aszatkowski

First off, I have to say thanks to everyone here who provided feedback. Your suggestions were great. Secondly, I must give some kudos to our tour organizer, Guillermo at Peru Best Tours. He was awesome. My girlfriend and I are not normally the types to take organized tours, but it was definitely worth it. PBT are family owned and operated and really made a personal effort to make sure we had a great time. Guillermo gave us a cell phone to constantly check up on us, and even spent time taking us out to Miraflores during our 5 hour layover in Lima on the way back.

On to the trip report… We did the “Best of the Andes” package and flew into Lima and connected directly on to Cusco staying at the Rumi Punku. Very nice hotel, helpful staff, hot showers, front door security, centrally located, all good. Our first day we did an informative city tour including trips out to the nearby ruins Koricancha, Sacsayhuaman, Puca-Pucara and Tambomachay. This was informative and a good way to get started.

The next day, we toured several other ruins including Pisaq, Ollantaytambo and Chincheros. Pisaq is incredible…big and an excellent hiking area. We kept running into local groups of school children who were very excited to get their picture taken with us. It was fun and funny.

The next day was spent doing the 2 day inca trail. I highly recommend this. If you go out on the first train in the morning, you’ll miss some of the “traffic” on the trail. We were very lucky and only saw one other group of hikers. Our guide, Eddie, was great and even had dinner with us that night. I can’t encourage this enough- just do it.

After spending the night in Aquas Calientes (hotel presidente-adequate but kinda grungy) we headed back up to MP to conclude our tour with Eddie. MP is amazing in the early morning.

Next day we took the bus ride from Cusco to Puno. It’s long, but there are several stops along the way and it was actually more enjoyable that I had expected. You’ll eat lunch in a local town and hopefully get serenaded by a local musician.

We stayed at the Taypikala(on the lake) rather than in Puno and it was great. A beautiful hotel with large rooms right on the lake. The restaurant is excellent and unbelievably inexpensive. $6 filet anyone? There was a rather moldy smell in the bathroom but if you open the window in there it makes it tolerable.

We took the tours to the floating islands and to Taquille. This was excellent as well. Taquille is absolutely beautiful and we had the opportunity to eat “locally” which was one of the best meals of the whole trip.

Next we were supposed to fly to Arequipa. Unfortunately, our flight got cancelled and in order to make it to our next hotel that evening we decided to hop on a bus. (BTW, Guillermo paid for the bus even though it wasn’t his fault) Our guide, Herman, was already waiting for us at the airport, whisked us away into the city, and we started frantically searching for a bus. We found a random bus on the street and a driver who said he’d take us. A couple hours into the trip, our driver answers his cell phone and passes it to me. It’s Guillermo checking to see if we’re ok. (how’d he track down our driver?) Needless to say, we made it to our hotel in Arequipa. Unfortunately, by 11pm, we were too exhausted to make it to our 2am Colca Canyon trip and decided to opt for sleeping in.(next trip) The Casa Arequipa hotel is fantastic. It’s like walking into the home of a long lost friend. They are incredibly friendly and helpful and put you completely at ease. I can’t imagine staying anywhere else.

A city tour in Arequipa wrapped things up nicely. We flew back to Lima, where Guillermo was nice enough to take us out during our layover. All in all a great trip. Again I’d highly recommend Peru Best Tours (perubesttours.com). They did a great job.

General Observations/opinions:
1. a lot of people understand English in Peru, but please try to learn some Spanish, it’ll make your trip much easier and more fun
2. although it appears you can use credit cards most places, it’s more difficult that you think. Some places have minimum spend, etc. Stick to Soles whenever you can.
3. plan some days of nothing. Tours can wear you out. Add in some days to just relax and explore on your own.
4. buy bottled water and snacks to keep with you all the time. You never know when you’ll be hungry/thirsty
5. do the inca trail-the 2 day version is not too hard if you’re in average shape and it’s an incredible way to enter into Machu Picchu.
6. I started to get “ruin-ed” out. There are lots of ruins to see and after awhile they start looking similar. I’d say my favorites were (obviously MP), pisaq, and Ollantaytambo. Sacsayhuaman is neat too. If you’re short on time, try to squeeze in other activities like lake Titicaca, Nasca, Colca Canyon, jungle, rather than see every ruin out there.
7. there’s tons of “touristy” places to eat in each town. Ask your tour guides to recommend someplace more authentic if you’d like.

Feel free to ask questions about the trip and I'll try to answer.

caligirl56

Enjoyed reading your trip report. We are starting to do research for a Peru trip in a bit over a year. Your report was very helpful. Did you hike up to the top of the Pisaq ruins--I've heard it's a bit of a scary path--wondering what your experience was?

aszatkowski

we did not hike all the way to the top of the ruins in pisaq.(tight time schedule) not sure about it being "scary" but it is fairly steep with some significant dropoffs. If you're doing the hike into MP also, I'd suggest you try to space them out since both are a good workout. Ours were back to back and we were pretty tired.

P_M

Thanks for this report, I've been researching a Peru trip and this is helpful. I went to PBT's web site and tried to look up this tour. I found one called Best of the Andes but it begins in Arequipa. Can you help me locate the tour you took, perhaps provide me a link?

Thanks.

taitai

Great report. We went in September and I second many of the suggestions especially to do the 2 day hike if you can't swing the 4 day Inca Trail. In terms of the Pisac ruins, we hiked the whole thing and there was one place that, for about 5-10 feet was steep with a big drop off. However, I did it and I am notoriously afraid of heights and couldn't even make it to the 1st observation deck at the Eiffel Tour!!! I just stayed close to (and touched) the cliff side and looked at my feet the whole time and was fine. Don't let that one small section dissuade you.

Have fun.
Taitai

mabute

Thanks for your helpful trip report. My family is planning a similar trip (with a 4 day Inca Trek) and was trying to figure out if its better to start in Arequipa or the Puno area and then finish off with the Inca trail. I know that 2 or 3 days are necessary to acclimatize, but wondered if the Sacred Valley area should be first, because of this reason.
Thanks for any advice.

aszatkowski

Mabute, it's hard for me to say where to start...I am by no means an expert on Peru and can only give you recommendations based on my experience. That said, one thing for sure is to make sure you take it easy the first couple days wherever you are. The altitude problems came on very subtle on the second day but were quite tolerable once you're focused on other things. If you're going to Puno, I assume you're doing the lake? Depending on how much time you're spending this could be a relaxing way to spend your first day or two. I've heard there's not much to do actually in Puno. Arequipa can be explored in about a day, but if you're there you obviously should do Colca Canyon which might be a little much for day 2. I would definitely contact some tour operators for an expert opinions. As in my post, I'd suggest PeruBestTours. They'll customize your trip for you, were way cheaper than several other companies, and are very friendly. Good luck.

beverlya

Thanks so much for the information. I am planning a trip with my husband for next September or October. We usually travel independently, but speak no Spanish (will try to learn some by trip time). It isn't clear to me from your report if your informative city tour was a group tour or if you had a guide or driver to take you to the ruins outside Cusco. Also, was your trip to the Pisac ruins and Ollantaytambo in a group or how did you get there? Do you know the best way (and cost) of an English speaking taxi to these places? Thanks, I'd appreciate any advice.

cmerrell

Hi aszatkowski,

How was the weather for you in November? I'm thinking of a Peru trip in October which I understand is at the end of the dry season.

Leslie_S

bookmarking

merlebernie

I've a question. We are going as a family of 5 next summer ('09), with 4 of us flying from the D.C. area. We'll fly into Lima and out of Quito. Have any of you been able to get frequent flier tickets or found less expensive flights?

eenusa

merlebernie - you don't say which airline you have mileage with. We're going April 2009. Last week - precisely 331 days from our return date to the US - I was able to get 2 business class tickets on Delta (first class fm IAD to ATL; business class fm ATL to LIM - this leg has no first class). Coach award tickets were available, too (although it might be more difficult with 4 of you). There seemed to be a mix of SkySaver and SkyChoice award tickets available. I used AmEx Membership Reward miles as I did not have enough miles on Delta. (Continental is a partner and had award seats available in economy.)

The key is to calculate 331 days from your return date to the US and get on the website bright and early that day. I understand you might be able to book the outbound segment separately (331 days ahead of that date), but I did not do that.

Good luck.

merlebernie

finally, we leave in less than 4 weeks - a week in Peru (Lima, Cusco, Sacred Valley, MP, Cusco) and then a week in Galapagos with overnights in Quito both coming and going. Any suggestions regarding a meal in Cusco or Quito? Other advice?

eenusa

Cusco - we really enjoyed a mi manera (http://www.amimaneraperu.com/en/) and cicciolina (http://www.cicciolinacusco.com/); for simpler fare, Yaku Mama's Grill located in Plaza de Armas was good.

angelhands222

THANKS FOR THE INFO!