Best of Peru
Programme Overview
Duration: 12 days
Ideal for first time visitors to Peru, this programme visits many of the country's highlights including Colca Canyon, Lake Titicaca and Machu Picchu.
Highlights: Lima, Arequipa, Colca Canyon, Juliaca, Puno, Cusco, Urubamba, Machu Picchu.
Arrive Lima
Evening arrival at Lima International Airport, you will be met and transferred to your hotel.
The city of Lima was founded by the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro on January 5, 1535, the eve of the Epiphany of the Magi – from which it derived its evocative original name of La Ciudad de los Reyes or “The City of Kings”. It is a city of rare fascination and unexpected pleasures. Lima has decaying colonial splendour and the teeming vitality of an oriental bazaar; melancholy cloudy winters and warm breezy summers; impoverished urban sprawl and quiet elegant corners among ancient buildings where the night air is scented with jasmine.
Overnight: Miraflores Park Hotel
Lima - Arequipa - Colca Canyon
In the morning, you will be transferred to the airport for your flight to Arequipa. On arrival in Arequipa you will be met and transferred by private vehicle on a scenic drive to Colca, approximately four hours outside Arequipa. A winding road leaves the city, finally arriving at one of the most beautiful places on earth: the Colca Canyon. Local geologists claim that Colca, with chasms that can measure up to 11,000 feet top to bottom, is the world’s deepest canyon.
The valley has beautiful pre-Columbian terraces that are still farmed by native collaguas.
Rest of the afternoon is at your leisure, there are many different activities available at your hotel.
Overnight: Casitas del Colca
Meal Plan: B,L,D
Colca Canyon
Today choose between the different activities offered by the hotel.
OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES
Sport Fishing
Duration: 2 to 3 hours
Start: 7 am
Difficulty: moderate
Trail Horse Riding
Start: 3 hours
Beginning: 9 am / 2 pm
Bicycle tour
Beginning: 10 am / 2 pm
Duration: 2 hours
Long Walks
Beginning: optional
Duration: according to the chosen option
Options: Walk to Sifon, by the short cut to Yanque (2 hours max) or to Uyu Uyu (3 hours max).
Difficulty: easy
INDOOR ACTIVITIES
Cooking classes
Beginning: after lunch
Duration: approx 1 hour
Gift: An apron and a pack of 250 grams of quinine
Feeding the young alpacas
Beginning: 7 am / 1 pm / 5 pm
Duration: between 15 to 20 minutes
Painting
Beginning: up to you
Duration: up to you
Visit to the Vegetable Garden
Beginning: any time
Duration: 30 minutes approx
Overnight: Casitas del Colca
Meal Plan: B,L,D
Colca Canyon - Arequipa
Early this morning depart for the Condor Cross, a location at which you will have an opportunity to observe these magnificent birds gliding over the canyon and around mountain peaks.
Midmorning, transfer back to Arequipa. Box Lunch included.
Afternoon visit Arequipa’s main square, Cathedral and Santa Catalina's Monastery, the most important and impressive religious monument of Peru. Founded in 1579 it was closed until 1970. Arequipa's narrow streets, gardens and squares have Spanish names and are reminsicent of the old neighbourhoods of Granada and Sevilla.
Overnight: Libertador Arequipa Hotel
Meal Plan: B,L
Arequipa - Juliaca - Puno
This morning you will be transferred to the airport for your flight to Juliaca. Upon your arrival in Juliaca, you will be met and transferred to your hotel in Puno.
On the way, visit the mysterious pre-Inca cemetery at Sillustani. Sillustani’s circular burial towers or chullpas overlook Lake Umayo. It is believed that the chullpas were used as burial chambers for the nobles of the Colla civilisation.
Rest of the day will be at your leisure.
Overnight: Libertador Puno Hotel
Meal Plan: B
Puno
Today you have a full day excursion to Lake Titicaca. Lake Titicaca, at 3820 metres, is the highest navigable lake in the world. At over 170 kilometres long, it is also the largest lake in South America. Its altitude means the air is unusually clear and the azure waters particularly striking.
Sightseeing on the islands of Uros and Taquile are followed by lunch at a local restaurant in Taquile. The floating islands of the Uros, a small tribe (now intermarried, so pure-blooded Uros no longer exist), is an interesting excursion. The islands themselves are constructed from the tortura reed found in abundance in Lake Titicaca. The Uros' homes and boats are also made of tortura, and their entire lives revolve around their famed reed-weaving.
On the island of Taquile inhabitants dress in homemade traditional colourful clothing - men in elegant waistcoats and floppy knit caps, women in layered skirts and embroidered blouses. Quechua is their language and they maintain a very individual and independent lifestyle. This beautiful island setting holds several terraced hillsides of Inca ruins which you are free to explore.
Overnight: Libertador Puno Hotel
Meal Plan: B,L
Puno - Juliaca - Cusco
Early morning transfer to the airport for your flight to Cusco. Upon arrival in Cusco you will be met and transferred to your hotel.
After a light lunch at the hotel, enjoy a city tour which includes the Cathedral on the Plaza de Armas and the Santo Domingo Temple, a Dominican Church and convent built on the foundations of the Koricancha or "place of gold", the Incas principal religious building dedicated to the worhsip of the sun.
Just outside of Cusco, your visit this afternoon takes you to the ruins of Sacsayhuaman, a testimonial to Incan architectural skills. Compiled of massive stones (one weighs 125 tons) you are challenged to try to slip a piece of paper between the cracks of these blocks, cut and fitted together with incredible precision without a single drop of mortar to hold them in place. This ancient fortress, where the greatest battle between the Spanish and Incas took place, overlooks the red-tiled roofs of Cusco and the spectacular lush countryside. Also visit Qenqo (“The Labyrinth”), an Incan shrine dedicated to the Earth Mother.
Overnight: Monasterio Cusco Hotel
Meal Plan: B,L
Cusco - Urubamba
Today you will enjoy a full day tour with guide to the market of Chincheros, a town of Inca origin. Its church was one of the most important colonial era churches with Baroque altars and walls with richly painted scenes. Its Sunday fair draws country folk once a week from all corners of the valley to exchange their products.
You will stop for a delicious lunch in the charming Hacienda Huayocari, where the Lambarri-Orihuelas family will be your hosts. You will be able to see their valuable collection of Colonial and folk art. Located on the summit of a hill sheltered amidst Andean peaks, you will find from here one of the finest views of the Sacred Valley of the Incas.
After lunch, continue on to the massive fortress of Ollantaytambo. A formidable stone structure that climbs massive terraces to the top of a peak, this was the valley’s main defence against the Antis and was the site of the Incas’ greatest victory against the Spanish during the wars of conquest. Constructed of rose-coloured granite, this huge installation was once a thriving complex of baths, temples and military barracks. Below the fortress lies a complete Incan town, also called Ollantaytambo, still inhabited and with its original architecture and layout preserved.
Overnight: Sol y Luna Hotel
Meal Plan: B,L
Urubamba - Machu Picchu
This morning you board your train bound for Machu Picchu where a late morning arrival gives you time to begin your explorations of this breathtaking Incan citadel.
Accompanied by your guide, explore the city's ruins, and feel its pulse as you visualise the lives of the priests, craftsmen and servants who inhabited this seemingly uninhabitable citadel. Excavations at the site have revealed skeletons, artifacts and woolen clothing, but no gold. The same precision of assembled stones exists here as in other Incan sites. Overlooking the raging Urubamba River and discovered in a hidden tangle of vines and trees atop the mountain, the city of Machu Picchu will forever hold its secret of its destruction - the Incas left no written record.
While in Machu Picchu you will be accommodated at the Machu Picchu Santuary Lodge which enjoys a unique position at the entrance of the Inca Citadel ruins, at 8,200 feet above sea level.
Overnight: Macchu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge
Meal Plan: B,L,D
Machu Picchu - Cusco
The morning you may rise early to enjoy a walk through Machu Picchu at sunrise, something which many consider to be the highlight of a visit to Machu Picchu.
This morning you have the opportunity to take one of two famous hikes with your guide. The first is to Inti Punku, or Sun Gate, which is the entry point to Machu Picchu on the Inca Trail and offers excellent views of the ruins, (approx 2 hours). The second is the chance to hike up the Huayna Picchu – the highest mountain which is actually part of the ruins, from where you are afforded excellent views of the surrounding area, as well as a unique view of the famous "lost city", (approx 2.5 hours).
Afternoon you will board your train to Cusco, where a representative will be waiting to transfer you to your hotel.
Overnight: Monasterio Cusco Hotel
Meal Plan: B,L
Cusco - Lima
This morning you will be transferred to the airport for your flight to Lima, upon arrival in Lima you will be met and escorted to your hotel.
This afternoon you embark on a city tour beginning with a visit to Plaza Mayor, the official centre of the city and the original site on which Lima was founded. Continue on to the historic Cathedral, built in 1534 and an architectural marvel. From the Cathedral, you walk past the Presidential Palace where the soldiers guarding the palace offer an excellent photo opportunity, then onto the church of San Francisco and its library collection of fine paintings and frescoes. From the historic centre, you travel through modern Lima and visit the fascinating Archaeological Museum, showcasing the progression of Peru’s various early civilisations from the Chavin in 1200 BC to the Incas.
Overnight: Miraflores Park Hotel
Meal Plan: B