chichen

We have a party of 8 going to Peru in Aug. 2012. We're be on a tight budget but would like to spend 4-5 days seeing the major archaeological sites Northen Peru has. What few on-line tours I can find are too many days, too costly, or miss some of the major sites and waste time with tours of the 2 major colonial cities. I have read of several people using individual guides but approx. costs aren't mentioned. Anyone have a good referral? Thanks! chichen

qwovadis

lonelyplanet.com Raul LP North Peru guide best info amazon.com
inkanatura.com Northern Kingdoms tours wonderful...
Careful many scammers here and there always pay with CC never wire money. Kuelap and Gocta Falls in season both do not misses for me. vivamancora.com great for some downtime.

qwovadis

Self guiding boots on the ground driver guides for me cost $35=50 TOTAL per half day I always negotiate price CRISP new USD small bills no tears. Ormeno best area bus. Driver guides cheaper usually with a group.

mlgb

You can do a combination of local bus, taxi and hired driver.

Many of the premier sites have excellent museums and some have English language guides.

I used a taxi driver out of Hotel Garza in Chiclayo, German (pronounced like Herman) Mena Rodriguez. If you use them through the hotel there are fixed prices for the various tour destinations. If you call him directly the prices should be lower, ie, he might be able to give you an hourly rate. BTW German mostly speaks Spanish, but says his brother speaks English. He is an older man, no worries about safety and the car is comfortable. I have his direct phone number is (074) 979634969

The agency that employs him is " Publicidades del Norte y Transporte. " When a highly touted "guide" in Trujillo messed me up, Garza and Mr. German rescued my itinerary. EG, he only day that was available for visiting the Lords of Sipan museum was free museum day. Luckily he had a friend at the museum and they were able to get me around the line.

You can use Transportes Linea between Chiclayo and Trujillo or you can fly. SEÑORA DE CAO, is possible to do by public transit but requires multiple changes (including a leg in a mototaxi). I'd try to find a taxi from Trujillo instead (if you can find someone to take you all the way to Chiclayo with a stop there, so much the better).

PS, I DON'T recommend Michael White (Clara Bravo) who posts on Lonely Planet.

chichen

Thank you all for the info so far esp.the "don't recommend, bus referrals, etc". But what is "self guided boots on the ground driver?" 1 thing all replies need to know is I do not understand some Text type writing so I am a little confused about some things BTW = by the way I think. Our other situation is the 8 of us are the 60-65 crowd - most of them aren't into a TOTAL "let's plan as we go along" - a bit out of their comfort zone. They've been using an organized tour company for years. The 1st part of our journey is with the organized tour company, then we are "breaking" away and I have talked them into doing some other things while in Peru which I am organizing. The other thing is - I know this may sound really stupid - but not 1 of us speaks Spanish. As I live in a small rural town in Iowa, Spanish speakers are at a premium. I have skype - and I am leaving for Mexico in a few days so maybe some of my friends there... Brainstorming is a good thing! I did look at Inkanatura's Northern Kingdoms - the 1 tour was the right amount of days but about $500 over our budget. I will follow through with the ideas given so far. Our trip is scheduled in mid-Aug.

chichen

P.S. - would love to see Kuelap, etc. but not enough time or money this trip...sigh...

mlgb

Why don't you contact Peru Best Tours and see what they can put together for a private tour at your budget.
They are a bit more flexible than some of the other operators.


www.perubesttours.com

chichen

Thanks. I hadn't found them so I'll give them a try. I tried 1 co. that wanted about $600 for 3 days/2 nights - nixed them. Am working with with Perurrooms now - that was an accidental internet find - we'll see what they come back with.I'll see what Peru Best Tours has to offer. I have some time to get things together.Another question - if one buys a Peruvian domestic flight now via eg. Expedia now (Feb) for an Aug. date, will the airline at the counter - accept the ticket with no issues?

mlgb

Why use Expedia? I would wait and see what an agency can do for you. They may be more willing to put together something if they can include the air ticket sales.

You can book directly with LAN (expensive) or Star Peru (recommended and less expensive although fewer flights).

When I did some hotel bookings I used booking.com, they have a good cancellation policy. Be very wary of booking nonrefundable hotel stays. The small hotels that I was working with were pretty good about moving dates without a penalty, although I was traveling at a slow time of year.

chichen

I was just using Expedia as an example. We'll already be in the country - was just wondering if I buy airline tickets on line many months in advance, will I have any trouble getting on my flight when the time comes - in other words, will the ticket agents accept them with no problems? I'm just a little concerned after reading some other travel "situations". I don't believe Star flies up to the Northen sections.
Thanks for the reassurance about booking.com - I've been looking them over.

mlgb

You're right, they don't. I think they used to!

Looks like it's only Lan now. You might as well book directly with them. If you are flying into South America on LAN or a One world airline they have a discounted pass system.

I took the night bus from Lima, it really wasn't bad at all. I didn't trust LAN to get me back to Lima on time for my flight home.

chichen

Were you able to sleep alright on the bus? I see Taca flies the Northern areas....I haven't had the opportunity to contact Peru Best Tours yet...

mlgb

Yes, I was able to get "Super VIP" reclining seats to Trujillo on Transportes Linea.

The route when I went was fairly smooth highway for most of the way, so I slept well, although not 100%, this was in 2010.

chichen

Thank you, This is good to know. I wasn't too worried but there's a couple others who are "already stressing out" about a 9 hour bus ride. This will help quell their fears.

mlgb

Super VIP is like flying first class...except for the restooms.

Tip Go before you get on the bus...and hopefully not again!

chichen

Sounds like excellent advice! Thank you!