sueswny

I need some help deciding how to plan my Peru trip for next year. I'll fly to Lima, but I'm not sure if I'll be taking a flight that arrives in the early morning or the late evening. Either way, I'm planning to fly to Cuzco as quickly as possible. So let's assume I get to Cuzco early on Day 1 of the trip. Then straight to the Sacred Valley where I'll stay 2 or 3 nights.
Can you help me decide:
1)--Would you suggest stayiing in SV 2 nights, then take an afternoon train to Aguas Calientes, which allows me to stay there overnight before going to Machu Picchu in the early morning? There is a train leaving the SV about 3:30, so I'd still have 1/2 day in SV to sightsee. In this case I'd stay a second night in Aguas Calientes.
2) Should I stay 3 nights in Cuzco? The train (Vistadome) from MP will get me to Cuzco about 7 p.m., so there won't be much time to see/do anything that day--and I may just want to take it easy to adjust to altitude. So will I want 2 full days there--which means 3 overnights?
3) Where do you suggest I stay in the Sacred Valley? I want a very nice hotel, and I am ok if it's expensive. I know that there are some great luxury resorts here, but maybe not in the most convenient location. What are the advantages/disadvantages of staying in Ollantaytambo vs. Urubamba? Any recommendations?
4) Thoughts about arriving in Lima on first day in the early a.m., then transferring to flight ot Cuzco? vs. Arriving in Lima about 9 p.m. and staying overnight at airport hotel that first night?
Thanks a zillion. Any advice will be most appreciated!

qwovadis

Hi Sue

Congrats on your trip

To adjust to altitude and see it all

Personally prefer

adventures.worldnomads.com/destination/168/itinerary/23.aspx

Cruzdelsur.com.pe VIP seats

fly taca.com way cheaper than LAN also Peruvianairlines.pe

CUZ LIM back from $99 or so usually for me.

casa-andina Private Collection best for SV and everywhere

libertador.com.pe also awesome Tambo in the SV more but best

Careful easy to get sick from altitude flying direct

Lima Cusco(11000 ft) better to adjust gradually

mdtravelhealth.com Peru for those issues

travel.state.gov for entry/safety always insuremytrip.com

careful many scammers touting as "experts"on "Tripadvertizer"

Always pay with CC/Paypal never wire large sums of money.

Happy Planning!

qwovadis

Spirit.com usually gives me cheapest sale flights

FLL LIM for me last $239 RT all in awesome value

paid $50 to upgrade to first class big front seats

big leather seats very comfy.

kayak.com/buzz for fares on the majors usually lots more

They all arrive at night so a day or 2 in prettiest Lima area

mirafloresperu.com is best for me.

mlgb

Fares like that have not been available this year thanks to rising fuel prices. When that fare was published last year, I think Delta had just started flying from Texas and a lot of airlines were matching it. Some of us had that fare R/T on LAN from New York JFK.

If you go to Aguas Calientes in the afternoon, I would just spend one night there and return after MP closes for the day (there are late trains), back to Olly. You can then do a tour/transfer after breakfast back to Cusco.

I prefer Ollantaytambo as a place to start the trip and adjust to the altitude. There are ruins and the old town to see, a small market, fair trade store, small museum, and restaurants. You can match your activity to your energy level and you don't need to book a taxi or tour guide until you get there. Hotel El Albergue and Pakaritampu are two nice places to stay in Olly. You can stay in an isolated luxury resort anywhere in the world, but believe me, there is only one Ollantaytambo.

If you want to try to tranfer that day to Cusco I'd try to have about 3 hours between flights, just to allow for immigration and delays. Try to book it all on one ticket would be best, that might get you a tighter connection and guarantee of being on the next flight if you miss it.

lcuy

I'm in the middle of posting my Peru report:

http://www.fodors.com/community/sout...s-and-lima.cfm

We chose to spend the first night at the Ramada at Lima airport, then fly to Cusco in the morning. Leaving on the 10 am flight, still gave us time to do quite a bit of stuff that afternoon.

lcuy

We chose to take the 1:30 train from Ollanta into Aguas Calientes, then spent two nights there and left on the 3:20 PM train on day 3. The whole purpose of our trip was to see Machu Picchu, and i knew weather and landslides are common there. I figured that we'd have all of Day 2 tour MP, and if we wanted to return, we could go back for another seven or eight hours on Day 3. It ended up that one day was perfect for us, but if the weather had been bad, we would have been happy to have a second chance.

Jorgeip

Hi Sue,

Sacred Valley (SV) is a pleace where you have to stay minimmum 2 nights to enjoy the tourist atractions, we recommend you stay in SV on sunday so you can see me tradditional markets of Chinchero and Pisac. In Urubamba there are some good alternatives of hotels, a good option to stay there is www.riosagrado.com hotel.

The train to Machu Picchu you can take at noon, and the visist to Machu Picchu (MP) early on the next day (sunrise). A good opcion of hotel in MP is www.inkaterra.com/en/machu-picchu.

We suggest you to contact a good agency www.intrandes.com, they can give all the information that you need for your holiday.