Description
Explore Cusco, the Sacred Valley of the Incas, Puno and the crown jewel of Machu Picchu in this incredible experience around eastern Peru!
Itinerary
We pick you up from Cusco Airport to your hotel. Free morning to take a little rest and get used to the altitude. At 1:10 pm you will be picked up from your hotel to take the city tour of around 4 hours. First, we will visit the Cathedral of Cusco, located in the Main Square of Plaza de Armas. Then we continue to Qorikancha (temple of the sun). This is an astounding Inca temple, one of the finest specimens of ancient architecture.
Afterwards we’ll visit the nearby convent of Santo Domingo, before we move on to the rest of the archaeological sites located just outside the city of Cusco. These sites are Sacsayhuaman, Q’enqo, Pukapukara y Tambomachay. We then return to the city to spend the night in Cusco.
After breakfast you will be picked up from your hotel at 8.30 am to take the guide tour to the Sacred Valley of the Incas where we will see the stunning town of Pisac and its glorious terraces decorated on the hills above. We also get to visit its typical handicraft markets dotted around the square.
We then continue the journey to Urubamba where we will have an exquisite lunch buffet, before continuing to Ollantaytambo where we go to stand in awe in front of its important archaeological remains. When we’re done, we take the train to Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu Town) where we spend the night.
Early in the morning you enjoy breakfast at the hotel. Then, according to your entrance ticket to Machu Picchu, we take the bus up the mountain. This bus journey takes around 25 minutes and follows a winding slope with beautiful views. Upon our arrival, we will check in at the Machu Picchu entrance gate before starting your long awaited tour of the sacred Incan citadel.
This tour will last around 2 hours. We will experience the mysteries and magic of Machu Picchu by visiting the Main Plaza, the Circular Tower, the Sacred Sundial, the Royal Quarters, the Temple of Three Windows and various cemeteries. After some free time to explore the site, we will return to Aguas Calientes to have lunch.
Your return to Cusco will be in a comfortable train to Ollantaytambo, where our staff will be waiting to escort you to your hotel in Cusco by van.
We start the day with breakfast in the hotel. Then our journey by bus to Puno starts, this service includes 5 stops with a guide. The first stop will be Andahuaylillas at 3122 m (10,242 ft), a church with a small structure consisting of one nave, apse and bell tower. It’s called the Sistine Chapel of America, housing a splendid golden interior.
Then we continue to Raqchi’s “Temple of Wiracocha” (3450 m / 11,318 ft), which according to the old chroniclers was built by the Inca Wiracocha in honor of the Superior God invisible to the Andean people. We then continue to Sicuani to enjoy a buffet lunch (3552 m / 11,653 ft), before a hike to La Raya Pass (4335 m / 14,222 ft), which is the watershed between the valley that drains into Lake Titicaca and the valley that leads down to Cusco and the Sacred Valley.
The final stop is Pukara (3900 m / 12,795 ft), which was the first populated region in the northern Lake Titicaca Basin during the Late Formative Period (500 BC-AD 200), providing valuable insights into the origins of Andean civilization in the highlands. We arrive in Puno around 5 pm at 3800 m (12,467 ft), where we spend the night in a hotel.
After breakfast we take you from your hotel to the port and travel by motor boat to one of the Uros islands where you can observe the lives of the people who live on floating reed islands, some only 20 meters in length. After a beautiful 2-hour boat ride we reach Taquile Island where we will tour around the ruins and engage with its beautiful locals, world famous for their intricate and fascinating weavings. Afterwards there will be time to buy lunch before the return to Puno. We arrive with the sunset and transfer you back to the hotel where you spend the night.
At the scheduled time after breakfast, you will be transported from your hotel to the terminal or the airport!
Included / Excluded
- 5 nights hotel accommodation
- Breakfasts at the hotel
- Professional bilingual guide
- Entrance to Machu Picchu - Circuit 1
- Professional English speaking guide
- Bus round-trip Aguas Calientes - Machu Picchu
- Bus round-trip Cusco – Ollantaytambo
- Train round-trip Ollantaytambo – Aguas Calientes
- All entrance fees to mentioned program sites
- Bus Cusco - Puno
- 5 breakfasts, 3 lunches (as indicated in the itinerary)
- International flights
- Domestic flights
- Lunch and dinners not mentioned
What to Bring?
- Walking shoes
- Cash (preferably small bills)
- Hat or cap
- Long-sleeve and short-sleeve shirts
- Long pants and shorts
- Rain jacket, thick sweater, plastic bags
- Scarf, gloves, and hat for cold weather
- Reusable water bottle
- Sunglasses, toilet paper and flashlight
- Camera and cellphone chargers
- Sunscreen and insect repellent
- Personal medical items