Peru: Lima, the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu for three generations

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Lima

   Jorge Chávez International Airport (LIM) to your hotel in Miraflores

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Lima
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into Lima's Jorge Chávez International Airport (LIM) at any time. A driver meets your family in arrivals for the drive to Miraflores, about 20 km and usually under an hour, longer at rush hour. Child seats are arranged if you tell us the ages when you book. Miraflores sits on cliffs above the Pacific, and we stay here because it is safe to walk, flat along the clifftop and close to cafés and parks. If you land early, follow the Malecón, the clifftop path of gardens and playgrounds, to the Parque del Amor and watch the paragliders ride the sea breeze. At about 5:30 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the families for a short briefing: the flight to Cusco, how we handle the altitude for children and grandparents, and what to pack for the train. Then we walk to an early welcome dinner at about 6:30 pm, with a children's choice on the menu. To join the briefing, plan to land by about 2 pm; later arrivals are briefed at breakfast.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Jorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Temps libre : Free until the 5:30 pm briefing

   Activité : An easy day: rest after the flight, and keep the first evening short.

2. Jour 2 : Lima: a market morning and the fountains at dusk

   Miraflores to the Surquillo market, the historic centre, Barranco and the Parque de la Reserva

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Lima
   Détail du jour 2

   A gentle start: at 9:30 am we walk to the Surquillo market, where Lima's cooks shop, and taste our way through it with your guide. Children try fruits rarely seen at home, such as lúcuma, chirimoya and granadilla, and see the dozens of potatoes and corn colours Peru grows. Then we drive about 40 minutes into the historic centre, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988, for a short walk around the Plaza Mayor to the Basilica and Convent of San Francisco, with its painted cloisters and the catacombs below. Lunch is in Barranco, the seaside district of old mansions and murals, at a cevichería that also cooks chicken, rice and other dishes for children. We are back at the hotel by about 2:30 pm for a rest. Dinner is early and on your own, at about 5:30 pm in Miraflores, and at about 6:30 pm we drive to the Parque de la Reserva for the Magic Water Circuit, a park of lit fountains and tunnels of water that children run through, back by about 8 pm. If the park is closed, we go to the clifftop Parque del Amor instead. Tomorrow's flight is in the morning.

   Compris

   • Surquillo market walk and tastings with your guide
   • The historic centre of Lima: the Plaza Mayor and the Basilica and Convent of San Francisco
   • Lunch in Barranco
   • The Magic Water Circuit in the Parque de la Reserva at dusk

   Activités en option

   • Huaca Pucllana, an adobe pyramid in Miraflores, in the free afternoon
   • Larco Museum and its pre-Columbian collection

   Option plus facile : Skip the catacombs, which have low ceilings and narrow stairs, and wait in the cloisters with a parent or grandparent.

   Option plus active : Walk the Malecón from Miraflores to Barranco in the afternoon, about an hour along the clifftop.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free at the hotel; early dinner on your own before the fountains

   Activité : About 2.5 hours on foot on flat city streets, split by a drive and lunch. Bring a jacket and a change of clothes for children who get wet in the fountains.

3. Jour 3 : Fly to Cusco, then down into the Sacred Valley

   Lima to Cusco by air, then Pisac and Urubamba

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Sacred Valley (Urubamba)
   Détail du jour 3

   After breakfast we fly to Cusco, about 1 hour 20 minutes; this and the Machu Picchu morning are the only early starts of the trip. Cusco sits at about 3,400 metres, so we do not stay. Our vehicle meets us at the airport and we drive over the hill and down into the Sacred Valley, where the hotel is about 500 metres lower: the simplest way for children and grandparents to ease into the altitude. On the way down we stop at a weaving centre beside the Pisac road, where children can feed llamas and alpacas and watch wool spun, dyed with plants and woven, with no pressure to buy. Then a viewpoint over the Urubamba River and its terraced fields, and a slow sit-down lunch in Pisac, at about 2,970 metres. It is about 45 minutes down the valley to our hotel near Urubamba, home for three nights, by about 3:30 pm. The rest of the day is for the garden, the pool where the hotel has one, and an early night.

   Compris

   • Flight from Lima to Cusco
   • Llamas, alpacas and a weaving demonstration on the Pisac road
   • Viewpoint stop above the Sacred Valley
   • Sit-down lunch in Pisac

   Temps libre : Late afternoon and evening free at the hotel

   Activité : Your first day at altitude: walk slowly, drink plenty of water and keep everyone's evening quiet. About 2 hours of driving in short stretches.

   

4. Jour 4 : Pisac ruins in the morning, lunch with a village family

   Urubamba to the Pisac ruins and a valley village, then back to Urubamba

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Sacred Valley (Urubamba)
   Détail du jour 4

   We leave at about 8 am and drive about 45 minutes back up the valley to the Pisac archaeological site, ahead of most of the day-tour buses from Cusco. The van takes us to the upper car park, so the walk starts near the top. Your guide leads a short loop through the Intihuatana sector, where temples of fitted stone blocks, laid without mortar, surround a carved ritual rock, with curved terraces dropping steeply to the river and old burial niches in the cliff across the gorge. Children get a lookout job, spotting the niches and the terrace stairs. From there we drive to a village in the valley for lunch with a local family, cooked in an earth oven (pachamanca) when the season allows. Children help dig out the oven, feed the guinea pigs and try a few words of Quechua, and there is no shop at the end of the visit. We are back at the hotel by about 2:30 pm, and the afternoon is free for the pool, the garden or a nap.

   Compris

   • Pisac archaeological site with your guide, entry included
   • Home-cooked lunch with a family in a Sacred Valley village

   Option plus facile : Stay on the flatter terraces near the upper car park with a seat and the view while the group walks the loop.

   Option plus active : Walk down from the ruins to Pisac town on the old Inca path, about 1.5 hours on steep stone steps, with the van waiting below. Best for teenagers and fit adults.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free at the hotel

   Activité : About 1.5 hours on foot on uneven stone paths and steps at about 3,400 metres, or about 3 hours with the walk down.

5. Jour 5 : Moray, the Maras salt pans and an afternoon off

   Urubamba up to Moray, across to the Maras salt pans and back down to the valley

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Sacred Valley (Urubamba)
   Détail du jour 5

   A late start: we leave at 9:30 am for the high plateau above the valley, about 50 minutes up a road of switchbacks to around 3,500 metres, the highest point of the trip, and we keep the visit short. Moray is a set of circular Inca terraces set into natural hollows in the ground, the deepest about 30 metres from rim to floor. The temperature changes from level to level, and many archaeologists believe the Incas used the terraces to test crops. Your guide turns that into a game: the children take a thermometer down the levels and guess which crop would grow where. From there a country road crosses farmland to the Maras salt pans, thousands of small pools stepped down a hillside, fed by a salty spring and worked by local families. Visitors watch from a path above the pools, and the white patchwork is best seen from there. We come back down to the valley for a sit-down lunch in Urubamba, and the afternoon is free at the hotel.

   Compris

   • Moray terraces with your guide and the terrace temperature game, entry included
   • The Maras salt pans, community entry fee included
   • Sit-down lunch in Urubamba

   Option plus facile : Watch from the rim at Moray, where there are places to sit, instead of walking down to the lower terraces.

   Option plus active : Walk down from the salt pans to the valley floor on a footpath, about an hour, with the van waiting at the bottom, if the path is open to groups on the day (we confirm locally). Best for teenagers and fit adults.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free at the hotel

   Activité : The highest point of the trip, about 3,500 metres at Moray, for about an hour; walk slowly on the climbs. About 1.5 hours on foot in all.

6. Jour 6 : Ollantaytambo, then the train to Aguas Calientes

   Urubamba to Ollantaytambo, then the train down the Urubamba gorge to Aguas Calientes

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Aguas Calientes
   Détail du jour 6

   After three nights in the same rooms we pack an overnight bag each and drive about 30 minutes down the valley to Ollantaytambo, reaching the ruins at about 8:30 am, before most of the day tours from Cusco. Terraces climb steeply to the Temple Hill and its wall of six huge pink stone blocks, hauled from a quarry across the river, and children like the story of how the Incas held off a Spanish force here in 1537. Below the ruins, families still live on the Inca street grid, with water channels running beside the lanes, and we walk it slowly before lunch in town. In the early afternoon we board the train for about an hour and a half down the Urubamba gorge, from dry hills into cloud forest, with roof windows on the panoramic carriages. Aguas Calientes is a small town wedged in the gorge below Machu Picchu. The late afternoon is free for the hot springs or the site museum and its garden, then an early dinner together at about 6:30 pm.

   Compris

   • Ollantaytambo archaeological site with your guide, entry included
   • Walk through Ollantaytambo's Inca town
   • Lunch in Ollantaytambo
   • Panoramic-window train to Aguas Calientes
   • Dinner in Aguas Calientes

   Activités en option

   • Aguas Calientes hot springs
   • Manuel Chávez Ballón Site Museum, at the foot of the Machu Picchu road

   Option plus facile : Stay on the lower terraces and in the old town, where there are benches by the water channels, while the group climbs to the Temple Hill.

   Option plus active : Climb the steep path to the Pinkuylluna storehouses on the hill opposite the ruins, about an hour up and back. Best for teenagers and fit adults.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon free in Aguas Calientes

   Activité : Your main bags go on to Cusco in our vehicle; bring a small overnight bag each for the train. About 2 hours on foot, or about 1 hour with the easy option.

   

7. Jour 7 : Machu Picchu in the morning

   Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu, then the train to Ollantaytambo and the road to Cusco

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Cusco
   Détail du jour 7

   This is the early morning the trip is built around, and the reason we sleep in Aguas Calientes. After an early breakfast we take one of the morning buses up the zigzag road, about 25 minutes, and walk in at about 7 am, the time confirmed with your tickets, when the site is quieter and, in the dry season, the cloud lifts off the peaks. A licensed Machu Picchu guide, required by the site's rules, leads one circuit that passes the upper viewpoint for the classic view over the citadel and Huayna Picchu, then down through temples, plazas and terraces, with stops to sit and the guide walking at the pace of the slowest in the group. Children look for the llamas that graze the terraces. We ride down for lunch in Aguas Calientes, take the mid-afternoon train back to Ollantaytambo, and drive about an hour and three quarters over the Chinchero plateau to Cusco. If the train runs late our driver waits, and your rooms and main bags are already there.

   Compris

   • Machu Picchu entry in the morning with a licensed site guide
   • Every bus ride between Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu
   • Lunch in Aguas Calientes
   • Panoramic-window train to Ollantaytambo, then our vehicle to Cusco

   Activités en option

   • Huayna Picchu or Machu Picchu Mountain climb, a separate ticket with small daily numbers, for fit adults and children 12 and over on Huayna Picchu (age rules confirmed when you book)

   Option plus facile : Take the shorter route on the circuit, or rest on a bench at a viewpoint with an adult while the others walk the lower terraces, and ride an earlier bus down.

   Option plus active : Fit adults, and children 12 and over for Huayna Picchu (to be confirmed), can add a Huayna Picchu or Machu Picchu Mountain ticket if you ask when you book.

   Activité : About 2.5 to 3 hours on foot on stone steps without handrails at about 2,430 metres, then about 3.5 hours of train and road, arriving in Cusco at about 7 pm. The longest day of the trip, and Cusco is the highest night, so keep dinner simple at or near the hotel. Ask us for an earlier return train if your youngest or oldest would rather arrive sooner.

   

8. Jour 8 : Cusco: Sacsayhuamán, the Cathedral and chocolate

   Sacsayhuamán, San Blas, the Plaza de Armas, Qorikancha and a chocolate workshop

   • Environ 15 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Cusco
   Détail du jour 8

   A slow start after yesterday. At about 9:30 am we drive ten minutes up to Sacsayhuamán, the Inca complex above the city, where zigzag walls of fitted stone blocks, the largest estimated at more than 100 tonnes, face a wide grassy esplanade where children have room to run. From there the van takes those who want it down to the Plaza de Armas, while the rest walk down steps and lanes through San Blas, the artisans' quarter, and past the twelve-angled stone on Hatun Rumiyoc street. Inside the Cathedral, built over an Inca palace, children look for the colonial painting of the Last Supper with a roast guinea pig on the table. Lunch is together near the plaza. At about 2:30 pm we visit Qorikancha, the Inca Temple of the Sun, for a short hour, then a chocolate workshop where everyone makes a bar to take home. Cusco's old centre has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983. The farewell dinner starts at about 6:30 pm.

   Compris

   • Sacsayhuamán with your guide, entry included
   • Walk through San Blas and past the twelve-angled stone
   • Cusco Cathedral, entry included
   • Lunch near the Plaza de Armas
   • Qorikancha, the Temple of the Sun, entry included
   • A family chocolate workshop
   • Farewell dinner

   Option plus facile : Ride the van down from Sacsayhuamán to the Plaza de Armas instead of walking, and rest at the hotel between lunch and the workshop.

   Option plus active : Walk the steep lanes of San Blas to its small square and church before lunch.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon free before dinner

   Activité : About 2.5 hours on foot, mostly downhill on steps and cobbles at about 3,400 metres, with the van on call.

9. Jour 9 : Cusco, then home

   Cusco to Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   Détail du jour 9

   The last morning is free. Walk to the San Pedro market for a fresh fruit juice at one of the long counters, visit the Museum of Pre-Columbian Art on the Plaza de las Nazarenas, or sit in the Plaza de Armas and watch the city start its day. Your hotel holds your bags until the transfer. Cusco's airport is about 5 km from the centre, around 20 minutes by road, and our driver takes your family there in time for your flight, with your guide checking your connection before saying goodbye. Most international flights leave from Lima, so you fly from Cusco to Lima first, about 1 hour 20 minutes, and connect there. Book a Cusco departure after about 11 am, and allow at least four hours between landing in Lima and your international flight, more with young children. We can book the Cusco to Lima flight with your trip, and add extra nights in Cusco or Lima, or a few days on the beach north of Lima, if your family wants to stay longer.

   Compris

   • Drop-off at Cusco airport (CUZ)

   Activités en option

   • Museum of Pre-Columbian Art

   Temps libre : Morning free

   Activité : Book a Cusco flight leaving after about 11 am, with at least four hours to connect in Lima.

Faune et météo : The dry season, roughly May to September, brings clear days, cold nights in the Andes and the most visitors at Machu Picchu; Cusco is busiest around Inti Raymi on 24 June, and July and August are the school-holiday peak for families from the north. The rains run from about November to March, heaviest in January and February, with afternoon showers, cloud over the ruins and occasional train disruption. Lima is grey and cool from about June to October and sunny from December to April.

• Lima2 nuits
• Sacred Valley (Urubamba)3 nuits
• Aguas Calientes1 nuit
• Cusco2 nuits