How many days in Puerto Maldonado?
Aug 15th, 2015, 05:19 AM
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How many days in Puerto Maldonado?
Hi all,
I would need a bit of advice on our itinerary through Peru - we're a young couple looking for mostly nature / trekking / jungle and we've got 18 days next month in Peru, which we've split as follows:
- Arrive in Lima, spend the night and then leave next day for Cusco (will spend a few days in Lima upon returning)
- Stay 2d/3n in Cusco for acclimatizing with altitude, then leave on the Salkantay trek to MP. Side note here, we're doing it solo, no guides / no porters, and was wondering if it can maybe be reduced to 5 days instead of 6?
- Do the Salkantay and return in Cusco on the 6th day of the trek in the evening.
- Stay the next day in Cuzco and in the evening take on overnight bus to Puerto Maldonado.
I've explored the getting by plane option too, to save time, but it's quite expensive compared to the bus in / plane out option, something like $111 vs $290.
Here's where i got stuck, by this schedule, on 14th september we'd be arriving in the morning in PM, but then we only have this day and the next two full days to spend in PM because on 17th we should be back in Cusco to overnight there, as we have the flight back to Lima on 11:30 from Cusco.
So the main question is .. are 2.5 - 3 days in PM enough to get into the jungle a bit or are we better off searching something closer to Cusco?
And if so, what would you reccomend in terms of jungle / wildlife reachable in time from Cusco?
We're mostly looking for experiencing wildlife and jungle as by now we would have had our share of trekking on the Salkantay.
Many thanks in advance for any advice you might have!
I would need a bit of advice on our itinerary through Peru - we're a young couple looking for mostly nature / trekking / jungle and we've got 18 days next month in Peru, which we've split as follows:
- Arrive in Lima, spend the night and then leave next day for Cusco (will spend a few days in Lima upon returning)
- Stay 2d/3n in Cusco for acclimatizing with altitude, then leave on the Salkantay trek to MP. Side note here, we're doing it solo, no guides / no porters, and was wondering if it can maybe be reduced to 5 days instead of 6?
- Do the Salkantay and return in Cusco on the 6th day of the trek in the evening.
- Stay the next day in Cuzco and in the evening take on overnight bus to Puerto Maldonado.
I've explored the getting by plane option too, to save time, but it's quite expensive compared to the bus in / plane out option, something like $111 vs $290.
Here's where i got stuck, by this schedule, on 14th september we'd be arriving in the morning in PM, but then we only have this day and the next two full days to spend in PM because on 17th we should be back in Cusco to overnight there, as we have the flight back to Lima on 11:30 from Cusco.
So the main question is .. are 2.5 - 3 days in PM enough to get into the jungle a bit or are we better off searching something closer to Cusco?
And if so, what would you reccomend in terms of jungle / wildlife reachable in time from Cusco?
We're mostly looking for experiencing wildlife and jungle as by now we would have had our share of trekking on the Salkantay.
Many thanks in advance for any advice you might have!
Aug 15th, 2015, 06:02 AM
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It's permitted to do the Salkantay trek alone. The question is: Should you? Do you have a lot of experience with high-altitude trekking? I would never attempt this without the reassurance of having an experienced guide with me.
Cusco to PM by bus will take you about 10 hours. It's a winding, twisting highway. That will be an exhausting bus ride, especially coming on the heels of a multi-day trek. You know what your budget is. I would spend the money and fly both ways, or not go.
Cusco to PM by bus will take you about 10 hours. It's a winding, twisting highway. That will be an exhausting bus ride, especially coming on the heels of a multi-day trek. You know what your budget is. I would spend the money and fly both ways, or not go.
Aug 16th, 2015, 02:59 AM
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Thanks for the reply! We're reasonably experienced both in multi day trekking and endurance, and we've also been at high-altitude before, not on a such a long trek but we know what (not) to do, so we're confident about the Salkantay, however the option is open for porters for example, should we feel when we get there that it's really worth it!
It's true that it might be really tiring journeying to PM by bus after that, so doy ou have any idea what can we do in the remaining 3-4 days around Cusco, that would involve nature / wildlife / animals, etc? We're not so much into cultural visits to other towns but would rather see as much nature as we can! Thanks again for the advice!
It's true that it might be really tiring journeying to PM by bus after that, so doy ou have any idea what can we do in the remaining 3-4 days around Cusco, that would involve nature / wildlife / animals, etc? We're not so much into cultural visits to other towns but would rather see as much nature as we can! Thanks again for the advice!
