Please critique my Peru itineraries
 

We will be heading to Peru from US in mid September. Please help refine my trip if necessary. We have decided to use Peru Hop to make things easier for us. The followings are my 3 weeks itineraries:

1. 3 full days in Lima
2. Peru Hop:
1 night paracas
1 night Huacachina
1 overnight on the bus
3 nights Arequipa
2 nights Puno
3 nights Cusco
Taxi to Ollantaytambo, suggestion?

3. 2 nights Ollantaytambo
Train to Ollantaytambo
4. 1 night Aquas Calientes
5 1 night Ollantaytambo
Taxi to Cusco, suggestion?

6. 2 nights Cusco
7. 1 night Lima
Flying home

We have booked all the hotel stays but can be canceled if necessary. I am a bit worried about the altitude sickness but have been up to 14k before but not overnights. We went to Patagonia last year and did the Fitz Roy trail but it is not of that altitude as in Peru.

We enjoy hiking but we are not doing the Inca trail because of the altitude. My Partner has a preexisting health condition and we do not want to risk it. Please critique the above itineraries. Thanks in advance.

I'm sorry, but I'm not following your options, nor do I understand what you mean when you ask for suggestions. I wonder if there's a different way for you to lay your possible itineraries out?

Sorry for the confusion:

I am more of worried about the altitude sickness and the logistics of my planning. I am using excel to cut and paste and cause a lot of confusion.

My itineraries:Day 1 to Day 3 3 full days in Lima

Using Peru Hop Bus for:

Day 4 1 night paracas

Day 5 1 night Huacachina

Day 6 1 overnight on the bus

Day 7 3 nights Arequipa

Day 8 to Day 9 2 nights Puno

Day 10 to Day 12 3 nights Cusco

Peru Hop bus tour end at Cusco

Taxi to Ollantaytambo or by train, suggestion?

Day 13 to Day 14 2 nights Ollantaytambo

Train to Aquas Caliente

Day 15 1 night Aquas Calientes

Day 16 1 night Ollantaytambo

Taxi to Cusco or by train, suggestion?

Day 17 to Day 19 2 nights Cusco

Day 20 I night Lima

Day 21 flight home
Apologize for the confusion caused.

Well, your itinerary is still off: Day 7 can not possibly include 3 nights in Arequipa. So you have more than 21 days -- at least 22 nights by my count. It would be very helpful if you list NIGHTS rather than days.

If you are concerned about altitude, I trust you realize that Puno is at a higher elevation than Cusco. I'm glad I had a more time at altitudes higher than Arequipa before visiting Puno.

For getting between Cusco and Ollantaytambo, I strongly recommend taking the taxidatum tour that includes Chincero, Maras, and Moray in at least one direction: https://taxidatum.com/chincheros-maras-moray-taxi-tour/

Depending on your interests, 2 nights in Ollantaytambo, a night in Aguas Calientes, and another night in Ollantaytambo seems a LOT given the pace of the rest of your trip. While I chose to spend a night in Aquas Calientes, you can visit Macho Picho from Ollantaytambo. I'm not saying you shouldn't spent 4 nights in the area -- I'm sure there are rewards to doing so. I'm just making an observation.

Have you seen my trip report? You might find some useful information in it: https://www.fodors.com/community/sou...untry-1655521/ The sections that include parts of Peru that you plan to visit starts with post # 67. (I skipped Paracas and Huacachina.) BTW, I know nothing about Peru Hop and so can't comment on it.

Hope that helps!

Your itinerary is a fairly typical one -- this includes its being typically rushed, but it's feasible, especially since the tour company, Peru Hop, will be handling much of it. I don't see any pressing need to tweak it anywhere, apart from dealing with kja's excellent observation on your proposed 1-day, 3-night Arequipa visit. Personally, I would remove the night in Aguascalientes in order to add one to Lima, but if you would prefer a small if not particularly historic mountain town to a big but exciting city, you may not want to do the same.

But as for altitude sickness: a forum like this is fine for advice on hotels, restaurants, and tourist sites, but not for health issues. On other travel forums -- but so far, not this one -- I've seen some pretty bad advice on altitude-sickness, some of it even potentially dangerous if followed. If you must do internet research on the matter, stick to the altitude-sickness pages on authoritative health sites like the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the British National Health Service (NHS). And then discuss what you learn with your personal physician, if you have one, who will know about your personal health conditions, and how they may "interact" with high altitudes -- for example, whether the medications you may be taking will interact badly with the common altitude-sickness medications recommended on those websites. (This goes doubly for your partner.)

Kja—Thanks for the suggestions. I made a mistake in labeling the days in Arequipa. We will have three nights there.

I did refer to your report when planning my trip and appreciate all your detail description of each town that you visited. I do have three nights booked for Arequipa before going to Puno. I figure if we get sick, then we will just go directly to Ollantaytambo either by train or bus or taxi. I hope 3 nights in Arequipa will help in the acclimatization.

Thanks for the suggestion for Chincero, Maraas, and Moray. We will plan accordingly so that we have alternatives if we are hitting with altitude sickness. I want to see MC in the evening hour and the morning hour. I already have my tickets booked and staying a night in Aquas Calientes for that reason. Staying another night at Ollantaytambo for some hiking in the area or if we are fine with the altitude, we will go visit the Rainbow mountain of Palccoyo while enroute to Cusco.

Faedus—Thanks for your insights. We already have planned to see our doctors before the trip. We also worried about taking the medication for altitude sickness and try to avoid it. We will consult our physicians about this. We will just go below 13k and change our plans for the trip if needed.

Thanks again.