Exploring Southern Peru

CuscoPeruTravel will be waiting for you in the arrivals hall of Lima International airport; from there we will transfer you to your hotel in the Miraflores district of Lima. On arrival to your hotel, our representative will give you an explanation of the tour.

Depending on your arrival time today we recommend booking a table at one of Lima's top restaurants - the capital of Peru is home to four of the World's Top  Restaurants  and Peru proudly lays claim to being the ultimate culinary destination in the World.

In the morning, after a delicious breakfast, our guide and private transportation will pick you up from your hotel to lead you in a private excursion. First you will visit San Martin Plaza and Jiron de la Union, which is a fascinating pedestrian-only street, Union Street, which leads to the Plaza de Armas, the main plaza. This street was built in 1535 and still retains its old charm with a number of shops and restaurants set in a mixture of old and new buildings. Then, we will arrive to the Plaza de Armas, a beautiful square surrounded by palaces including the Congress of Peruvian Republic and the World Heritage Listed Monastery of San Francisco. This monastery is renowned for its Spanish Baroque architecture, and its convent library that possesses approximately 25,000 important antique works. The first cemetery of Lima –the Catacombs- is hidden underneath these monastery floors, where you will be witness of the remains of about 70,000 burials by exploring through narrow passages and looking down into deep pits that are lined with mysterious bones and skulls. After this fascinating tour you will have the lunch in an exclusive restaurant with the most beautiful view of our Peruvian sea.
Finally we will visit one of the most important museums of Lima, Larco Herrera museum of pre-Columbian art, located in the Pueblo Libre District of Lima. The museum is housed in an 18th-century vice-royal building built over a 7th-century pre-Columbian pyramid. It showcases chronological galleries that provide an overview of 4,000 years of Peruvian pre-Columbian history. It is also well known for its gallery of pre-Columbian erotic pottery.
At the end of tour, you will be taken to your hotel, where you will have the rest of the afternoon at your leisure.

At the start of the day, after having breakfast at your hotel; our staff will pick you up from the hotel in order to escort you to Lima airport to catch a domestic flight to Arequipa. Upon your arrival into the dreamy white city of Peru, our representative will be there to welcome and escort to your accommodation situated downtown. We highly recommend you spend your first few hours for rest and acclimatization against the high altitude of the Andes.
In the afternoon, you will be invited to take a private tour of the city; your guide will lead you through the most remarkable sites of the city, also visit the famous Juanita mummy , a young girl who was found frozen at the summit of a volcano after 500 years. This exclusive tour finishes in the main square of Yanahuara where you will have a panoramic view of the whole city and including Misti volcano.

Early in the morning, you will start a private journey with your guide to the small village of Chivay; on the way you will stop at Pampa Cañahuas, considered as home of llamas and other South American camelids; here is also situated the view point of Patapampa volcano, it has a scenic view of the snow-capped Andes and the main volcanoes outside of Arequipa city.
Upon your arrival to Chivay town, you will enjoy a lunch buffet in a fine restaurant; after lunch you’ll be escorted to your accommodation. After getting settled in your hotel, you will be given free time to visit the hot springs of Calera, whose waters have healing properties according to the local inhabitants.

Early morning after breakfast served by the hotel, your tour guide will meet you in order to start the hike to the “Cruz del Condor” viewpoint, one of the best viewpoints over the canyon and home to the famed condor considered the largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere and symbol of the Andes Mountain Range. The road leads through picturesque villages and pre-Inca ruins dominated by the glaciers Ampato and Hualca. Once you reach to the “Cruz Del Condor”, you will be able to see in the depths of the canyon, which stretches nearly 4,000 feet below.
After several minutes, you will return to Chivay where lunch will be waiting for you. After lunch, you will be given some free time to buy some souvenirs, explore the local market and then start our private journey to Puno city aboard on our exclusive transport. On the way, you will enjoy spectacular views of the Andes. Once you arrive to Puno, our private vehicle takes you to your selected hotel for a good night’s rest.

After having breakfast at the hotel, your guide will meet you at your hotel between 6:30 am to 6:40 am to start a private full day tour at Lake Titicaca; first you would be taken to the port to board a motor boat. On this excursion, you will walk around on the unique Uros Floating Islands, which have been built using only totora reeds, a water plant that grows on the lake. In addition, you will be amazed at how locals use totora reeds to build their canoes, houses, beds and many other objects used in their daily lives. As part of your tour, you will ride on a totora reed canoe, which will be a smooth and pleasant trip around the surrounding islands. From here, you we will travel for about 2 hours to Taquile Island, on the way you can relax and enjoy the stunning scenery of the lake. Once you arrive, the local people will be waiting for you at Taquile beach; here you will enjoy an exquisite lunch made with delicious and very fresh ingredients. After lunch, you can take a short hike around the island before taking your motorboat back to Puno across the lake. Once the tour has finished, you would be taken back to your hotel and have the rest of time to explore the city at night on your own.

In the morning after having a delicious breakfast, your professional guide and private vehicle will pick you up from the hotel to journey to Cusco. The first stop on our journey to Cusco will be at the pre-Inca site of Pukara followed by La Raya, the highest point and border between Cusco and Puno regions; after short ride, you will arrive to the restaurant where you would have a delicious buffet lunch. After lunch our next stop will be at Racchi whose stone and mud-brick walls were used to repel enemies from the South, also known as the temple of Wiracocha (an Inca deity). Before arriving into Cusco; you will stop and visit Andahuaylillas town where is situated a beautiful chapel; in which it's possible to see beautiful antique wall pictures called frescoes, gold covered altarpieces and unique wood sculptures, the church is also known as the Sixtina Chapel of America. Once you arrive to Cusco, our private vehicle will escort you to your hotel.

In morning, your guide will meet you in your hotel to begin your special city tour. Cusco is a fascinating blend of old and new cultures. It was once the capital of the Inca empire with its colonial buildings and great Inca architectural features. First you will visit the Cusco Cathedral located in Plaza de Armas, the main square. Here you will see many very important holy Christian artefacts and artwork derived from “the Escuela Cusquena” (Cusco colonial art school). Your tour will then take you to the Temple of the Sun, “Qoricancha” the most important Inca structure inside the city, then explore the nearby ruins, the majestic complex of Sacsayhuaman, which continues to be a very important religious and ceremonial site from the Incan culture. You will be amazed by the superb architectural achievements of the Inca civilization and get impressed when imagining how Incas moved and fit each uniquely shaped stone with a weight of some 70 tons, so perfectly together and without any “engineering tools”. After our visit to Sacsayhuaman, we will visit Q’enko, PukaPukara, and Tambomachay. Once the tour has finished, we would take you back to your hotel; and have the rest of the afternoon as free time for exploring the city by your own.

After breakfast served in your hotel, our guide will take you on a guided tour through  to the Sacred Valley, then we will make a stop at the Living Museum of Awanakancha where you will see Incan agricultural terraces, also interact with local weavers and feed South American camelids, such as the Vicuña, Guanaco, Llama, and Alpaca.

Then, the next point to visit will be Pisac, this valley was appreciated by the Incas, given its special geographic and weather qualities, as it is composed of a series of microclimates. It is one of the region’s main agricultural production centers, due to its fertile lands and it is the place where the best corn is produced in Peru. During your luxury trip, you will see the Vilcanota river right next to the road. In Pisac you will also visit an impressive archaeological Inca site. Most of studies say that this carved stone could have been used for astronomical purposes by the Inca priests.

Afterwards, there will be plenty of time to explore the town with its small adobe homes and walk through the lively market where you will have the chance to find a lot of pieces of art, such as textiles, ceramics, jewelry and crafts.

To end the day, you will be taken to a tourist restaurant situated in the valley, and where lunch will be served, after this lunch time you will be taken to your hotel, where you will have the rest of time to relax.

After a delicious breakfast in your hotel, you will visit the circular terraces of Moray; some experts believe this place has served as an agricultural laboratory because of its variations in temperature and soil type. Afterwards, you will continue touring through the town of Maras, a colonial town where is possible to see beautiful carved doorways; your next stop will be at the salt pans of Maras which are still in-use, thousands of white pools filled with salt and connected by an intricate network of water canals. After our last visit, you will be invited to the Foundation “Niños del Arco Iris”, the most important social project that provides education and health care to children and teenagers in extreme poverty. Here you will have a delicious BBQ lunch prepared by a local cook and all this surrounded by amazing landscapes.
After a tasty lunch, we continue our private luxury excursion to Ollantaytambo. It was named in honor of the Inca Chief Ollanta, famous for his courtship with an Inca princess, daughter of Pachacutec. Featuring an extensive archaeological site that presides majestically over the town, the site contains structures such as the Temple of the Sun, the Mañacaray or Royal Hall, the Incahuatana and the Baños de la Princesa.
Finish this intense day with a transfer service to your hotel situated in the heart of the Sacred Valley.

This master piece is the best representation the deep Spirit of a highly developed culture. Early in the morning, our tour staff will pick you up to be transferred to Ollantaytambo train station to catch a train to Aguas Calientes; this train trip is considered as a spectacular journey into the cloud forest protected by the Urubamba River. Upon your arrival, our guide will welcome and escort you to the entrance of Machu Picchu aboard a bus; here our professional tour guide will lead you on a private expedition through its most interesting sites. Machu Picchu is a place shrouded in the mystery, tales and legends. After a couple of hours in the sanctuary with your guide, you will be invited to enjoy a delicious lunch at the Sanctuary Lodge. After lunch, you will catch a bus back to Aguas Calientes; where later you will catch the train back to Cusco.

Today you will be transferred to Cusco airport in order to take a domestic flight back to Lima. On your arrival, you will have enough time to check in at the airport to catch your international flight.