is located one hour from Cusco and is significantly lower in elevation, which aids the acclimatization process by allowing our bodies to adjust to the altitude more gradually.

Today you will have the opportunity to visit Awanacancha, an Andean textile center whose key objective is to maintain the wealth of Incan textile art and keep their traditions alive.   Awanacancha means “the palace of weaving” and as its name announces, it is all about textile production. Here we will learn about the dyeing techniques and instruments used for hundreds of years in the weaving of these famous textiles.

You will walk along a thatched roof path and will watch and learn about the four different kinds of South American camelids: Huanaco, Llama, Alpaca and Vicuña.  At the end of the path you will find weavers from over 12 communities from southern Peru who alternate exhibitions of threading, dying and weaving traditional Andean textiles, thus avoiding their identity loss.

Then head to the town of Pisac, famous for its ruins which lie atop a hill at the entrance the valley and separated along the ridge into four groups: P’isaqa, Inti Watana, Q’allaqasa, and Kinchiraqay.  Visit the Inti Watana group which includes the Temple of the Sun, baths, altars, water fountains, a ceremonial platform, and an inti watana – a volcanic ritual stone used as an astronomic clock or Inca calendar to define the change seasons.

The Incas constructed agricultural terraces on the steep hillside by hauling richer topsoil by hand from the lower lands, enabling the production of surplus food, more than would normally be possible at altitudes as high as 11,000 feet. The narrow rows of terraces beneath the citadel are thought to represent the wing of a partridge (pisaca), from which the village and ruins get their name.

Continue to the Pisac Markets, which was the place of reunion for all artisans of the region to get together and exchange or buy and sell their products.  Originally held only on Sundays, but due to the increase of tourism in the area during the XXth century it became increasingly popular to the point that now it is held daily. It is a favorite destination for visitors from all over the world who don’t want to miss the opportunity of enjoying the colorful ambience in this marketplace.  This is an excellent chance to share the peasants’ customs closely with plenty of time to explore and even barter all the goods and crafts typical of the areas around Cusco.  Leisurely roam through the textiles and souvenir sections of the market.

Lunch will be served in a country restaurant.

After the visit concludes you will be transferred to your hotel.

Overnight in the Sacred Valley.

Note: Your luggage will be transferred directly from the airport to your hotel in the Sacred Valley, so we suggest having a day pack with you for essentials needed during the day of touring.

Meals: B, L

Today you will set off in the direction of the Sacred Valley to the town of Chinchero, an authentic Andean village with lots of character, where we will find the colonial church that houses a large collection of painting from the Cusqueñan School of Art. Chinchero is well known for its continuing tradition as a commercial town and on Sundays the townsfolk gather in the main square to trade their products in a bartering system.

Next, continue your journey through the Sacred Valley of the Incas, to the salt fields of Maras and its seemingly never-ending terraces, where salt extracted from springs is stored.  Although these waters have been used for centuries, even before the time of the Incas, Maras was founded by the Spanish in 1556.  It supplied salt to the southern highlands during the viceroyalty, so it was an important town.  The use of Maras Salt dates back thousands of years and is inherited from generation to generation and managed communally. It is produced naturally in about 5,000 pools of approximately 5 square meters each forming different levels of terraces, nourished by salty water from a creek that permeates the pools and then evaporated by the intense sun, forming thick crystals. They are extracted once a month, as soon as they have reached a height of 10 cm.  It is impressive to see the variety of colors created by the reflection of the sun’s rays in this field of salt deposits, and to learn about the Incas striking ability to generate resources.

Continue your excursion to admire the Moray terraces, believed to be a former gigantic agricultural laboratory, an astronomical observatory or a place of worship, or maybe all three.  It is thought that Moray was used for plant adaptation to new climatic environments thanks to its circular terraces in immense cone-shaped depressions of 47 to 84 m that resemble giant fingerprints or contour lines. These create a series of microclimates at the different heights of the terraces, which enabled the Incas to experimentally improve a great variety of crops.  Today, it is an evidence of the high level of agricultural knowledge they reached.

Picnic Lunch will be served in the middle of the Sacred Valley

After the tour you will be transferred back to your hotel.

Overnight in the Sacred Valley.

Meals: B, L

Today you will set off to the Inca fortress and citadel of Ollantaytambo. This site was built just as the Spaniards arrived and evidence of how it was constructed is still visible.  This fortress was believed to be constructed in order to guard the entrance to this part of the valley and protect it from possible invasions of tribes from the jungle lowlands.  Later it served as a temporary capital for Manco Inca, leader of the Inca resistance in 1537 during the Spanish conquest of Perú, who fortified the town to stop the advance, as Cusco had fallen under Spanish domination.

Ollantaytambo also features the vestiges of the town built by orders of Inca Pachacutec and thought to be not only a strategic military place to control the Sacred Valley of the Incas, but also for agricultural and religious purposes.  Additionally, this place is a ceremonial center dedicated to the purification and worship of water with 150 steps built with perfectly carved stones, very similar to those of Tipon.  The archaeological site includes a series of superimposed terraces and stunning finely carved stone blocks located on the upper terrace or Temple of the Sun.  The main settlement has an orthogonal layout with four streets crossed by other seven parallel streets and at the center the Incas built a large plaza about the size of four blocks.

The town of Ollantaytambo is referred to as a “Live Inca Town” because inhabitants still live according to customs and traditions inherited from their ancestors.  Take a journey in time through its straight streets with perfectly laid stones that feature a canal for water to run through the town.

Continue through the Sacred Valley for a stop at Pablo Seminario’s Ceramic Workshop, where you will observe creations in progress and with luck maybe even meet the own artist Pablo Seminario as he mainly works in his studio year round.  He dedicates his life to the discovery of techniques and designs from ancient Peruvian cultures and every production of his studio presents a new art expression, providing continuity to these cultural inheritances.  In his atelier, Pablo Seminario works on the drafts of winged men and magic creatures with crowned heads and round eyes, which resemble traditional pre-Inca pieces. Inside the working rooms, a group of artisans trained by the family draw and paint cups, vases, and lamps with great accuracy and skill by using long brushes submerged in colored paints.   At the end of your visit you will have the opportunity to take a look at the exhibition shop and why not maybe even buy one of their unique pieces.

After the tour you will be transferred back to your hotel.

Overnight in the Sacred Valley.

Meals: B, L

Morning transfer to the train station for an amazing train journey to the famous Inca Citadel of Machu Picchu, the great mountain-top city abandoned by the Inca Empire, reclaimed by the jungle and lost to humanity until its rediscovery in 1911. Along the way you will enjoy the changing landscape as you travel from Andean highlands to the beginnings of the jungle (“eyebrow of the jungle”), before finally arriving at the town of Aguas Calientes.

From here, board the bus that will take you on a 20 minute ride up to the citadel of Machu Picchu, or Lost City of the Incas, which sits upon the summit bearing the same name, and is one of the most representative and recognized examples of Incan architecture. A guided tour of the Citadel includes the Main Plaza, the Circular Tower, the Sacred Sun Dial, the Royal Quarters, the Temple of the Three Windows and various burial grounds.

The legendary ‘Lost City’ is without a doubt one of the world’s most impressive archaeological sites. Built by the Incas on the summit of “Machu Picchu” (old peak), overlooking the deep canyon of the Urubamba river in a semi-tropical area 120 Kms (75 miles) from the city of Cusco at 3,400 m.a.s.l (11,155 f.a.s.l). It sits on a mountain site of extraordinary beauty, in the middle of a tropical mountain forest; Machu Picchu was probably the most amazing urban creation of the Inca Empire at its height, with its giant walls, terraces and ramps, which appear as though they have been cut naturally in the continuous rock escarpments. Machu Picchu is also one of the Inca’s best kept secrets, since they did not leave written records and Spanish chronicles make no mention of the citadel, it remains a mystery.

Buffet Lunch will be served at Sanctuary lodge hotel – Tinkuy restaurant

Dinner and overnight in Aguas Calientes town

Meals: B, L, D

This morning you have the opportunity to do an optional activity at Machu Picchu (extra cost), should you wish to do so. Or, you can choose to look around the town or just relax and watch the world go by.

Option 1: Hike to Inti Punku, or Sun Gate, original gateway into Machu Picchu when approaching the site along the Inca Trail. Inti Punku is the first point in the Inca Trail where the ruins of Machu Picchu are visible. (Approximate total time for this excursion is 2.5 hours: 75 minutes to get there, and 75 minutes to return). Views of the site and surrounding landscape along the route are superb.

Option 2: Hike up to Huayna Picchu, the mountain behind Machu Picchu. This hike is strenuous and recommended only for travelers comfortable with heights and who have a good fitness level. A fair amount of climbing is required. Get fabulous views of Machu Picchu from the top. Total time for this excursion is 2.5 hours. You may want to extend your hike and go to the Moon Temple as well, which is close to Huayna Picchu. This adds an extra hour total to this excursion. Total time for the Huanya Picchu visit, including the Moon Temple is 3.5 hours. (This hike requires advanced reservations.)

Option 3: Take a 45-minute hike along a narrow Inca road that leads to an ancient stone bridge.

In the afternoon, take the shuttle bus to Aguas Calientes and then board your return train.  Upon arrival at the train station you will be met by our representative and private driver who will transfer you to the hotel.

Overnight in Cusco.

Meals: B

Today you will visit Cusco City’s surrounding ruins: the Sacsayhuaman Fortress – a ceremonial compound and magnificent example of Inca military power that boasts a panoramic view of the city, the Qenqo Amphitheater – a ritualistic site with subterranean galleries that form an underground maze, Puca Pucara or red fortress and, the Inca Baths of Tambomachay. After the tour you will be transferred to your hotel for check in.

This afternoon you’ll enjoy a guided sightseeing tour of Cusco, the Imperial City and archaeological capital of South America, where you will be able to admire the finest examples of Inca history and architecture. Visit the city’s most important historical monuments that reveal the influence of different cultures: the Plaza de Armas, the Cathedral dating from Spanish viceroyalty times, built with great slabs of red granite renaissance style in contrast with the baroque style silverwork of its interior and, the Santo Domingo church built upon the foundations of the Inca temple Koricancha, dedicated to worship the Sun God.

The tour continues with a visit to the San Pedro Market, a typical Mercado, and a popular place for locals to eat a hot meal or fresh juice. They offer almost all the regional produce from fruits, vegetables and meats to hand-woven sweaters other clothes and crafts.

After the visit you will be transferred to your hotel.  Tonight we have a farewell dinner at a local restaurant including a folkloric show.

Overnight in Cusco.

Meals: B, D

After breakfast at the hotel the group will be transferred to Cusco airport to catch your flight back to Lima and on to your home city.

Alternatively, there is the option to extend the group tour by adding on a 3 day/2 night program to the Reserva Amazonica Lodge.

Day 1: Fly from Cusco to Puerto Maldonado. Visit the Inkaterra Butterfly House near the airport, check-in for your boat tour, then proceed to the wharf to board the boat. Begin to experience the enchantment of the rainforest, as you take a 45-minute boat ride along the MadredeDios River to arrive at Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica lodge. After a short briefing, settle into your beautiful cabaña and enjoy your lunch in the dining room. Take a siesta, share a refreshing tea time and get ready for the afternoon excursion.

Gather at the Eco Center where your Inkaterra Interpreter will present all available excursions offered at the Inkaterra lodge. On your first day, we recommend a guided walk along the Trail system, into the Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica natural area, where you will discover the Amazon Basin. This trail offers an excellent introduction to the forest environment, winding past impressive trees such as the Shihuahuaco, and the strangely beautiful strangler fig, offering excellent opportunities for bird watching and observing exotic insects. We also recommend on the first night the Twilight River excursion — a guided afternoon boat ride on the Madrede Dios river. Witness the transformation from a diurnal to a nocturnal world: animals and birds of the daytime give way to species specially adapted to the night. As you enjoy their paradise, you will learn about their habits, while you search for nightjars, owls, capybaras and big caimans.

Enjoy the dinner, served in the main dining room from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. After dinner, you may retire early to your own cabaña, or join us to talk about the experience of life in the rainforest, as you listen to the intriguing sounds of the jungle at night.

Day 2: Rise early or rest in bed – the choice is yours. Breakfast begins at 5:30 a.m., for those who want to avoid the heat and enjoy nature at its fullest. A full buffet breakfast is served from 7 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. This morning you may take the Lake Sandoval excursion into the Tambopata National Reserve. Glide in a wooden canoe, across a beautiful, mirror-like oxbow lake that is home to the endangered giant river otter, as well as red howler monkeys, red-bellied macaws, anacondas, side-neck turtles and black caimans. Return to the Inkaterra lodge for lunch.

After lunch, consider visit the remarkable Inkaterra Canopy Walkway and Anaconda Walk. Ascending the first tower, 29 meters above the forest ground, you begin your encounter with the treetop realm. For more than a quarter of a mile, you will literally walk through the rainforest canopy on a suspension bridge network linking eight observation platforms. During this hour-and-a-half expedition, be on the lookout for bright toucans, woodpeckers, trogons, monkeys and the three-toed sloth. If you wish you may extend your excursion and appreciate the sunset from one of the towers. After your descent from the Canopy, experience the Anaconda Walk for about 30 minutes along the 200-meter wooden bridge over the Aguajales swamps. In this lush eco-system, you may observe the various species of amphibians, birds, mammals, abundant flora, trees and there is a possibility to see serpents of this flooded marshland. The walk finishes by returning to the lodge. Once at the lodge, enjoy the daily nature presentation in the Eco Center. Dinner starts at 7:30 p.m.

Day 3: Enjoy a full breakfast before departure.  A 45-minute return trip by boat on the Madre deDios River takes you to Puerto Maldonado, where you may visit the Inkaterra Butterfly House. Peru boasts the greatest variety of butterflies in the world, with 3,700 known species. Many of these can be seen at the Butterfly House, a showcase for the variety, beauty and adaptability of these fascinating insects. 

You’ll fly from Puerto Maldonado to Lima. Upon arrival into Lima International Airport, you will be met by our representative who will assist you with check-in procedures and any departure formalities for your flight back to your home city.