10 Full Days in Peru
 

I am asking for assistance with planning 10 full days in Peru for 4 adults. I have planned to arrive on Thanksgiving morning around 9 am into Cuzco. The rough shell currently is to sight see there and maybe go to the Sacred Valley that Thursday or Friday. Saturday morning (day 3) we would start the 4 day trek to Machu Picchu on the Inca Trail, returning the evening on Tuesday (day 6). Wednesday (day 7) I am hoping to catch an early tour bus like Inca Express to Puno and tour the Lake Titicaca Islands. It seems I would need a minimum of 3 days for this? That would have me returning to Cuzco the evening of Friday (day 9). Saturday (day 10) I would catch an early flight to Lima and see as much there as possible before departing the next day (day 11) for the United States.

I am completely open to suggestions on getting from place to place or places not to miss. I feel like I will only have time for highlights of this wonderful place. I have read threads where some say Colca Canyon is a can't miss for example over seeing Lima. I am an active hiker and backpacker so tend to appreciate a fast pace of the beaten path where possible rather than slower paced group tours and such.

Thanks, Jeff.

I would suggest you fly from Puno to Lima, no sense in going back to Cusco just to go on to Lima. I am assuming you have already booked your Inca Trail tour? You need to do this in advance. Ollyantambo is my favourite place in the sacred valley and has a great ruin to climb and a wonderful place to just hang out. You can stay there and start your inca trail tour from there without going back to Cusco most likely.

Most Inca Trail trek agencies suggest sleeping at least two or three nights in Cusco, not lower down.

There are one day tours that take you to both Uros and Taquile.
One day for the bus from Cusco to Puno.
And as said you can fly back from Juliaca to Lima.

I don't think you have time for Arequipa.

I think it's always best to fly back to Lima the night before, particularly from Juliaca where there are limited flights and a history of protests around the airport!

Your itinerary is very similar to ours. I agree with Live42day on flying right from Puno to Lima. If you're active you could consider a day rafting or biking trip before the IT.

colduphere lives! Your lounge groupies miss you.

Mlgb - the Lounge must seem like an interesting place to non-Loungers. :))

Little do they know.

I was looking for cold as well. I don't care if he's not in the Lounge, just glad he's okay. Yes, he's been missed.

Of note, when we were leaving Cusco we were delayed for four hours due to weather (it looked fine out to us btw) and missed our connection to Quito, had to re route through Columbia which made for a long day,
I agree, go the day before your flight back to the US for sure.

live42day, even being on time our LAN flight to Quito was diverted to Cali.

Left my LIma hotel at breakfast-ish and arrived at hotel at midnight.

In the higher elevations such as Cusco and Quito, the problem is more likely to be wind rather than rain.

Great stuff. I will now fly from Puno to Lima on the second to last day of the trip as suggested above. What's the thoughts on also flying from Cusco to Puno rather than take the tour bus to save time? Is the tour bus worth the cost savings, stops at sights, and scenery en route?

Take the bus. One way it is worth the scenery

I think that is a very good question. The bus ride is interesting, but it is a very long day. Mind you flying would take several hours as well, hotel to hotel.

In the end we took the bus as we were happy to sit on our rears for a day and see a few interesting sites and some very stark terrain. I don't look at pictures often but the pictures from Abra La Raya (14,200 feet) are keepers.