Peru: Machu Picchu, the Sacred Valley and the Amazon

1. Day 1: Arrive in Lima

   Jorge Chávez International Airport to your hotel in Miraflores

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

   Fly into Jorge Chávez International Airport (LIM), where a driver meets you in arrivals for the drive to Miraflores, about 20 km and up to an hour in Lima's traffic. Plan to land by mid-afternoon so you can join the evening; the latest arrival time is confirmed with your final itinerary. Miraflores sits on cliffs above the Pacific, and if you have energy left, the malecón is a few minutes' walk from the hotel: a clifftop path of parks and lookouts where paragliders ride the sea breeze and the sun sets straight into the ocean. In the evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on what lies ahead: the early flight to Cusco, how we handle the altitude, what to pack for the train and the rainforest. Then we walk to a local restaurant for a welcome dinner and a first taste of Lima's cooking, from ceviche to lomo saltado.

   Included

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

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing; the Miraflores malecón is a short walk away

2. Day 2: Fly to Cusco, sleep lower in the Sacred Valley

   Lima to Cusco by air, then over the Chinchero plateau to the Sacred Valley

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

   A morning flight takes about an hour and twenty minutes from the coast to Cusco, at about 3,400 metres. Instead of staying in the city, we drive straight out over the Chinchero plateau, where on a clear day the snow peaks of the Cordillera Urubamba line the horizon. In Chinchero, at about 3,760 metres, we stop briefly at the colonial church built on Inca foundations and watch a weaving demonstration: natural dyes from plants and insects, and backstrap looms, with no obligation to buy. Lunch is a sit-down meal on the way down. By mid-afternoon we reach our hotel near Urubamba, at about 2,870 metres, some 500 metres lower than Cusco, which is the kindest place to spend the first Andean nights. The rest of the day is for coca tea, water, an early night and getting used to the thin air slowly.

   Included

   • Flight from Lima to Cusco
   • Drive to the Sacred Valley via Chinchero
   • Chinchero church and a weaving demonstration
   • Sit-down lunch on the way

   Easier option: Skip the Chinchero stop and go straight to the hotel to rest.

   Free time: Afternoon free to rest at the hotel

   Activity: Take the first day at altitude slowly: drink water, walk gently and go easy on alcohol tonight.

   

3. Day 3: Pisac at opening, then Moray and Maras

   Urubamba to Pisac and back, then up to Moray and the Maras salt pans

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Sacred Valley
   Day 3 details

   We leave after an early breakfast to reach the Pisac archaeological park when it opens, around 7 am, before the tour buses arrive from Cusco. Walk the curving agricultural terraces and the Intihuatana sector, where some of the finest Inca stonework sits on a ridge high above the valley, and look across the gorge to a cliff dotted with Inca tombs. Down in Pisac town there is time for the craft market before we head back along the valley for lunch, hosted by a family in a farming village: potatoes, corn and quinoa grown a few steps away. After a short rest at the hotel we drive up to the plateau in the mid-afternoon, timed to reach both sites well before they close, usually around 5 pm. Moray is a set of circular terraces sunk into the ground that the Incas may have used to test crops. Nearby, the Maras salt pans are thousands of small pools fed by a salty spring and worked by local families.

   Included

   • Pisac archaeological park at opening, with your guide
   • Pisac craft market
   • Hosted lunch with a family in a Sacred Valley village
   • Moray circular terraces
   • Maras salt pans

   Easier option: Skip the afternoon at Moray and Maras and stay at the hotel.

   More active option: At Pisac, walk down from the upper sector through the terraces to the town instead of riding down, about 1.5 hours mostly downhill on stone steps.

   Free time: Midday rest at the hotel

   Activity: About 2 to 3 hours on foot at Pisac on stone paths and steps, up to about 3,400 metres; Moray and Maras are short walks.

4. Day 4: Ollantaytambo early, then the train to Aguas Calientes

   Urubamba to Ollantaytambo, then by train along the Urubamba river to Aguas Calientes

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Aguas Calientes
   Day 4 details

   Ollantaytambo is a living Inca town, still laid out on its original street grid with water running in stone channels beside the lanes. We are at the temple hill when it opens, around 7 am, and climb the steep terraces in soft morning light while most visitors are still on the road from Cusco. Your guide shows you the unfinished Temple of the Sun, six huge blocks of pink stone hauled across the river from a quarry on the far side. Your main bag goes ahead to the Cusco hotel today, so you travel light with a small overnight bag. After lunch in Ollantaytambo we board the panoramic-window train for about an hour and a half down the Urubamba gorge, where the dry valley gives way to cloud forest, orchids and waterfalls. Aguas Calientes sits at about 2,040 metres beneath the mountain. The evening is free: the thermal baths, the market or an early night.

   Included

   • Ollantaytambo temple hill at opening, with your guide
   • Lunch in Ollantaytambo
   • Panoramic-window train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes
   • Main luggage taken ahead to your Cusco hotel

   Optional experiences

   • Thermal baths in Aguas Calientes. Small entry fee paid locally.

   Free time: Evening free in Aguas Calientes

   Activity: About 1.5 hours on the Ollantaytambo terraces, with steep stone steps. The train allows only a small bag.

   

5. Day 5: Machu Picchu in the early morning, then back to Cusco

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

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Cusco
   Day 5 details

   Because we slept at the foot of the mountain, the bus up is a short ride of about 25 minutes, not a pre-dawn transfer from Cusco. We enter on an early timed ticket, aiming for the first slots, and a licensed Machu Picchu guide we book for the group takes you round with your See Sight Tours guide. Built in the 15th century and listed by UNESCO in 1983, the citadel sits on a saddle between two peaks, with Huayna Picchu rising behind it. We start at the upper terraces for the classic view while the light is soft, then walk down past the Temple of the Sun, the Temple of the Three Windows and the main plaza, on the circuit our tickets allow. Allow about two and a half to three hours inside. After lunch in Aguas Calientes we take an early-afternoon train back to Ollantaytambo and drive about two hours to Cusco, arriving around 6:30 to 7 pm, where your bag is waiting.

   Included

   • Bus up to Machu Picchu and back down
   • Machu Picchu early timed entry with a licensed site guide and your See Sight Tours guide
   • Lunch in Aguas Calientes
   • Early-afternoon panoramic-window train from Aguas Calientes to Ollantaytambo
   • Drive to your hotel in Cusco

   Optional experiences

   • Huayna Picchu or Machu Picchu Mountain. Separate ticket, limited numbers each day; ask when you book.

   Easier option: Stay on the lower, flatter parts of the circuit and wait at the café by the entrance while the group climbs to the upper terraces.

   More active option: Add a Huayna Picchu or Machu Picchu Mountain ticket (see the optional extra) for a steep climb of about 2 to 3 hours with the citadel below you.

   Free time: Evening free in Cusco from about 7 pm; dinner on your own, or your guide can suggest a place near the hotel

   Activity: About 2.5 to 3 hours on foot at around 2,430 metres, with many stone steps and no step-free route.

6. Day 6: Sacsayhuamán at opening and the stones of Cusco

   Sacsayhuamán, Qorikancha and the Plaza de Armas

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Cusco
   Day 6 details

   Cusco was the capital of the Inca Empire, and its old centre is listed by UNESCO for the way colonial churches and mansions sit on top of Inca walls. After a night in Cusco and three lower Andean nights before it, its altitude of about 3,400 metres no longer feels like a climb. We start at Sacsayhuamán above the city at opening, around 7 am, walking along three tiers of zigzag walls built from enormous stones fitted without mortar, with the red roofs of Cusco below. Back in the centre we visit Qorikancha, the Inca Temple of the Sun, where a Dominican convent was built over the finest curved masonry in the city, then walk Hatun Rumiyoc street to the twelve-angled stone and on to the Cathedral on the Plaza de Armas. On a Sunday the order may swap, as Qorikancha keeps shorter hours. The tour ends by late morning or early afternoon. The afternoon is yours: San Pedro market, the San Blas artisans' quarter, a museum or simply a long lunch.

   Included

   • Sacsayhuamán at opening, with your guide
   • Qorikancha, the Temple of the Sun
   • Hatun Rumiyoc and the twelve-angled stone
   • Cusco Cathedral

   Easier option: Ride down from Sacsayhuamán with the van instead of walking down through San Blas.

   More active option: Walk down from Sacsayhuamán to the centre through the steep lanes of San Blas, about 40 minutes.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free in Cusco

   Activity: About 3 hours on foot, with steep cobbled lanes; Cusco's altitude makes hills feel harder than at home.

   

7. Day 7: Down to the Amazon and up the Tambopata river

   Cusco to Puerto Maldonado by air, then by boat up the Tambopata river to the lodge

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Tambopata
   Day 7 details

   A short morning flight of about 50 minutes drops you from the Andes to Puerto Maldonado, at about 180 metres, and the air turns warm and heavy as the doors open. At the lodge's office in town we leave large bags in storage and take only a small one into the forest. From the river port, a covered motorised canoe carries us up the Tambopata river, between one and three hours depending on the lodge we confirm, watching the banks for herons, kingfishers, turtles and capybaras. Lunch is served on arrival or on board. After settling into rooms with their own bathroom, a resident naturalist guide leads a first walk on the trails near the lodge, explaining how to move quietly and what the forest sounds mean. After dinner we head out with torches on a night walk for frogs, insects, spiders and, if we are lucky, a tarantula at its burrow.

   Included

   • Flight from Cusco to Puerto Maldonado
   • Luggage storage in Puerto Maldonado
   • Motorised canoe up the Tambopata river to the lodge
   • Afternoon forest walk with a naturalist guide
   • Guided night walk
   • All meals at the lodge

   Easier option: Skip the night walk and stay at the lodge after dinner; the boat in is a seated ride, with life jackets and a covered roof.

   Activity: Expect heat and humidity after the cool Andes. Long sleeves, trousers and repellent help on the trails.

8. Day 8: A dawn clay lick and the oxbow lake

   Tambopata: the clay lick, an oxbow lake and the river at night

   • By boat
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Tambopata
   Day 8 details

   We leave the lodge before dawn by boat to reach a clay lick at first light, the time when parrots, parakeets and, on good mornings, macaws gather on the exposed riverbank to eat the mineral-rich clay. Activity changes with the season and the weather, so your guide reads the morning and we wait quietly from a hide or the boat. Breakfast is back at the lodge. Late in the morning we walk to an oxbow lake, a cut-off loop of old river, and paddle across it in a canoe looking for hoatzins, herons, turtles and the families of giant otters that live on some of these lakes. The hot middle of the day is free for a hammock, a shower and a book. After dinner we go out on the river by boat with a spotlight to find the red glow of caiman eyes along the banks.

   Included

   • Dawn visit to a clay lick with your naturalist guide
   • Oxbow lake by canoe
   • Caiman-spotting boat trip after dark
   • All meals at the lodge

   Easier option: Skip the pre-dawn clay lick, sleep in and join the group for the oxbow lake after breakfast.

   Free time: Midday free at the lodge

   Activity: A 4:30 to 5 am start for the clay lick. Trails to the lake are flat but can be muddy; the lodge lends rubber boots.

9. Day 9: Above the canopy and into the forest

   Tambopata: the canopy, a medicinal plant trail and a Brazil nut forest

   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Tambopata
   Day 9 details

   An early start again, because the forest is most active in the first hours of light. We climb the lodge's canopy tower or walkway to stand level with the treetops, where toucans, tanagers and parrots feed and howler or spider monkeys may cross the branches. Back on the ground, your naturalist guide walks you along a medicinal plant trail, explaining how local families use bark, leaves and resins, and on to a stand of Brazil nut trees, the giants of this forest and an income for many families in Madre de Dios. The middle of the day is free again. In the late afternoon there is a choice: a longer walk deeper into the forest with the guide, or a quiet hour at the lodge watching the river. The last lodge dinner comes with a talk from the naturalists on what the group has seen.

   Included

   • Canopy tower or walkway with your naturalist guide
   • Medicinal plant trail
   • Brazil nut forest walk
   • All meals at the lodge

   Easier option: Stay at the lodge in the late afternoon, in a hammock by the river.

   More active option: A longer late-afternoon forest walk of about 3 hours with the naturalist guide, looking for monkeys and birds as the heat drops.

   Free time: Midday free at the lodge

   Activity: Canopy towers mean many steps or a ladder-like stair; tell your guide if heights are a problem and you can stay below.

10. Day 10: Back down the river and fly to Lima

    Tambopata river to Puerto Maldonado, then by air to Lima

    • Drive about 1 h
    • Breakfast and dinner
    • Stay in Lima
    Day 10 details

    After a last breakfast at the lodge we take the boat back down the Tambopata river to Puerto Maldonado, one more chance to spot a capybara or a heron on the banks. We collect the large bags from storage and fly to Lima, about an hour and forty minutes on a direct flight, or a little longer via Cusco on days without one. The change is sudden: from the rainforest to the cool, grey air of the Pacific coast. We drive to your hotel in Miraflores or Barranco and the afternoon is free to rest, swim if the hotel has a pool, or walk the clifftop malecón. In the evening we gather for a farewell dinner at a Lima restaurant, a good place to try a pisco sour and Peruvian-Japanese or Peruvian-Chinese dishes, and to swap photos from the forest.

    Included

    • Motorised canoe back to Puerto Maldonado
    • Flight from Puerto Maldonado to Lima
    • Transfer to your hotel
    • Farewell dinner in Lima

    Free time: Afternoon free in Lima

11. Day 11: Lima's historic centre and home

    Miraflores to the historic centre, then Jorge Chávez International Airport

    • Drive about 1.5 h
    • Breakfast
    Day 11 details

    On the last morning we drive into Lima's historic centre, listed by UNESCO, before the midday traffic. Your guide walks you round the Plaza Mayor, with the Cathedral and the Archbishop's Palace and its carved wooden balconies, and on to the Monastery of San Francisco. Beneath its church lie the catacombs, where bones from colonial-era burials are laid out in patterns in the vaults, and above them a library of old books under a carved ceiling. There is time for a coffee or an early lunch on your own nearby before we drive you to Jorge Chávez International Airport, about 45 minutes to an hour from the centre depending on traffic. Flights from Lima to North America mostly leave in the evening or late at night, so book one leaving after about 6 pm to see the centre without hurrying.

    Included

    • Lima historic centre walk with your guide: the Plaza Mayor, the Cathedral and the Archbishop's Palace
    • Monastery of San Francisco and its catacombs
    • Drop-off at Jorge Chávez International Airport (LIM)

    Easier option: If your flight leaves before about 2 pm, we drive straight from the hotel to the airport.

    Free time: Late morning free in the centre

    Activity: Book a flight leaving after about 6 pm to see the centre.

Wildlife and weather: May to October is the dry season in the Andes and the lowlands: clear mornings at Machu Picchu, low rivers and good wildlife on the riverbanks. Between May and August a cold front from the south, the friaje, can bring a cool, grey day or two to Tambopata. November to April brings rain, greener hills and slippery paths.

• Lima1 night
• Sacred Valley2 nights
• Aguas Calientes1 night
• Cusco2 nights
• Tambopata3 nights
• Lima1 night