We have three weeks (Aug 24 - Sept 14) in Peru, and I continue to absorb all the wisdom and advise from fellow Foderites' experience....
After landing late in Lima, and staying there overnight, here is our first attempt at an itinerary that we hope will allow us a glimpse of Peru's culture and history. We do not plan to hike the full Inca Trail (camping/hiking) but will be looking for lots of day hikes and adventures. We do not really wish to go to the Amazon area, and with our limited time and desire to stay a little longer in areas will not be able to visit the Northern area either.
Here goes:
4 nights in Cusco (early morning flight from Lima)
3 nights Sacred Valley (most likely Ollyantaytambo)
3 nights Puna/Lake Titicaca (including one night homestay)
4 nights Arequipa (includes overnight trip to Colca Canyon)
3 nights Nasca (hopefully also to visit Paracas Reserve)
3 nights Lima
Too much or too little time in a particular spot? I think we will take buses between places (except flight from Lima to Cusco), but still researching that area. We prefer to not switch hotels too often, but this is our first South American trip after many trips to europe, so realize we may need to change our habits!
Any thoughts or suggestions welcome!
Peru itinerary - suggestions welcome!
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I looks like a nice relaxed itinerary pretty much following the standard "gringo trail". I would switch the first two locations around and go straight to Ollantaytambo from the airport which will give you time to aclimatise to the altitude as Ollantaytambo is a little lower than Cusco. Also, the buses to Puno will leave from Cusco bus station ( I recommend the Inka Express which take a day but has lots of interesting stops along the way - book a few days in advance).
There are lots of hikes around the SV , some directly from Ollantaytambo. horse rides are another fun way of exploring the SV.
No Machu Pichu? We didn't bother with the Inca Ttrail either. Instead we did a 3 day hike from Lares to Ollantaytambo which was an amazing experience and one which I would thoroughly recommend' unless of course, you just don't like camping!
Pisac should be on your list either as a day trip or as an overnight. Great and colourful market there on a Sunday.
Buses are a great way to get around, they are usually frequent and reasonably punctual. Local buses operate on a " when full " basis and you may have to wait awhile. Cusco to Ollantaytambo takes a couple of hours as I recall with a change in Urumbamba. www.andeantravelweb s a good resource for research.
Yep, I agree it looks like a nice relaxed itinerary. You can easily use Cuzco as a base for four days and thoroughly visit the city in this time before moving onto the Sacred Valley.
Ollantaytambo is a good place to use as a base and it is also easy to travel to Machu Picchu from here. If you do decide to visit Machu Picchu (which is definitely worth a visit) I would suggest you spend at least the night before visiting the Machu Picchu citadel in the town of Aguas Calientes.
This is a good free resource for planning your itinerary in Cusco: http://www.bestofcusco.com/download-free-sample-itineraries/
Thank you for the great advice! I should have been clearer - yes, we do plan to visit Macchu Picchu, but we really don't think the four day hike is for us. I took a long, hard read of colduphere's trip report from January of last year and while I think it would be amazing, we're pretty sure we'll just do the visit from Aguas Calientes.
Crellston - you're correct, for us it's the camping...we're just not tough Canadians
I feel better about the itinerary, and now will decide on bases, and will make sure to fit Pisac into at least a day trip.