Transfer Lima Airport / Hotel (private)
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.
Lima (B/L/-)
AM: Half day Huariques & Bikes through Miraflores and Barranco
This gastronomic experience will take us on an approximately 4.5-hour urban bike tour through the districts of Miraflores and Barranco. Accompanied by a professional guide, we'll visit various "huariques," small traditional restaurants where we'll savor dishes like fish ceviche, causa rellena, and lomo saltado. We'll enjoy a refreshing chicha morada and finish with local desserts such as picarones or artisanal ice cream.
Visit to the Larco Museum (private)
We enjoy a visit to the Larco Museum, for an excellent overview of Peru's ancient past as it holds the best private collection of pre-Columbian art in the country. We have the chance to tour through this old Hacienda House in the Pueblo Libre district, which was built upon a pre-Incan sacred site (huaca), housing the private collection of a great Peruvian scholar: Don Rafael Larco Hoyle. The museum chronologically exhibits hundreds of ceramics, textile, metal, and precious stone pieces and inside you will find the vault which safeguards precious pieces of gold and silver with semiprecious stones. The Larco Museum is one of the few museums in the world that allows such intimate access to its deposits, in this case around 45,000 pieces. Another attraction of the museum and of great interest to visitors is the exhibition of erotic pre-Colombian art. After the visit you will be driven to your hotel. After the visit you are driven to the hotel.
Lima / Paracas (B/-/-)
Private transportation Lima / Paracas
(Distance Lima – Paracas: 261 Km / 162.18 miles)
(Altitude Paracas: 5 masl)
We depart by private transportation and private guide to Paracas. A lunar-like landscape meets the ocean at Paracas, a small beach town on the Paracas peninsula in southern Peru. Stark cliffs drop into the ocean and rugged promontories jut out to sea, offering a beachfront residence to the flocks of marine birds in the area.
We arrive in Paracas and transfer to the hotel.
PM: Magical Sunset in Paracas
At the appropriate time, our representative will meet you at the lobby hotel in Paracas and transfer you to the camp at km. 253 of the Panamericana Sur, where we will board the tubulars to enter the desert before sunset. We will take a tour through the beautiful dunes until we reach the camp equipped located in a high area of a dune, with a panoramic view of the desert. Once there we will offer wine or champagne, accompanied by a few snacks of dried fruits, soft drinks, and juices. We will appreciate a beautiful sunset while enjoying a musical background.
After the experience we return to the hotel.
Paracas / Lima (B/-/-)
AM: Half day Ballestas Island Tour (shared)
Discover the Ballestas Islands, home to peculiar and diverse coastal fauna from a luxury yacht. This two-hour journey takes us around several small islands while hearing location cries from sea lions, spotting Humboldt penguins and a wide variety of guano birds. On the way to the islands, you will be able to appreciate the magnificence of the “Candelabro” (the Candlestick), an enormous and mysterious geoglyph carved on the desert soil, making this a morning of archeological and natural history discovery.
Overflight of the Nazca Lines (shared)
At the proper time, transfer to Pisco Airport from your hotel for approximately 20 minutes. Take-off at the designated time subject to variation according to the appropriate weather conditions and begin your overflight of the Nazca Lines (approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes). Along the way, we will see part of the 355,000 protected hectares of the Paracas Natural Reserve and from the plane you will be able to see these giant figures, which were created with an impressive precision about 1500 years ago.
Many theories exist about the origin of these lines and some even hold UFOs accountable for their creation. The only fact that we are sure about is that you can only see the famous figures of the ape, the astronaut, or the whale, amongst many others, from the air. Some figures to watch for are the whale, the condor, the hummingbird, the spider, the hands, the dog, and the extra-terrestrial.
In the decade of the 40's a German lady, María Reiche, settled in the area and devoted her life to studying these lines and their figures. She developed the theory that they were a form of calendar outlining diverse astrological signs and that they were built for the purpose of religious enlightenment by the Paracas-Nazca civilization more than 2000 years ago.
Private transfer back from Paracas to Lima
(Distance Paracas - Lima: 246 Km.)
(Altitude Lima: 1,548 m.a.s.l)
At the appropriate time, we will travel by private transportation and private guide to the City of Lima for approximately 4 hours along the Desert and the Panamerican Highway.
Upon arrival in Lima, you will be transferred to your hotel.
Lima / Cusco / Sacred Valley (B/L/-)
Transfer Hotel / Lima Airport (private)
At the appropriate time, our representative will meet you at the hotel lobby and transfer you to the Lima Airport to board your next flight. Our representative will assist you with check-in procedures and all departure formalities.
Transfer Cusco Airport / Sacred Valley including visits to Sacsayhuaman & Pisac ruins en route (private)
Upon arrival into Cusco International Airport, you will be met by our representative and private driver and will be transferred to your hotel in the Sacred Valley. Our representative will assist you with the corresponding check-in procedures.
En route to the Sacred Valley, you will have the opportunity to visit the Sacsayhuaman Fortress, a ceremonial compound and magnificent example of Inca military power that boasts a panoramic view of the city. Then, we head to the town of Pisac, famous for its ruins which lie atop a hill at the entrance to the. Here, we 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.
Lunch a la carte at Hacienda Huayoccari Restaurant
Hacienda Huayoccari opens its doors in a unique and privileged place in the Sacred Valley, surrounded by green areas and beautiful gardens with vegetables, flowers and trees. It has an admirable collection of Peruvian art, housed in different rooms according to era: pre-Incan, Incan, Viceregal and Republican, which you will be able to appreciate before lunch.
After lunch we transfer to the hotel.
Sacred Valley (B/L/-)
Via Ferrata & Zip Line including lunch at Skylodge (shared)
Experience the adventure in the Sacred Valley with a unique combination of two exciting activities. First, we will climb 400 meters via the Via Ferrata to reach a suspension bridge, where we can enjoy box lunch with an amazing view from the circuit's highest point. Then, descend the mountain using 6 zipwires, covering a total of 2400 meters in an unforgettable experience. The entire circuit takes approximately 4 to 5 hours.
Ollantaytambo Fortress (private)
Today we will visit the Inca fortress and citadel of Ollantaytambo. This fortress was believed to be constructed 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 fell 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. 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. After the tour we return to the hotel.
Sacred Valley (B/L/-)
Full day Rafting and Andean horseback riding (private)
Our guides will be ready with all the gear at our river starting site in Pachar, the Sacred Valley of the Incas, for the group's arrival at 9:30 am. In addition to receiving rafting gear and a safety briefing, this location has restrooms and changing rooms. After a brief practice on the calm sections of the river, we will begin our adventure on gentle waters, enjoying breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains and archaeological sites. We will then pass by Ollantaytambo and its spectacular Inca terraces. Throughout this stretch, we will encounter class 2-3 rapids, culminating in "El Resbaladero," a powerful class 3 rapid with waves and small whirlpools. Finally, we will arrive at the village of Cachiccata, which is our river take-out point.
Transfer you to the Inca bridge in Ollantaytambo. Here, our horses will be waiting, ready to take us on an adventure. We will cross the majestic Urubamba River, allowing us to appreciate the impressive beauty of the surrounding snow-capped mountains, ancient agricultural terraces, and even an ancestral Inca trail, a testament to the region's rich history. We will continue our horseback ride until we reach the village of Cachiccata, where our journey will come to an end. Finally, we will transfer you back to your hotel.
Sacred Valley - MachuPiccu (B/L/D)
2D/1N Inca Trail to Machu Picchu - Day 1 (private)
We pick up from your hotel early morning and taken to Ollantaytambo station, from where we take a train ride to Chachabamba in Km 104, the starting point of your hike. We pass through the Chachabamba arqueological remains. The style of buildings and stonework suggest that this used to be an important religious site, as well as having the secondary function, as a gate house guarding entrance to Machu Picchu- From there you will enjoy the view of the majestic Urubamba valley. After a few hours of walking through the ancient inca steps we arrive at Wiñayhuayna at lunch time, this is an archeological complex which consists of two constructions united by stairways, from where we see some of the terraces used for his agriculture activities. This is one of the most fascinating Inca constructions found in Cusco.
After lunch, we continue our hike to Intipunku or Sun Gate. Inti Punku is one of the most important archeological constructions around the Machu Picchu site. It was once the main entrance to the citadel, it was the primary approach from the then capitol city of Cusco to the southeast. Inti Punku is dedicated to the cult of the Inti, the Sun god. Because of its location on a ridge southeast of Machu Picchu, the rising sun would pass through the Sun Gate each year on the summer solstice. From this point we have an amazing view of the citadel and time for resting and taking photos. After the Inti Punku, we hike down to the Machu Picchu entrance where we take the bus to Aguas Calientes and rest for the visit next day.
Machu Picchu - Cusco (B/L/-)
2D/1N Inca Trail to Machu Picchu - Day 2 (private)
We pick up from your hotel in the morning and taken to the bus station where we take the bus up to Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Incas, was rediscovered on 24 July 1911 by American historian Hiram Bingham. It is spectacularly nestled 2430m above sea level in the Andean mountain range and many questions remain unanswered as to how it came to be there. It is generally thought that the ancient city was probably built around 1450, at around the height of the Inca Empire.
No one knows what the real purpose of Machu Picchu was; some speculate it was a prison and some say it was a defensive retreat, but the most common belief is that Machu Picchu was the estate of an Inca emperor. Much of the wonder of Machu Picchu is how the massive stones could have been hauled the great distances to the site and then be cut with such precision that they fitted together without need for cement, and then remain standing for so long. After the visit, lunch will be served either at Sanctuary Lodge or Aguas Calientes. The afternoon is free to visit the town of Aguas Calientes and in the late afternoon, we take a train ride to Ollantaytambo and the back to Cusco.
Cusco (B/-/-)
Half day Cusco Walking City tour including San Blas (private)
Today we will enjoy a guided walking tour of Cusco, the imperial City, where you will admire the finest examples of Inca history and architecture, and discover the archaeological capital of South America, a city of stone streets. 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, and the Santo Domingo church built upon the foundations of the Inca Temple Koricancha, dedicated to worship the Sun God.
Then, we head to the district of San Blas, with its winding streets and whitewashed houses with blue balconies. This bohemian neighborhood is full of artisan workshops where we can find everything from ceramics to sculptures, to textiles and, if we are lucky, even find the artists themselves working on new creations.
After the tour we return to the hotel.
Cusco / Puno (B/L/-)
Altiplano Path from Cusco to Puno including en route stops and picnic lunch (private)
This amazing land journey begins with an early departure from Cusco to the City of Puno located south at 3860 masl (12,664 feet), by private luxury transportation and guide. During this full day adventure, we pass through breathtaking landscapes and discover the imposing Andes Mountains in style. After approximately 2 hours, our first stop will at the Archaeological Complex of Raqchi, dating from the 15th Century, considered among the most audacious works of engineering built by the Inca Pachacutec and dedicated to Wiracocha, the great Inca God of the Sun.
We continue this excursion heading towards La Raya Pass, located at an altitude of 4,338m (14,232ft), the highest point of our escapade and the border line between the Cusco and Puno Regions. We make a quick stop here to admire the snowcapped mountains and take pictures of grazing wild llamas and alpacas to then, begin descending until reaching Tinajani, an amazing canyon formed by large rock formations where we will savor a delicious picnic lunch.
We end the day with a visit to the Town of Pucara, located at 3,900m (12,795 ft), well known for its earth-colored pottery and the famous Pucara bulls perched on the roofs of most Andean house as protection and prosperity for their homes, families, and livestock. Finally, we reach Puno, Cradle of the Inca Empire, and festive city, with floating islands, colorful folk tradition, and home to Lake Titicaca.
Puno (B/L/-)
Full day visit to Llachon Village, Kayaks & Taquile and Uros Island including lunch (private - regular boat)
Today we head to the western shores of Lake Titicaca to visit the Village of Llachon located on the Capachica Peninsula, a place where time has stopped, where we appreciate the customs and experiences of a local community. Enjoy an exciting active excursion sailing on Kayaks along the banks of the lake (approximately 1 hour) contemplating the authentic villages, farms and tutelary hills of the peninsula and nearby islands.
We continue our motorboat trip to Taquile Island, inhabited by Quechua-speaking natives who have developed efficient and unique social systems, as well as fine hand weaving techniques, passed down through the generations. Upon arrival at the Town of Taquile we take our lunch. After lunch, we take a walk through the various hills and archaeological sites of this 6 km long Island. End our day with a visit to the unique "Floating Islands" of the Uros. These ancient inhabitants of the lake known as the Water Tribe have built their own islands by periodically adding new layers of a vegetable fiber of the Papyrus family called "Totora" (Scirpus totora), which is unique to the area.
After the tour transfer to the hotel
Puno / … (B/-/-)
Transfer Lake Hotels / Juliaca Airport (private)
At the appropriate time, our representative will meet you at the hotel lobby and transfer you to the Juliaca Airport to fly to your next destination. Our representative will assist you with the corresponding check-in procedures and all departure formalities.
