Peru - Land of the Incas

Tour Itinerary

• Day 1 • Fly to Peru

  Fly overnight to Lima, Peru's fascinating capital.

• Day 2 • Arrive in Lima

  Arrive in Lima and transfer to your hotel, where you can spend the rest of the day at leisure.

• Day 3 • Lima guided city tour

  A guided tour reveals Lima, founded by Francisco Pizarro, a vibrant city of nine million with UNESCO-listed colonial treasures, including the Plaza Mayor with its Presidential Palace and Baroque cathedral, alongside the modern districts of San Isidro and Miraflores. Stroll through El Olivar Park’s ancient olive groves, visit the cats of Kennedy Park, or admire Pacific views from the cliffside Larcomar mall, before choosing from Lima’s celebrated culinary scene this evening.

• Day 4 • Fly to Cusco and the Sacred Valley

  Today you'll fly east from Lima to the Inca stronghold of Cusco. From here you'll travel by coach into the fabled Sacred Valley of the Incas, where highlights will include a visit to the tiny Andean town of Ccaccaccollo, where the ancient Inca techniques of weaving and fabric-dyeing live on, and you’ll enjoy a demonstration given in the local Quechua language, before spending the night in the Valley.

• Day 5 • Sacred Valley Tour

  Continue your exploration of the Sacred Valley, today. Visit Pisac, with its substantial Inca ruins and colourful market, and Ollantaytambo, home to the remains of a monumental Inca fortress from which the Inca organised resistance against Hernando Pizarro (conquistador brother of Lima’s Francisco). Highlights of your day will be a visit to an indigenous community ‘Potato Park’ and a traditional lunch. You’ll then spend a second night in the Valley, in preparation for tomorrow’s extraordinary day.

• Day 6 • The Magic of Machu Picchu

  Travel by narrow-gauge railway to Aguas Calientes in a panoramic Vistadome carriage, admiring Andean scenery before a winding bus ride up to Machu Picchu, the breathtaking Lost City of the Incas. Explore this extraordinary mountaintop citadel—thought to have been a military outpost or royal retreat of Pachacuti—as your guide explains landmarks including the Temple of the Sun, Temple of the Three Windows, and Sunken Plaza, one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, before returning via Aguas Calientes to Cusco for a two-night stay in South America’s archaeological capital.

• Day 7 • Cusco City Tour

  The Incas called Cusco the 'Navel of the World', and its citadel (reputedly shaped like a puma) was an intricate maze of palaces and gilded temples upon which the conquering Spanish built their colonial city. It remains one of the world’s most enthralling settlements, and today's guided tour will bring to life the city’s fascinating history and most important landmarks, including the Santo Domingo monastery, built on the site of the Inca Temple of the Sun, the magnificent Cathedral and the elegant Plaza de Armas. You'll also take a walk through colourful San Pedro Market, with its stalls selling local produce, clothing and crafts, before spending a second evening in the city.

• Day 8 • Puno

  You'll have a very early start, this morning, as you board your well-appointed coach for the 10.5-hour journey through the high Andean plains to Puno. Alternatively, you may choose to take the PeruRail Titicaca Train (must be pre-booked, supplement applies). As you travel through the startling landscape, you'll make plenty of stops, including for a gourmet lunch, and arrive in lakeside Puno late this afternoon to spend the first of two evenings in the colourful capital of Peruvian folklore.

• Day 9 • Included Lake Titicaca Cruise

  Lake Titicaca, the world’s highest navigable lake and mythical birthplace of the Inca civilisation, is home to traditional shore and island communities and rich Andean wildlife. Travel by boat to the Uros people’s floating reed islands to learn about their enduring way of life, then continue to Taquile Island for a rewarding walk, visits to local craft shops, a traditional lunch, and insight into the lake’s cultures before cruising back to Puno for a second evening.

• Day 10 • Across the Aguada Blanca National Reserve

  Board the coach early this morning and journey west from Titicaca, heading towards startling, scenic landscape of the Aguada Blanca National Reserve, past herds of vicunas and alpaca, and the Inca farming terraces that are still worked today. Pass across the high plains, enjoy lunch and the opportunity to visit a natural hot spring, then spend the night in Chivay, your gateway to the stunning Colca Canyon.

• Day 11 • Condors and the Colca Canyon

  We'll have an early start today, as we drive to the spectacular viewpoint at Cruz del Condor. Here, with luck, you'll catch sight of the enormous, majestic condors that make the Colca Canyon their home gliding on the swirling winds and thermals. Take a short, guided hike into the spectacular canyon, then continue your scenic journey, pausing at the ancient villages of Pinchollo, with its pre-Inca terraces, at the Andean community of Maca, and at Yanque, with its beautiful Baroque church. This afternoon, you’ll arrive in the beautiful city of Arequipa, in its dramatic setting beside the Chile River beneath three snow-capped volcanoes.

• Day 12 • Arequipa City Tour

  Today you’ll enjoy a tour of White City, Arequipa, with its elegant main square Plaza de Armas, lined on one side by the great cathedral, and surrounded by 19th-buildings constructed of white volcanic stone. You’ll also visit the extraordinary ‘town within a city’, the narrow streets, cloisters and hidden quarters of the Monasterio Santa Catalina, to discover the convent's fascinating religious art and architecture. Your tour will end with a visit to the stunning Jesuit La Compañía church to see its ornate façade, golden altar and the adjacent chapel with its richly decorated cupola.

• Day 13 • Free Time and Overnight Return Flight

  Spend a last few hours in Lima, perhaps enjoying lunch, before returning to the airport to check in for your overnight flight home.

• Day 14 • Land in the UK

  Arrive home, today, after an absorbing, extraordinary Peruvian adventure.