Speak to me of Peru

Old Apr 18th, 2014, 12:19 PM
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Speak to me of Peru

Need opinions about a very basic question: Do we need a tour/guide in Peru?

Background information: We're a couple in our mid-40s, not particularly fit, but we do OK in most situations. We are extensively traveled in Europe, entirely independently, using public transportation and trains or (occasionally) rental cars and staying in small, local hotels.

We did a full-on group tour/river cruise in Russia. We used a series of private guides to see Morocco.

We go to Mexico (not the huge areas) independently at least annually. I have slightly-better-than-a-little-bit of Spanish.

I personally prefer to travel as independently as possible. My husband doesn't mind the tour group scene.

So the question: Do we need a tour and/or guide in Peru, considering that type of background?

Thanks for your insights!
Worktowander is offline  
Old Apr 18th, 2014, 09:32 PM
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No you do not need a tour guide
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Old Apr 19th, 2014, 02:27 AM
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I like your Morocco model.
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Old Apr 19th, 2014, 09:04 AM
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Peru has a very-well developed tourism infrastructure, especially for the major tourist areas. You don't need a tour group. It's easy to book hotels online or by email. You can also mix and match with short tours and site specific guides. Many tourist businesses have at least one employee who speaks English

The major museums and tourist sites (such as Machu Picchu or San Francisco in Lima)often have dedicated English-speaking guides that can be hired at the entry.

For day tours private guides can be hired for a few days, especially around the Sacred Valley. Some good ones have been recommended on this forum. I think they are a better option than the awful group bus tours.

You can take public transportation and taxis easily if you speak a little Spanish. Taxi drivers don't speak much English. Most hotels can arrange drivers and pickups from airports or bus stations (generally a good idea in Lima and Puno or on the north coast). Less of an issue where taxis are better regulated. In Lima you can use radio taxis for safety, same in Cusco. Less of an issue out in the country or in small towns like Nazca or Paracas. There are also a few tourist buses that make sightseeing stops, good options between Cusco and Puno and also on the route Puno to Chivay to Arequipa.

There are also smaller Peruvian-based travel agencies that specialize in certain regions (although they are also willing to plan your whole trip). Around Lake Titicaca the travel agency All Ways is good (www.titicacaperu.com)

Some places are just easier to visit on a guided tour, eg to see the condors in Colca Canyon from Arequipa. I used Giardino Tours and had a great guide. After the first day which included the condor viewing, they dropped me at a hotel and I continued on my own.
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Old Apr 21st, 2014, 03:01 PM
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I was happy not having a tour guide -- traveled to Cusco, the Amazon, Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu and Lima. I used Llama Taxi (one of two companies recommended by iPeru) to see the Sacred Valley. It cost me $55 for 8 hours. More info: http://www.esmetravels.com/sacred-valley/
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Old Apr 22nd, 2014, 12:08 PM
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Thanks for the great tips! I like the idea of hiring who we need, when we need them and winging it the rest of the time.
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Old Apr 23rd, 2014, 11:29 AM
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I was happy with most of my "awful" group bus tours in Peru--Sacred Valley (twice), three around Huaraz, and one to Colca Canyon (turned out not to be so good but only partially the fault of the operator). They're fun if you speak Spanish and, frankly, better as I've found my ability to understand Spanish is better than their ability to speak English.

I've also had guides to some of the places who you hire at the entrance (Chan Chan, San Francisco, Santa Catalina Convent in Arequipa).

Pick all these up locally by going to a local travel agency. I would not book before arrival, except in the case of hiking to MP or visiting the Amazon, where you want to have your plans set before arriving.
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Old Apr 23rd, 2014, 12:19 PM
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Unfortunately many of the Sacred Valley bus tours spend too much time picking up passengers from hotels (at least an hour, usually), then shopping at commission paying stores and restaurants.

I also did the 3 Huaraz bus tours, since transportation is more of an issue on one's own. But still too much time shopping and eating, because this seems to be what Peruvian nationals like to do on their holidays. For an international tourist, this is not necessarily seeing what you had wanted to. Worst example the 10 seconds per person allowed to look at the Lanzon. Of course they can still be fun, I was 'adopted' by a nice Peruvian family on one, but at least in the Sacred Valley it is much easier to go at your own pace.
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Old Apr 24th, 2014, 09:46 AM
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mlgb--didn't have that problem in either Cusco or Huaraz. Both Cusco tours picked everyone up right behind the Plaza de Armas, and the Huaraz ones picked us up at the bus park/terminal located downtown.

I don't recall any time spent shopping (other than a brief stop at Chincheros market). One of the Cusco tours had an obligatory stop for fotos of woman and alpaca with cute girl and lamb and the second at a roadside stand of ladies selling various usual and unusual things (I bought a plastic bubble-wrap type container with about twenty examples of seeds, etc., one of which was coca leaf that I tore off before getting on the plane back to US) but these were nothing like we experienced on group tours in Italy and Greece. More whimsical than annoying.

At Chavin, we had all the time we wanted to look at and photograph the Lanzon, wander around, etc. In fact, two young Basque men on in our group decided to do their own tour of the off-limits galleries inside the Chavin temple, resulting in general havoc. Our guide was very good and I learned a lot.

We did do Pisac and the ruins between there and Cusco on our own and mostly on foot, and if I were to go to Cusco again, I'd probably skip the tour. But, like the tour to Chavin, I learned a lot from the young and very enthusiastic tour guide on my first tour.

I did hire a taxi on my first trip to go to Pikallacta, and he suggested I go to another place whose name I don't recall--Inca terraces with hydrological features that I found very interesting. However, the driver did not give me any info about these, so I just wandered around in Pikallacata with my guidebook trying to imagine what it was like.
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Old Apr 24th, 2014, 10:12 AM
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Must have been a while ago? Now the galleries in Chavin are open to the public. Far too much time spent having lunch on this particular tour. We did get to spend a reasonable amount of time at the newish museum, though, which I appreciated.

Two of the stops I particularly recall were dulce de leche and a pottery. I believe that was the group tour that went to the Laguna Llanganuco. It was combined with a tour of the landslide site in Yungay. While very interesting by itself, between shopping and lunch there was maybe 40 minutes out of the whole day for the Laguna!

The tour to the Pastoruri glacier was probably my favorite of the three, combined with a wander among the Puya Raimondii. I guess because that area is undeveloped there are fewer commission paying venues.

I'm afraid the Sacred Valley bus tour that combines Pisac Urubamba and Ollantaytambo is now pretty bad, many complaints here about how little time is spent at the sites.
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Old Apr 24th, 2014, 10:17 AM
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Forgot to comment on the guide quality. Of course, this is a crap shoot. One of our Huaraz ones was so bad, that the Peruvian passengers were yelling "Falta." I remember an older gentleman saying "I took this tour because I wanted to learn about my country. When are you going to start talking?"

Also true that smaller and less visited sites will not likely have any interpretation, so either better to read up ahead of time or hire a guide and driver for the day, if there is not bus tour.

This is not likely to be an issue for the bigger sites of Pisac and Ollantaytambo. A few times I have found onsite an archaeologist or caretaker who is able to explain the main features.
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Old Apr 25th, 2014, 09:54 AM
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Sorry to hear things have deteriorated (i.e. gotten more like Europe) since I was there.
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Old Apr 25th, 2014, 12:36 PM
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I'm afraid even since my first trip 5 years ago. I think the governments are pouring lots of money into tourism infrastructure, & many more tourists have Machu Picchu on the bucket list.

So more demand for tour guides, tour buses, etc. Even in relatively off the beaten path places like Chachapoyas.
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