Please, suggestions are needed. I am going to peru in september for 9 days with my husband. we are in our 30's and extrememly active. Our flight arrives saturday morning in lima at 6 am. we want to go to cusco/sacred valley/macchu picchu. can anyone recommend how we should allocate our time in these places. we will not be doing the inca trail in order to save time and visit other sites. any suggestions on nice hotels would be appreciated. Also, do we have time to visit lake titicaca in the 9 days or is this being overly optimistic.

thank you so much

Could you define "nice" in terms of amenities and budget? Lodgings range from very comfortable locally owned inns all the way to upscale international hotel chains. They can all be "nice" depending on what you are looking for.


As far as Lake Titicaca, do you really want to see that? Are you avoiding Lima (some people just hate cities). How rushed do you want to be? You can do it, but I think 7 days is a good amount of time in the SV/Cusco/MP area and I would personally put the other two days in Lima (Barranco neighborhood).

I would recommend flying straight to Cusco the day you arrive and transferring to either Pisac or Urubamba. Pisac has some good hiking and the Sunday market, since you arrive on Saturday I would probably stay there. Urubamba is a bit more central, has the fancier hotel chains.

After the weekend between Pisac, Moray, and the Salineras I'd go to Ollantaytambo for a few nights.

Maybe Wednesday would be the Machu Picchu day.

Thursday-Friday in Cusco. Fly sometime Saturday to Lima (it's a lot more pleasant on weekends). I like the Barranco neighborhood. There are good hotels in a few price categories there (ranging from 3B which is friendly B&B http://www.3bhostal.com/ to the upscale Hotel B http://hotelb.pe/barranco )

As a resource for alternative hikes and biking around Ollantaytambo, have a look at the KB Tambo website.

http://kbperu.com/

And Fodor's is actually a good resource for hotel recommendations (look at Fodor's choice).

Great advice from mlgb. As suggested, 7 days is a good amount of time to cover the SV but you do need to consider the effects of altitude on your body and plan accordingly. e.g. Leave any strenuous stuff until you have acclimatised. You will be affected, it is just a question of to what degree.

Impossible to suggest accommodation without an idea of budget. We paid around $25-30 pn for most of our accommodation in comfortable en suite double rooms. You could pay as much as $500 or as little sat $for a dorm room.

With the time available, I agree that the Inca Trail would take too much time, but you could fit in a shorter trek. Quite a few years ago now we did the trek from Lares hot springs to Ollantaytambo and loved it. It takes 2 nights, 3 days.Some more info and photos on our blog http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog...4700/tpod.html

Thanks for the suggestions

We arrive Saturday and i was planning on going straight to cusco and spending time in Lima on way back.
I guess Titicaca would be too much for the 9 days we will be there. We usually spend around 200+ per night . In Europe that gets you a decent room. Not sure what that can get us in Peru. I definitely want to see the Sunday markets in Pisac. So figured we get to cusco Saturday and relax and get acclimated. Sunday we can see markets. To see sites do we have to book tours or can we do this alone? How do we get tickets for macchu Picchu ... I'm usually pretty good about organizing all of our trips , but for some strange reason I feel very lost on this one. I want to make sure we hit up main sights. Suggestions are very appreciated thank you

Spending your first night in Cusco will just get you a headache.Unless you are hiking the Inca Trail or another high altitude trai! There is no reason to do it.

$200 a night would get you the best hotels in Ollantaytambo, eg Pakaritampu or El Albergue (I can't believe the latter is charging that much now, for the superior rooms). Prices in Aguas Calientes tend to be higher for the same level of accomodation. In Lima you can spend much more if you want an international chain hotel.

You can get very good hotels for $100 to $150 double, unless you want luxury that would be the price point. Prices should be discounted if you go off season (say before early June) or in some cases, stay multiple nights.

I will just recommend hotels I've stayed at that I like, but there are many more. I don't trust Tripadvisor for Peru, there is a lot of manipulation. Hence I'd recommend using guidebooks such as Fodors for hotel recommendations.

Lima...3B Barranco, Second Home Peru (be sure to read reviews on the latter).

Cusco...El Balcon Cusco (walkable to the center but can be reached by taxi).

Ollantaytambo..El Albergue, great location at the train station. There are other hotels on the road that leads to the station as well. There are many more new hotels in Ollantaytambo, than when I first went. Be aware that not all can be reached by taxi.

Pisac..Royal Inka (be careful, sometimes school groups book here and it can be very noisy).

There are many others. Two Peruvian hotel chains worth considering are Terra Viva and Casa Andina. If you want to splurge a bit in Aguas Calientes, look at Inkaterra. Sometimes with the higher end hotels, a Peruvian travel agency can get you a better price.

Thank you all for taking time to reply. I really appreciate it. As far as visiting the towns in sacred valley is a tour necessary, or is this feasibly done independently

You can visit towns and markets without a guide, if you wish. Or you can hire guides outside the ruins (eg at Ollantaytambo). If you want to visit several in the same day (and any time you wish to go to Moray and the Salineras of Maras) you will want to hire a taxi (most won't give commentary but will be able to stop and wait) or a driver with some English.

BTW I would not recommend one of the bus tours that leave from Cusco, they waste a lot of time with picking up passengers and eating lunch and going to commissioned shops. With two people or more, I would try to find a taxi or an English-speaking driver.