bjamie

Hi! We are planning a 2-week trip to Peru in June and looking at our tentative itinerary, we have an extra day to spend somewhere. We would ideally like to have a relaxing day in a lodge or on a beach somewhere, but if anybody knows of a great day trip from one of the places we'll be we'd be up for that too. Do we need more than 3/4 of a day in Lima (we're not much for big cities), should we spend another day in Cusco to acclimate before the Inca trek?Thanks! Here is our plan so far:

Day 1: Arrive Cusco early morning
2: Cusco/Pisac
3-6: Inca trail, Macchu Picchu
7: travel to Puerto Maldonado
8-10: jungle excursions
11: travel to Titicaca
12-13: Lake Titicaca
14: Travel to Lima, arrive late morning
15: Fly home

Jeff_Costa_Rica

I'm not sure if I'm reading your question right. You either have a 16th day to play around with, or you want to do some shifiting around.

Either way, I'd put an added day between Days 6 and 7. As it stands now, you'll arrive in MP very early the morning of Day 6, after a tiring Days 3-5 on the trek. You'll spend the day tromping around the ruins, board the train in the afternoon, arrive in Cusco in the evening, and get up very early the next morning to catch a flight to Puerto Maldonado. That seems exhuasting to me.

I'd spend Night 6 in Aguas Calientes, treat myself to a nice dinner and a comfortable bed as a reward for having completed the Inca Trail, and then head to Cusco the next afternoon. You'd have a chance to explore the ruins a little more leisurely.

bjamie

We have a 16th day to play around with anywhere within the trip and we're just not sure where to add it. Since our train fare from MP to Cusco is covered in our trek fees, does anyone know if the company will just give us train tickets for the next day if we opt to spend the night in Aguas Calientes instead of returning to Cusco immediately?

mlgb

If you are flying directly from Lima to Cusco, I would definitely add another day at the front of your trip for Cusco or the Sacred Valley. Not only to acclimate, but in case you experience a flight delay into Cusco (very common). I am just finishing up my stay in Peru and ran into a number of people who had flights cancelled or were bumped into later in the day, so they missed out seeing anything of Cusco or the Sacred Valley. I think you will want more than one day to adjust to altitude. I would recommend an excursion to Chinchero, Maras, and the Salinas if you have an extra day. If you are interested in buying textiles or crafts, the best deals I found were from the ladies at the entrances to these rather out of the way places. The market in Aguas Calientes near the train station was quite good, as was the Sunday Pisac market. Also the Pisac ruins would make a great warm up for the trek.

I think you will have to ask the tour company about your tickets. If they have not booked them yet maybe they can arrange them as you would like, or if you can pick them up you can change them at the train station for a 10% penalty.

qwovadis

Spending relaxing day chilling in Miraflores maybe a Mirabus City
tour of Lima pretty cool prior to
your flight...

yestravel

I agree with mlgb, spend the day in the SV. her suggestions are good or Ollantaytambo is a nice village to see. I think u need another day to acclimate.
Enjoy!

althom1122

I too agree with mlgb. I think you need an extra day to acclimate, plus some more time for the Sacred Valley. It's a shame you don't have TWO extra days so you could also do what Jeff suggests. If you flew home from Lima the same day you arrive from Puno (Juliaca), would that give you two? If so, that's what I'd recommend. Most flights out of Lima are late at night, so you would have a bit of time in the afternoon (3/4 of a day) as you suggest. Lima gets mixed reviews here. Some like it; others say it's not worth much time. We chose not to include it in our itinerary, so I can't comment based on any personal experience.
Karen

Jeff_Costa_Rica

You'd really have to ask the tour company if they can change your return train ticket. Since it's June, the highest of the high season, possibly not. But, as others here have suggested, you could give yourself more of a down day following the Inca Trail back in Cusco or the Sacred Valley. It's just the four days of trekking, exploring MP, catching the afternoon train back to Cusco and THEN turning around very early the next morning and flying to Puerto Maldonado, and THEN catching the boat to your lodge that all sounds very tiring to me. I'd break that up a little if it's an option.

bjamie

Thanks so much for all the advice! I think we're going to add a day in the Sacred Valley before our trek. It looks like there are flight to Puerto Maldonado at 11am so we would at least get to sleep in a little bit! Then, when we get to PM I believe it would be too late to start our 4 day jungle excursion that day so we will have the rest of the day to chill.

KensingtonGirl

It's not clear why you think you can't start your jungle excursion the same day you fly into Puerto Maldonado since the flight is very short. Cusco is a much more interesting town than Puerto Maldonado on probably every level. If your option is to fly mid-day to PM and then spend the night in PM or spend the night in Cusco and fly out early the next morning to PM and move on to the jungle lodge that day then pick the Cusco option. The first day at the lodges usually consists of the boat ride from town and an evening excursion so its pretty relaxing.

bjamie

So if we arrived in Puerto Maldonado around 10 or 11 am we could start our jungle excursion the same day? Good to know! I assumed they would pick you up around 9 or 10 the first day.

KensingtonGirl

We arrived around mid-day at Puerto Maldonado and there were staff from numerous jungle lodges meeting the flight. Airport transfers to the lodges and back seem to be included in most of the jungle excursions but you would need to check out the one you're planning to use. We used Reserva Inkaterra and highly recommend it but other lodges have also been recommended highly on this forum.