We are thinking of travelling Peru at the start of September. It will be our first stop on our round the world trip. Can anyone give us any advise on independent travel with a time frame of four weeks. Any past itineraries , especially taking in Machu Pichu, would be greatfully recieved. Is it also advisable to book a trek or can it be booked on arrival in Cuzco?
Many thanks

If you want to do the popular standard 4 days - 3 nights trek to Macchu Picchu then you need to book several months ahead. Only a limited number of people can hike the trail per day and permits have to be bought in advance for them. You can look at this site http://perutreks.com/inca_trail_to_machu_picchu.html to see what dates are still available. For the September time frame I would start looking now.

I would also book your train tickets from Ollantaytambo to Agua Caliente asap. It is the only way in and once they sell out, you're out of luck.

I would not book your tours with unknown people at the airport. I did that and got screwed by a group called Inkapal. Many tours can be booked upon arrival but you do take a chance. If you let us know your interests, some can chime in with recommended tours and guides. I had a fantastic tour guide in Puno for Lake Titicaca, for instance.

We spent a couple of months (Sept - Oct)in Peru as part of our round the world trip. Here is a link to our blog which has a detailed itinerary, report, photos etc.

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog...ai/1/tpod.html

Entries #55-64 cover our time in the country. The first thing I would do to aid your palnning is to join

http://www.saexplorers.org/club/home
They have a number of clubhouses throughout South America including Lima and Cusco, The one in cusco is particularly good and provides a great place to meet other travellers, book trips and get up to date info on tours, hotels, transport etc.

I think membership costs around $40 but provides great value is, in addition to the facilities, your card gets you genuine discounts on tours, restaurants and accomodation.

Most treks, apart of course from MP, can be booked relatively easily on arrival in Cusco but always best to start planning/researching sooner rather than later.

We chose to trek from Lares to Ollantaytambo with Miguel Jovens which was arranged 4-5 days beforehand in the SA Explorers club house. An excellent trip and probably the highlight of our time in South America.

We also managed to secure train tickets from Olly to MP about 10 days in advance by booking direct at the train station, but we may have been lucky and again, it is probably best to book in advance if possible,

Another useful website (independent and non profit) is

http://www.andeantravelweb.com/peru/

We ended up doing the usual trail including Cusco,Sacred valley,Puno and Titicaca,Arequipa etc,

We didn't do the Amazon thing as we had previously spent quite a bit of time in rainforests in other parts of teh world but I know others on this forum would highly recommend it.
Have fun and let us know what you decide

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

the quintessential Peru route.

your best route self-guide to save a tonne.

cheap flights on sprit.com

casa-andina.com best hotels in all areas.

never book trains in advance or bus

cheaper boots on the ground.

Happy Journey,

treks cheaper there

incalandadventures.com Flavio good experience from $300

for jungle

manuadventures.com from Cusco

for true amazon pay more fly to iquitos

otorongoexpeditions.com

Happy Travels,

in your 4 weeks

might also try to hook on a Galapagos experience

it is AWESOME if time.

GalapagosXpeditions.com

Sorry the missing link try Guanguiltagua.com

knowledgeable locals who helped me a lot

with my 2K SA road trip last fall.

I would recommend adding in the northern coastal areas, the "Egypt of Peru" which has started to get more attention. Still a bit under the radar but there is good tourism support.

If you are a bit more adventurous about taking local busses consider Kuelap, Chachapoyos etc

For Keulap http://www.fodors.com/community/sout...s-and-more.cfm

For Chiclayo/Trujillo
http://www.fodors.com/community/sout...-the-incas.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/sout...orth-coast.cfm