travel333

We are planning 10 days, 9 nights in Peru at the end of September. Key areas of interest include Machu Picchu, Sacred Valley and Cusco. Do we have enough time for Lake Titicaca and Colca Canyon/Arequippa? If we go to all those places, it would mean only 1 day in MPicchu. Or, can have 2 days at MPiccu if pick either Lake Titicaca or Colca Canyon/Arequippa. What would you recommend based on your experience?

Elizabeth_S

Here's the 12 night itinerary we did in January of this year:

Arrive Cusco from Lima in early AM - transfer to Ollantaytambo for 4 nights - visit SV from Ollantaytambo

2 nights at Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge

3 nights Cusco

1 night in Puno/1 night on Amantani Island on Lake Titicaca and 1 night in Puno


In hindsight I wish we had added Colca Canyon/Arequippa - and we would have taken the time from Cusco - only spent one night there but we prefer smaller towns and aren't cathedral people.

I advocate 2 nights in Machu Picchu so you can visit during the early morning and later afternoon to avoid the day trippers....also it gives you a hedge for bad weather.

We REALLY enjoyed our experience on Lake Titicaca staying with a family for one night.

Here's a link to our blog - you can get a sense of the itinerary - hapy to answer questions

http://lizandrichardsa.typepad.com/l...aca/index.html

landlcochran

Liz:

I read your blog and thought that it was wonderful! We are going to MP and Galapagos next April. Just a 16 day trip with Lindblad Excursions. We can appreciate the Toronto winter - our part time neighbors here in Florida come down as often as they can.

2 questions:
Did you snorkel without a wet suit? Was the water cold? (I guess that may be rhetorical asking someone from Canada!)

Also, what type of camera did you shot the pictures with? My husband has several Nikon lens and is thinking of getting the digital SLR. I don't think my little point and shoot zoom will get it with the animals.

Linda

Jeff_Costa_Rica

I'd say look closely at flight schedules. Many of the flights to Peru operate in the evening, arriving in Lima very late at night (too late to catch a domestic flight), or operate overnight, arriving in Lima before dawn, where you could catch the first flight of the day to, say, Cusco or Arequipa. The same goes when flying home: many flights leave Lima very late at night, arriving in the U.S. around dawn, where you'd catch a connecting flight to your final destination. If your 10 days/9 nights includes all the travel time you have available, it might actually become 8 days and 7 nights to spend in Peru.

Elizabeth_S

Hi Linda!

Which Lindblad boat are you on? They are very highly regarded in Galapagos.

Re the wet suit question - we were there in February so the water was starting to warm up - I was happier with a wet suit (we rented them on the boat for about $30 for the week - they were short sleeved to mid thigh pool suits) but my husband was fine with just a long sleeved t-shirt (but remember, I'm the wuss leaving Toronto winters!).

Re cameras - funny you should ask - the Machu Picchu photos were taken with our 3 year old point and shoot 3.2 pixel Toshiba - it died the 2nd day in Galapagos. We were staying in Puerto Ayora so we went camera shopping there - as you can imagine, not a great selection. So we bought about a 5 year old Kodak point and shoot 3.1 pixel camera and it did a yeoman's job for the whole trip.

Several people on the cruise and later in Tierra del Fuego had the Nikon Digital/SLR you refer to and raved about it - if you're already camera people you'd probably regret not taking it......we almost bought it before we left but thought "hey, our camera won't break" Hah!

Be sure to take a lot of storage - we had a laptop so could transfer to it but I was shocked at how much we burned through.

Have a great time!

landlcochran

Liz:

Thanks for your quick response.
We'll be on the Polaris - April 20. It is quite expensive; but I'm still working and have to balance timing of vacation and plans to use FF miles to/from the States.

Best Regards,

Linda

My camera is a Nikon coolpix 4.0 pixels. I think that we should spring for the SLR and we can use existing lenses - plus sounds like 2 cameras is a good idea!

Elizabeth_S

Linda - just had a look at the itinerary - almost identical to the one we did on the Eclipse which we loved. Wish I could go back right now!

Re 2 cameras - yes, we learned the hard way!

mwgreen12

I think you are being too ambitious. We just returned from Peru:
1 night Lima
2 nights Arequipa
2 nights Puno
5 nights Cuzco area (2 nights Ollantaytambo - one full day in Machu Pichu)
1 night Lima
I guess a lot of people land in Lima and wait there for a plane for another distination without a stopover. Even so, you don't want to be running from one location to another without giving yourself time to enjoy things. with your limited time, I would skip Lake Titicaca and go to Arequipa/Colca.