Peru: Lima, the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu by Train

1. Day 1: Arrive in Lima

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

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Lima
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Lima's Jorge Chávez International Airport (LIM) at any time. A driver meets you in arrivals for the drive to Miraflores, about 20 km and usually under an hour, longer at rush hour. Miraflores sits on cliffs above the Pacific, and we stay here rather than in the old centre because it is easy to walk after dark and within walking distance of cafés, cevicherías and restaurants. If you land early, follow the Malecón, the clifftop path of parks and gardens, to the Parque del Amor and watch the paragliders ride the sea breeze. At about 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a briefing on the week: the flight to Cusco, how we handle the altitude and what to pack for Machu Picchu. Then we walk to a welcome dinner for a first taste of Peruvian cooking, such as causa, lomo saltado and a pisco sour for those who want one. To join the briefing, plan to land by about 3 pm; later arrivals are briefed at breakfast.

   Included

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

   Free time: Free until the 6 pm briefing

2. Day 2: Lima: a market, the old centre and ceviche

   Miraflores to the Surquillo market, the historic centre and Barranco

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Lima
   Day 2 details

   Today is about food and the old city. At 9 am we walk to the Surquillo market, where Lima's cooks shop, and taste our way through it with your guide: fruits rarely seen at home, such as lúcuma, chirimoya and granadilla, and the ají peppers, potatoes and corn that run through Peruvian cooking. Then we drive about 40 minutes into the historic centre, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988. We walk around the Plaza Mayor, past the Cathedral and the Government Palace, to the Basilica and Convent of San Francisco, with its cloisters, its old library and the catacombs where the city buried its dead until the early 1800s. Lunch is ceviche, eaten the way Limeños eat it, at midday, in a cevichería in Barranco, the seaside district of old mansions and murals. The afternoon is free: cross the Puente de los Suspiros, rest at the hotel or visit the Larco Museum. We keep the evening short, because tomorrow's flight leaves in the morning.

   Included

   • Surquillo market walk and tastings with your guide
   • The historic centre of Lima: the Plaza Mayor, the Cathedral and the Government Palace (outside)
   • The Basilica and Convent of San Francisco and its catacombs
   • Ceviche lunch in Barranco

   Optional experiences

   • Larco Museum and its pre-Columbian collection, in the free afternoon
   • The lit fountains of the Magic Water Circuit in the Parque de la Reserva, in the evening

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: About 3 hours on foot on flat city streets; the catacombs have low ceilings and narrow stairs.

   

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

   Lima to Cusco by air, then Pisac and Urubamba

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Sacred Valley (Urubamba)
   Day 3 details

   After an early 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 to ease into the altitude. The road climbs out of Cusco, then winds down towards Pisac, with a stop at a viewpoint over the Urubamba River and its terraced fields. In Pisac, at about 2,970 metres, we take a slow sit-down lunch and walk the market square, busiest on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Then it is about 45 minutes down the valley to our hotel near Urubamba, home for the next three nights. The rest of the day is for doing very little: drink plenty of water, try a cup of coca tea and sleep early.

   Included

   • Flight from Lima to Cusco
   • Viewpoint stop above the Sacred Valley
   • Sit-down lunch in Pisac and time at the market square

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free at the hotel

   Activity: Your first day at altitude: walk slowly, drink water and skip alcohol tonight.

   

4. Day 4: Pisac ruins in the morning, a hosted lunch

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

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Sacred Valley (Urubamba)
   Day 4 details

   After a slow first evening we leave at about 7:30 am and drive an hour back up the valley to the Pisac archaeological site, ahead of most day-tour buses from Cusco, which tend to arrive later in the morning. The ruins sit high above the town. Your guide walks you 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. If you stay in the upper sector the walking is gentle. From there we drive to a village in the valley for a home-cooked lunch with a local family, cooked in an earth oven (pachamanca) when the season allows. They show us how they farm their fields and weave, and there is no shop at the end of the visit. We are back at the hotel by mid-afternoon, and the rest of the day is free to rest, read in the garden or walk by the river.

   Included

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

   Easier option: Stay in the upper sector of the ruins with the guide, then ride the van down to town.

   More active option: 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. This adds about an hour to the day's walking.

   Free time: Afternoon free at the hotel

   Activity: About 2 hours on foot on uneven stone paths and steps, or about 3 hours with the walk down. The ruins sit at about 3,400 metres, above Pisac town at about 2,970 metres.

5. Day 5: Moray, the Maras salt pans and a free afternoon

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

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Sacred Valley (Urubamba)
   Day 5 details

   We leave at 9 am for the high plateau above the valley, about 50 minutes up a road of switchbacks to around 3,500 metres. 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. 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 since before the Incas. Visitors now watch from a path above the pools rather than walking among them, and the white and ochre patchwork is best seen from there anyway. We come back down to the valley floor for a late sit-down lunch in Urubamba, and the afternoon is yours. Saints' day processions fill the town's streets several times a year; your guide tells you if one falls during your stay.

   Included

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

   Easier option: Watch from the rim at Moray instead of walking down to the lower terraces.

   More active option: Walk down from the salt pans to the valley floor on a footpath, about an hour, with the van waiting at the bottom.

   Free time: Afternoon free

   Activity: The highest point of the trip, about 3,500 metres at Moray; walk slowly on the climbs.

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

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

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Aguas Calientes
   Day 6 details

   After three nights in the same room we pack once 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. In 1537 Manco Inca held off a Spanish force here, one of the few times the Incas beat them in open battle. Below the ruins, families still live on the Inca street grid, with water channels running beside the lanes, and we walk it 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, then we have dinner together in town.

   Included

   • 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

   Optional experiences

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

   Easier option: Stay on the lower terraces and in the old town while the group climbs to the Temple Hill.

   More active option: Climb the steep path to the Pinkuylluna storehouses on the hill opposite the ruins, about an hour up and back.

   Free time: Late afternoon free in Aguas Calientes

   Activity: Your main bag goes on to Cusco in our vehicle; bring a small overnight bag for the train.

   

7. Day 7: Machu Picchu at 6 am

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

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Cusco
   Day 7 details

   This is the early start the trip is built around, and the reason we sleep in Aguas Calientes. We take one of the first buses up the zigzag road and walk in at 6 am, when the site is at its quietest and, in the dry season, the morning cloud lifts off the peaks. A licensed Machu Picchu guide, required by the site's rules, leads the visit on a circuit that passes the upper viewpoint for the classic view over the citadel and Huayna Picchu, then down through temples, plazas and terraces. Tickets are sold by circuit and time, so where the rules allow a second entry on the same day, we book one on a different circuit later in the morning and confirm it with your booking. 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 at Ollantaytambo station, and your Cusco room and main bag are already there.

   Included

   • Machu Picchu entry at 6 am with a licensed site guide
   • A second entry on a different circuit later that morning, where the ticket rules allow it, confirmed with your booking
   • Every bus ride between Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu
   • Lunch in Aguas Calientes
   • Panoramic-window train to Ollantaytambo, then our vehicle to Cusco

   Optional experiences

   • Huayna Picchu or Machu Picchu Mountain climb, a separate ticket with small daily numbers

   Easier option: Skip the second entry, or leave after the first circuit, and take an earlier bus down to rest in Aguas Calientes before lunch.

   More active option: Swap the second entry for a Huayna Picchu or Machu Picchu Mountain ticket, if you ask when you book.

   Activity: About 4 hours on foot with both entries, on stone steps without handrails at about 2,430 metres. A long day that ends in Cusco at about 3,400 metres, usually early in the evening.

   

8. Day 8: Cusco: Sacsayhuamán, the Cathedral and Qorikancha

   Sacsayhuamán, San Blas, the Plaza de Armas and Qorikancha

   • Drive about 15 min
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Cusco
   Day 8 details

   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. From there we walk down steps and lanes into San Blas, the artisans' quarter, and past the twelve-angled stone on Hatun Rumiyoc street to the Plaza de Armas. Inside the Cathedral, built over an Inca palace, look for the colonial painting of the Last Supper with a roast guinea pig on the table. Lunch is your choice: your guide points out the counters of the San Pedro market or a quiet café. After lunch we visit Qorikancha, the Inca Temple of the Sun, where Dominican friars built their monastery on top of the curved Inca walls. Cusco's old centre has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983. The rest of the afternoon is free, and in the evening we meet for a farewell dinner.

   Included

   • Sacsayhuamán with your guide, entry included
   • Walk through San Blas and past the twelve-angled stone
   • Cusco Cathedral, entry included
   • Qorikancha, the Temple of the Sun, entry included
   • Farewell dinner

   Easier option: Ride the van down from Sacsayhuamán to the Plaza de Armas instead of walking.

   Free time: Lunch on your own and the afternoon free

   Activity: About 3 hours on foot, mostly downhill on steps and cobbles at about 3,400 metres.

9. Day 9: Cusco, then home

   Cusco to Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ)

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast
   Day 9 details

   The last morning is free. Walk to the San Pedro market for a fresh juice at one of the long counters, visit the Museum of Pre-Columbian Art in a colonial mansion 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 you 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. We can book the Cusco to Lima flight with your trip if you ask, and add extra nights in Cusco or Lima if you want to stay longer.

   Included

   • Drop-off at Cusco airport (CUZ)

   Optional experiences

   • Museum of Pre-Columbian Art

   Free time: Morning free

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

Wildlife and weather: 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. 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 nights
• Sacred Valley (Urubamba)3 nights
• Aguas Calientes1 night
• Cusco2 nights