It covers the majority of the most visited places in Peru in a order that allows passengers to acclimatize well to changes in altitude and therefore fully enjoy their vacation time. Our Total Peru vacation is a comprehensive visit to the main Southern Peruvian attractions starting and ending in Lima, the City of Kings, from Lima we visit the amazing Nazca Lines before passing onto the beautiful city of Arequipa with its amazing convent and out to the Colca Canyon for Condor and Vicuna spotting. After visiting Colca, the deepest canyon in the world, the tour continues onto Puno and Lake Titicaca with a day spent exploring the islands. The next stop is the ancient Inca capital of Cusco, the Sacred Valley and then the jewel in the crown, Machu Picchu. After all this you visit the immense Amazon Jungle. This is superb trip visiting some fantastic places in a relatively short space of time.
Included Highlights:
- Lima "City of Kings"
- Arequipa, "The White City"
- Colca Canyon
- Puno
- Lake Titicaca
- Cusco "Navel of the Inca Empire"
- Machu Picchu "Wonder of the World"
- Sacred Valley "Inca Garden and Playground"
- Amazon Jungle "Rain forest Adventure"
Tour Itinerary:
Day 1: Arrive Lima. Arrive in Lima at any time. Your transfer driver will pick you up and take you to the hotel. There are no planned activities to do today so you can check into our hotel and enjoy the city. Your Escaped to Peru local representative will talk to you about your arrangements for the following day and a notice will be posted in the arrival hotel with details too. If you wish to have a Lima City Tour you can ask reception to arrange that for you if you have time before we all meet.
Known as the City of Kings, Perus capital city Lima was founded by Francisco Pizarro on the Day of the Three Kings (Epiphany) in 1535. The Plaza de Armas is the heart of old Lima, and it is here you find the Cathedral, Government Palace and Archbishops Palace. The Cathedral dates back to the 1700s and houses the remains of the conquistador Pizarro. To get a feel for colonial Lima, you could take a cab to the Plaza de Armas and watch the changing of the Palace Guard in the afternoon.
Walk the streets surrounding the Jirón de la Unión for great examples of Spanish-colonial architecture and to get a taste for life in a large South American city. An optional city tour visits many of the city highlights, feel free to speak to us about this.
There are many fine museums in and around the city, including the Museo Rafael Larco Herrera, which houses an equally impressive collection of pottery, mummies and textiles from the Paracas and Nazca cultures. The more affluent districts of Miraflores, Barranco and San Isidro, which are on the coast, offer good nightlife and cafés all within walking distance. Seafood lovers in particular should be sure to try a ceviche, for which Lima is well known.
Day 2: Arequipa. This morning you go back to the airport and take a short flight to the city of Arequipa (2350). This a really lovely city with several good things to see and do, the most spectacular of which is the Santa Catalina Convent and the mummies museum is very interesting too. You can spend your day sightseeing and enjoying the sun before going out to eat.
Day 3: Colca Canyon. Today you travel through a national reserve in our private transport with your expert guide looking for the vicuña. This animal, belonging to the camel family, has the most expensive wool in the world and is highly protected and very shy. We then carry on into the Colca Valley enjoying fantastic views of snow capped volcanoes. You pass through the highest point of the trip, 5000m. Your home for the next 2 nights is a lovely lodge in the valley in one of the small villages there (3600m). You may also have a short walk to an ancient graveyard.
Day 4: Colca Canyon. Today is an early start as you travel with your local guide to see the biggest land-living bird, the condor. Normally (no guarantee) there are several of these majestic birds circling on the thermals near to the Condor Cross at the mouth of the canyon. From there you may do a short hike or visit some villages depending upon your preferences and your guides advice. After returning to the lodge for a late lunch you go to the thermal springs which are very relaxing indeed.
Day 5: Puno. Today you travel to Puno in a private bus or small van. The journey is very scenic as you climb gradually to reach the high Peruvian plain, the Altiplano. The journey will take most of the day and arrival on the shores of Lake Titicaca will be at around 3.30pm. You will have time to rest, use the internet, have a look around the town etc. before going out for the evening and discuss the plans for the island visit.
Days 6-7: Lake Titicaca. After breakfast the day starts with a transfer to the port to meet your local guide and board the boat taking you out onto the lake. During today and tomorrow you will visit the Uros floating islands, Taquile Island and spend the night on Amantani Island. The order of the visits will depend upon your local guide and conditions on the sixth biggest and highest navigable lake in the world. Your lake tour will have three meals included and a home-stay with a local family on the island.
This is basic, rustic accommodation and very rewarding as a look at how other people live. If we have time when we get back to Puno you could visit the Yavari steam boat or the funeral towers of Sillustani.
Day 8, Sunday: Cusco. Travel to Cusco by first class public bus across the Altiplano. Very scenic journey and witness to an interesting change in climate, people and vegetation as we drop several hundred meters during the day to arrive in Cusco. Upon arrival you can take it easy and wander around this magnificent city before experiencing the famous nightlife and dinning in the evening.
Day 9: Ollantaytambo. Today you will travel with your local guide through the Sacred Valley of the Incas after visiting several points of interest in and close to Cusco. This is not the standard tour offered by many. You will visit the Cathedral, the Sun Temple or Koricancha and also the fortress of Sacsaywaman before dropping down into the valley. An important source of food for the Inca, the Sacred Valley is a lush agricultural region that continues to supply the city of Cuzco with much of its produce.
We will visit the very impressive Pisaq Ruins and take a quick look at the colorful artisan market (varies in size depending upon the day) and the lovely village itself. After our lunch in Urubamaba, included today, the day trip finishes in the picturesque town of Ollantaytambo, with a visit to the impressive Inca site. Here you can catch your breath and spend the night. Spending the night in Ollantaytambo gives you a change of environment, a lower altitude and means you do not have to get up really early the next day to catch the train!
Day 10: Machu Picchu. After breakfast you take a taxi or take the short walk down to the station where you board the train winding through the increasingly steep Sacred Valley. Arriving in the village of Aguas Calientes (2100m) you will check in to your hotel and meet your guide for a guided tour of one of the most spectacular places on earth. After a 2-hour guided tour you will have time to wander around this magical place before getting a bus back down to the town and rounding off the day with a well earned drink and a hearty meal.
Day 11: Machu Picchu and Cusco. Today you have two options before returning to Cusco. You could go up to Machu Picchu for a second time to spend more time there without the group (not included, simply speak to us in Cusco) or you could go walking to a lovely waterfall and/or visit the thermal springs (these things you could also choose to do on your first day instead). You choose. You will then take the afternoon train back to Cusco.
Day 12: Cusco. Day on which you can decide what you would like to do. Shopping, sightseeing or another activity. You can choose with our help and advice.
Days 13-14: Amazon Jungle. Today, after a transfer to the airport, you take the 30 minute flight from Cuzco to Puerto Maldonado, deep in the lowlands of the Amazon jungle. You will be met by your local jungle guides who will be looking after you until you get your plane back to Cusco and hom. You will travel by motorized canoe to our lodge in the Tambopata Rainforest Area, which holds the world record for the most bird sightings in one area. Explore the jungle with local guides before flying to Lima for a final night out.
About half of Peru is located within the Amazon Basin, however, due to its isolation, not a lot of it is available to the casual traveler. Puerto Maldonado is the regions principal city and is serviced by air from the capital and from Cuzco. The town is situated at the confluence of the Madre de Dios and Tambopata Rivers, and is a bustling, booming tropical frontier town. Its principal activities are gold mining, Brazil nut collecting, timber extraction, agriculture and ecotourism.
After a brief stop in the town we depart on an afternoon boat trip by motorized canoe to our jungle lodge. Depending on flight arrival times we have either a boxed lunch aboard the boat or lunch upon arrival at the lodge. During our voyage you will have the chance to see bird species typical of the river or forest edge such as Black Skimmers, Pied Lapwings, Capped Herons, Jabiru Storks, Roadside Hawks and several species of kingfishers, swallows, and flycatchers.
The Tambopata area includes habitats ranging from the Andean highlands around the rivers' headwaters through some of the last remaining intact cloud forests to the lowland rain forests of the Amazon basin. The area is renowned for its diverse plant and animal populations and include over 1,300 bird species (including 32 parrot species - 10% of the worlds total), 200 mammal species including 4 species of primates, 90 frog species, 1,200 butterfly species and 10,000 species of higher plants all protected within the reserve. Some of the more famous residents are the Harpy Eagle, the prehistoric looking Hoatzin, tapir, peccary, jaguar, ocelot and playful river otters who live in the area s oxbow lakes.
The lodge itself combines native architectural style and materials with low-impact eco-friendly technology. Rooms are simple but comfortable, with mosquito netting for individual beds, flush toilets, showers (no hot water), and kerosene lamps for lighting (no electricity). Local community members make up the majority the lodge staff, including multilingual Naturalist Guides. Here you have the opportunity to learn from them not only about the areas rich flora and fauna, but also about their extensive practical uses for medicinal plants and other forest plant resources, through traditional techniques for building, fishing, and hunting. This is the last night you will be together as a group as the tour ends tomorrow and some people will connect the same afternoon to their evening flights home.
Day 15: Lima. Leave the jungle lodge and travel back to Maldonado for your flight to Lima via Cuzco for one final night on the town. The plane makes a stop in Cusco en route to Lima but you stay on. You will then continue on to Lima to be met by our transfer driver if you are staying the night in the Capital again.
Notes: Depending on your international flights you can connect directly and fly home or if you would like/ need to stay an extra day in Lima please let us know so we can arrange the extra transfers and hotel for you.
Member discount:
10% discount for InfoHub customer. Request a free gift certificate.
Notes:
Airfare is included in the tour price.
Price Includes:
- 13 nights accommodation with breakfast included
- 1 night Home stay with a family on Amantani island on Lake Titicaca
- Domestic flights Lima - Arequipa, Cusco - Puerto Maldonado and Puerto Maldonado - Lima
- Domestic air taxes
- All ground transfers as stated until arrival in Lima at the end of the trip
- Colca Canyon 3 day package with private transfers to Puno
- Lake Titicaca 2 day program with home stay and meals
- Private Cusco city and Sacred Valley tour, entrance fees for all sites, with lunch, all privately guided
- Visit to Machu Picchu on Vistadome train and including all buses and tickets and a private guided tour
- Amazon Jungle package including rooms, meals, guiding and transport
Price Excludes:
- International flights to your destination
- End of tour arrangements
- Meals and personal spending money
- International airport taxes
Also see tour packages in:
South America
Peru
Cultural Journey
Archeology/History
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