allure

So, I am heading to Peru in 5 weeks and I am just planning. We need to spend the night in Lima as our flight gets in at 11PM. Do you have any hotel suggestions near the airport? We will have an early am flight so convenience is key but also clean. We are trying to avoid using a travel agent but want to hike the Inca trail - can anyone recommend who to contact for that? Also, we are thinking of Arequipa, Colca Canyon, Cuzco, MP, Puno, Lake Titicaca and then heading home...although really want to go to Ollantaytambo - where do you suggest we fit that in? Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated - we are there for 10 days.

Jeff_Costa_Rica

You do realize the Inca Trail excursion is 4 days/3 nights. That's a big bite out of a 10-day trip to try and fit in those other things. Some outfitters do an abbreviated 2 day/1 night trip that's basically the last two days of the four-day excursion. In any case, you have to use a guide. A couple of outfitters I've used are:

SAS Travel
www.sastravelperu.com

and Enigma Travel
www.enigmaperu.com

Make reservations soon. Spots on the trail excursions don't fill up in November as quickly as they do in high season, but you want to be able to fit the trip in if your flexibility is limited. It might be too late if you wait until you get to Cusco.

You'd fit in Ollantaytambo before or after the Inca Trail. The trail's starting point is near the town.

cailin

Don't go with SAS - they have a reputation for not treating their porters very well. We did the trek with Llama Path and they were fantastic. I would highly recommend them. They are a small company and there were only 3 in our group. If you google them you will find their website.

allure

Very helpful. Thanks for your tips. One last thing...do you recommend staying near the Lima airport OR would you stay in the city? Thanks.

cailin

Neither - I would recommend the suburbs of either Miraflores or Barranco. www.secondhomeperu.com is extremely reasomnable and was a lovely place to stay in a nice safe area.

allure

Cailin: we ended up going with llama path. and staying the extra night in AC with their hostel recommendations. THanks for the tip.

cailin

great. I am sure you won't be disappointed - we were extremely pleased with our choice.

allure

thanks again. i assume you stayed in the hostels that they recommended?

cailin

No, we stayed in hotels that I researched myself. We didn't stay in any hostels on our trip.

millencolinf2f

I just wanted to point out can do a 1-day trip to MP as well if you're tight on time. There's a train that take you all the way to Aguas Calientes at the base of MP where you can catch a bug the rest of the way up. The train will pass by Ollantaytambo on the way there, but won't stop.

allure

I thought there was a train that stopped from AC to Ollantaytambo?

kaneda

Not spending any time in Lima? It has 20 museums, including the gold museum, and the far better armoury above it. The Rafael Larco Herrera museum which has ceramics and such literally from floor to ceiling. Museum of the Nation. Museum of Natural History. An art gallery, etc.


Yes, Miraflores is the best place to stay. It is quite upmarket.


Since you are on a tight schedule, how about the train to MP? You can do it all in a day, arriving there early. I seem to remember going on a trip to Ollantaytambo from Cuzco which has lots of travel agents from which to organise other good trips. A few things to see in Cuzco too.


Watch out for pick pockets in Peru.

cailin

Yes, the train from Aguas Calientes to Cusco DOES stop at Ollantaytambo. I think some trains are direct and do not stop, but others do - ours did!

heyjude21919

When you get back I hope you will chare your itinerary and how it went. My husband and I are thinking about Peru for next summer and really don't want to take an escorted tour. We like to have the freedom to do what we want. So I'll be anxious to hear about your trip. I think we want to do the same places: Cusco, Sacrad Valley , MP, and maybe Lake Titicaca in 10 days, but not hiking the Inca Trail.

cailin

heyjude21919 - we did an unescorted trip in August this year and had a fantastic time. I would also recommend Arequipa - it was my favourite city that we visited in Peru. The Nazca lines were also good but you might struggle to fit that in with such a short trip.

I would recommend:
Day 1: Lima
Day 2: fly to Arequipa, night there
Day 3: Arequipa
Day 4: Colca Canyon
Day 5: Colca Canyon, back to Arequipa, fly to Juliaca - night in Puno
Day 6: trip to Lake Titicaca islands
Day 7: travel to Cusco, night in Cusco
Day 8 & 9: Sacred Valley / MP
Day 10: back to Lima

heyjude21919

That looks lilke a great itinerary. Did you hike in Colca Canyon or is there a viewing area accessible by vehicle. Also did going to Arequipa first help with the altitude acclimation/

heyjude21919

caaitlin, I also meant to ask if you had a guide during each leg of the trip and if so did you pick one up on site or pre-arrange? thanks

cailin

We did a little hiking in Colca Canyon, but there are viewing areas for the condors that are accessible by vehicle.

We spent 2 nights in Arequipa and it definitely seemed to have helped with acclimatising - we had no altitude sickness problems at all apart from slight breathlessness when walking.

We did the whole trip ourselves - got public transport and booked our own accommodation before we left. The only exceptions to this were our tour to Colca Canyon, Lake Titicaca and obviously the Inca Trail. Before we left we couldn't find any info on how to do Colca ourselves - other than renting a car which I wasn't too keen on - so we went with www.colcatrek.com. They were very good and reasonably priced.

For Lake Titicaca we went with Allways Travel www.titicacaperu.com

Author: heyjude21919
Date: 11/02/2006, 11:04 pm

caaitlin, I also meant to ask if you had a guide during each leg of the trip and if so did you pick one up on site or pre-arrange? thanks

cailin

oops - sorry, I hit reply too soon!

Anyway, Allways Travel were good. We didn't have much contact with the guide - he gave us a small chat on the boat on the way to the islands and introduced us to the families we were staying with, so it was quite like a DIY trip.

For the Inca Trail we went with Llama Path who were fantastic.

If you've any more questions, just shout!

heyjude21919

thanks so much. I looked up Llama Path on the web and really liked their itinerary (peruvian highlands)which seeemed to be what you did..Aarequipa, then Puno, then Cusco and MP.
Has anyone out there, done this tour? I'd be interested in reading the pluses and minuses. Thanks