DETAILED ITINERARY:

Day 1: ¡WELCOME TO PERU, AND TRANSFER TO YOUR HOTEL, IN LIMA!

¡Lima is a metropolitan city known for its colonial architecture and ‘ceviche’!

Once at Lima´s International Airport, and your luggage secured, localize you WEA Travel host who will be waiting, with your name on a sign, in the passenger exit hall.

As your flight must have been tiring, your host will take you directly to your hotel, to relax, take a shower and renew your energies, before starting your adventure in Peru.

Marriot Hotel

Dinner

Day 2: TRAVEL IN TIME, VISITING THE LARCO HERRERA MUSEUM, AND LIMA´S HISTORICAL CENTER!

The Larco Herrera Pre-Colombian Archaeology Museum displays about 45,000 objects from Peru´s coastal pre-Colombian cultures.

First, relax while enjoying a comforting breakfast, at your hotel. Then, get set to start activities, and discover our colorful country.

At noon, we´ll pick you up, to take you to the District of Pueblo Libre, where the Larco Herrero Museum shelters Peru´s largest collection of pre-Colombian objects. This includes gold and silver collections, as well as the famous erotic ceramic collection. In addition, you´ll have access to the storage area, where all pieces are duly catalogued. Indeed, this museum is the perfect introduction you could dream of, to get to know more about Peru´s history and pre-Colombian cultures.

Your experience starts with a delicious lunch, served on the museum´s terrace, in the shade of climbing plants. Then, you´ll have time to visit the museum´s collections.

Afterwards, we´ll discover the heart of Lima; the ‘City of Kings’, with its Main Square, Government Palace and San Francisco´s Monastery, which includes the guided visit of its catacombs, and then, the Casa Aliaga; the oldest house in South America, that has been the property of the Aliaga family, for 17 generations.

At the end of your visit, we´ll take you back to your hotel, where your guide will suggest you some excellent places to see and have dinner, at a short distance of Miraflores.

Marriot Hotel

Dinner

Day 3: FROM LIMA TO THE  INCAS´SACRED VALLEY !

The Sacred Valley is about 1,000 meters lower, in altitude, than Cusco, and it offers Serenity, Peace and an Inner Connection.

After breakfast, we´ll accompany you to the airport, to help you catch your flight to Cusco. On the way, enjoy wonderful aerial views of the Andes, with its snowcapped peaks and high mountains.

After a little over an hour of flying, you will arrive in Cusco and, from there, we´ll directly take you to the Sacred Valley, aboard a comfortable vehicle, so that you might fully enjoy the ride.  

Once in Cusco, we´ll take you directly to the Incas´ Sacred Valley, aboard a comfortable vehicle, so that you might enjoy the ride and beautiful landscapes.

Your experience, in the Sacred Valley, will begin with an exposition on the world-famous Giant White Corn, and its environmental impact, at the Hacienda Sara Pampa, followed by a delicious degustation lunch, that will delight your palate with a variety of dishes prepared with that corn. Finally, enjoy a show, with Peruvian step horses and, if you want to, you´ll have a chance to mount one.

In the afternoon, go on a relaxed guided visit of Pisaq´s Incan Architectural Complex, before going back to your hotel, to rest.

Tambo del Inca Resort

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Day 4: EXPERIENCE OLLANTAYTAMBO; THE ‘LIVE INCAN VILLAGE

Ollantaytambo is known as the ‘Live Incan Village’, because of its original Incan design and urban distribution that have survived up to our present days.  

Today announces a full program of emotions, experiences, connections and lessons.

Today´s excursion, in the Incas´ Sacred Valley, will start with a guided visit of the Patacancha Valley. We´ll leave our vehicle at the Pumamarca Incan Architectural Compound, to start hiking on a pre-Colombian path, following irrigation canals that border Incan agricultural fields that are still currently used for local agricultural production.

After about two hours of easy hiking, we´ll get to the ‘Incan Living Village’ of Ollantaytambo, where the original Incan design is still visible. For example, water, harnessed in the surrounding mountains, is running through Incan stone canals that supply its houses, and Incan trapezoidal doors and walls can still be appreciated, in houses, around the village.

In the company and care of your guide, ascend beyond the benched terraces and slopes, all the way to the fortified walls of the multifunctional urban center or ‘liaqta’ of Ollantaytambo, where the Incas defeated the Spanish, in the 16th century. Explore its sectors, enclosures and temples, with their precisely cut and fitted stone walls, and ask your guide to show you the distant quarries from which the Incan stonecutters and builders extracted the huge megaliths that were used in its building process. From its upper part, the site also offers fabulous views of the Urubamba Valley and River that winds its way towards the jungle.

After that visit, we´re sure that you´ll feel hungry. So, enjoy a traditional Peruvian ‘Pachamanca’; a dish, hundreds of years old that consists in marinating lamb, pork and chicken meat, with potatoes, in a variety of Andean ingredients, and then, to cook them to their perfection, in a underground oven. That way, you will witness each step of its preparation process like, for example, how the oven is prepared, how layers of white stones are placed in it, and how that dish materializes itself, before your eyes.

While your rustic country-style banquet is baking, make sure you go through the property´s organic garden, to smell the recently toasted coffee, at the farm´s main coffee toasting plant, and taste some of the varieties of ‘cañazo’; a typical local Andean spirit, elaborated with sugarcane.

At the end of your visit, we´ll take you back to your hotel, to spend a relaxed afternoon.

Tambo del Inca Resort

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Day 5: ENJOY AN EARLY MORNING TRAIN RIDE, THROUGH THE CLOUD FOREST, ABOARD THE LUXURIOUS HIRAM BINGHAM TRAIN, AND VISIT MACHU PICCHU!

Enjoy a one-of-a-kind train trip, aboard the Hiram Bingham, to Machu Picchu, and let Peru´s Wonder enchant you with its architecture, landscapes, history and enigmatic atmosphere.

Surely, today will permanently remain embedded in your memory and heart and, long after your return home, you will go on telling your family, friends and colleagues about how you´ve enjoyed your visit of the Incan City of Machu Picchu.

First, you´ll travel to Machupicchu Pueblo, aboard the Luxury Belmond Hiram Bingham Train, while the cloud forest will delight you, through the train´s panoramic windows. Then, enjoy a gourmet lunch, onboard, and take advantage of this 1920 Pullman-style train´s bar, to meet other passengers, as well as of the open-air observatory boxcar, to fully enjoy the surrounding landscape.

Once in Machupicchu Pueblo, a short uphill bus ride will leave you at the Incan city´s main entrance gate. Then, in the company of your private guide, you´ll start that so-longed for and memorable visit. First, ascend to the Guardian´s House, to fully enjoy Machu Picchu´s majesty, as it reveals itself to you, in its full splendor, beauty and extension, to leave you breathless and endlessly staring at this wonder of architecture, perfectly harmonized with its grandiose surrounding landscape. Finally, at the end of the two to three-hour visit, your room, at the Sanctuary Lodge Hotel, right at the Sacred City´s entrance gate, will welcome you for a rest and a good shower, before you enjoy a fantastic dinner, at the hotel´s restaurant.

Belmond Sanctuary Lodge

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Day 6: CLIMB UP MOUNT HUAYNA PICCHU, AND RETURN TO THE SACRED VALLEY, ABOARD THE HIRAM BINGHAM!

Huayna Picchu definitely is an experience you shouldn´t miss, while you explore Machu Picchu.

Today, you´ll have the option to ascend one of the two main mountains that protect the Incan city; that is, Mount Huayna Picchu or Mount Machu Picchu. In any case, either one gives you the unique opportunity to enjoy incredible and breathtaking views of Peru´s Wonder.

In fact, much depends on you and your physical health and condition, as well as on your adventurer´s spirit to make it there. However, given that there is a limited number of entrance tickets available, per day, to have access to these mountains, we strongly recommend you to book that activity way ahead of time.

After the afternoon tea, at the Sanctuary Lodge, we´ll descend to Board the Hiram Bingham Train. Once onboard, a delicious dinner will be animated by live Andean music.

Upon your arrival in Ollantaytambo, your WEA Travel host will transfer you, aboard a private vehicle, to the city of Cusco, and to your hotel, for a well-deserved rest.

Belmond Monasterio Hotel

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Day 7: EXPLORE THE MAGICAL CITY OF CUSCO, AND ITS HISTORICAL CENTER, ON A PRIVATE TOUR!

Cusco once was the capital city of South America´s most important culture and, in its streets, its history and energy can be felt.

Now, it´s time to get familiarized with the city of Cusco that conquered the heart of most travelers who visited it. So, discover the authentic Cusco, on a private guided tour.

After breakfast, at your hotel, enjoy a guided visit of Sacsayhuaman; an impressive Incan fortified ceremonial center, the construction of which still remains a mystery. Indeed, the weight of some megaliths, used to erect its strong walls, can reach up to 150 tons.

Afterwards, your guide will take you to visit San Blas; the artisans´ neighborhood, known for its Bohemian atmosphere. There, learn about traditional techniques used in the confection of ceramics, in Cusco´s area, during a private exhibition. Then, visit the Qoricancha that once was the Incas´ most important temple, dedicated to worshipping Inti, their Sun God.

To conclude your experience in Cusco, visit the San Pedro Market, where locals do their shopping, and still use traditional and quite peculiar ways of trading.

Upon concluding the visit, your guide will suggest you the best place to have lunch at.

Belmond Monasterio Hotel

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Day 8: ENJOY THE VISIT OF MORAY, MARAS´ SALT MINES AND THE VILLAGE OF MARAS!

Moray is known as a great agricultural laboratory, but, also, as an important energetic center.

After breakfast, at your hotel, we´ll take you to visit Moray; an important Incan agricultural complex and agricultural laboratory, where the Incas used to genetically manipulate plant species, from lower geographical areas, to adapt them, so that they might grow and reproduce, at different altitudinal levels, while they diversified their types and varieties.

Then, we´ll go on, to visit Maras´ Salt Mines; an impacting site, located in the Maras Gorge, where the famous Maras´ Pink Salt is being extracted, with ancestral techniques, since Incan times. That mineral mountain salt is recognized for its healing properties, and is perfect for cooking, due to its low sodium content.

At the end of the mines´ guided visit, we´ll head to the village of Maras, to enjoy a delicious country-style lunch, and interact with the local population, without the presence of thousands of tourists around. There, we will appreciate the quality of the fine traditional hand-woven textiles local women weave, and enjoy the peacefulness of that colonial village the main feature of which is characterized by the cut-stone doors, of many of its houses, sculpted with the noble colonial families´ shields of arms and other decorative designs.  

At the end of that experience, we´ll go back to your hotel, in Cusco, aboard a comfortable vehicle.

Belmond Monasterio Hotel

Breakfast,

Day 9: VISIT THE INSPIRING STREETS OF THE BOHEMIAN BARRANCO, AND FLY BACK HOME!

Lima´s District of Barranco is home to Peru´s most influent artists, musicians and cultural commentators.

Indeed, going back home is the worst part of any vacations anywhere in the world. So, WEA Travel always does everything possible, to make it easy, pleasant and without complications. First, we´ll take you to Cusco´s Airport, where we´ll assist you, to catch your flight to Lima, in good conditions. Once in Lima, a WEA Travel host will welcome and take you to the Bohemian District of Barranco. There, enjoy a first-class gourmet meal, with world-renowned Peruvian flavors, at a restaurant of your choice, from our list of suggestions, before returning to the airport, where your host will wish you a warm farewell, and help you catch your flight home.  

If you liked the way we have designed this luxury private experience, around the Cusco area, and in Machu Picchu, feel free to contact WEA Travel, and we´ll start designing your own personalized private travel experience, in Peru.

Breakfast