Am planning a Christmas (I know it's last minute!) trip to Peru this year. We'd like to spend 4 nights in the Amazon, comfortably if possible as we're not too adventurous, and 4 nights in Cuzco and Machu Picchu, spending at least one night at MP. Has anyone heard of SA Luxury Accommodations and would you recommend them? Also hear that David and Percy are great tour guides buhogan I use them if I book through a tour company? Am I being realistic to think I can get reservations only 4 weeks away? Any help is appreciated.

Regarding Machu Picchu, we stayed at The Sumaq Hotel in Agues Calientes. It's rated like number 1 or 2 hotel to stay on Trip Advisor. I understand another great place to stay is The Inkaterra. If you want to stay right outside of the entry gate for Machu Picchu, stay at The Sanctuary Lodge. But know, there is nothing to do there once MP closes. I don't think it's worth the money frankly. You can take the bus up from Aguas Calientes at 530AM and be at MP when it opens...you can also take the last bus down if you wanted. At least in Aguas Calientes, there are restaurants, you can walk around the little town, there are vendors selling stuff....

As for Cuzco, we stayed at The Monesterio Hotel, an Orient Express property. We LOVED it and the location is outstanding.

Have a great time!

It will definitely be difficult to get reservations during the Christmas period, but not impossible. You should look into booking as soon as possible though to ensure your trip. Keep in mind that a lot of hotels hold mandatory dinners on Christmas Eve and they charge extra for that.

High value luxury hotels: In Cusco, the Aranwa Boutique Hotel. In Machu Picchu, look into the Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel. In the Amazon, the Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica. If these lodges are booked and you need other suggestions, let me know - I would be more than happy to help suggest other ones to you.

Happy travels,
Danielle - Peru For Less

That is one of the very busiest weeks of the year but assuming you don't choke at the cost, you should be able to do it on short notice.This is actually a really easy trip to plan and book yourself by the internet and emails. Since it is rainy season, do not book connections too tightly, ie go back to Lima the day before the international flight, allow a night or two in the Sacred Valley or Cusco before booking the train to Aguas Calientes.

I would play around with airline bookings (to get between Lima and Cusco), look at booking.com and see if you can find any hotels that suit your budget as well as checking www.PeruRail.com for train availability. You can book some hotels directly from their website for the same cost, but I have used booking.com on short notice trips and had good luck (just be sure to reconfirm if you don't get an email from the hotel itself).

The Inketara (Starwood/points) is FABULOUS. Also,I think that Cusco is vastly over-rated by many...sure, some great sites, churches, etc...but the town is dark, dirty and wild dogs all over the place.

I was going to say we didn't see any wild dogs in Cuzco. Then I remembered two dogs charged us as we mountain biked into town on a very rocky trail. Scared the craap out of us.

Mind you they were with their owner. He seemed to enjoy it all. I think he was the wild one.

When I was in Cusco in September, there were stray dogs EVERYWHERE. It was hard to watch. I was told that they don't have any kind of shelters/vets/humane society type functions in Peru except Lima. It was so sad.....

You're right BellaClaire. The dogs are coming back to me. But why they slipped my mind was because the year before we were in Turkey (Goreme). And there were so many BIG dogs walking around that it was a tad frightening.