Walking Machu Picchu - With Private Guide

Welcome to Lima, the ‘City of Kings’. On arrival, you will be transferred to your hotel with your local private guide (approx. 30mins).

While Peru’s capital officially began life in 1535 when Francisco Pizarro founded the city on the Day of the Three Kings, settlements had been scattered through the valley since before the Incas. Lima was in its prime during the Spanish colonial days and much of the city’s attraction now lies in its well-preserved historical centre.

In the morning, you have a guided city tour of Lima. Beginning with a panoramic view of the ‘Pucllana Pyramid’ a magnificent ceremonial and archaeological centre built in the 4th century A.D. and considered a ‘sacred village’ by the Incas.

You’ll visit the colonial side of the city where you’ll see attractions like the Cathedral, the Viceroyalty of Peru, Lima’s Plaza Mayor (Main Square), the Government Palace, the City Hall, and other important monuments. Later, you’ll visit the Convent of San Francisco, a seventeenth-century architectural complex that includes a church, convent, and the catacombs, a dark chamber found under the church.

The City of Lima, like many others capital cities in the world, has spectacular museums that show great collections of treasures of ancient Peru. On your guided tour, you will visit the Museum Larco Herrera, displaying remains that show ancient Peruvians from around 3,000 years ago. Unlike other museums, this place is the only one that has over 45.000 archaeological pieces properly classified.

In the evening, you have a guided walking tour of the trendy Barranco area, which is off the usual tourist trail and shows you where the locals go for a good night out! This bohemian district is full of tradition and history and an ideal place to discover vintage Lima, offering colourful streets and small colonial squares.

Immersed in the old colonial vibe with classical architecture all around us, you’ll wander Barranco in search of local flavours. You’l pass by the public library, the love-inspiring traditional bridge of sighs, romantic boulevards and great ocean views too. As this is an evening tour, you’ll be meandering and mixing with locals on their night out, keeping pace with them and living the local experience. Before returning to your hotel, you will enjoy a delicious dinner at a local restaurant.

After breakfast, you will be transferred to Lima airport for your flight to Cusco (1.5hr flight), the historic heartland, and former capital of the Incan Empire. Upon your arrival you will be transferred to your hotel (approx. 15mins).

Cusco is a favourite destination of many visitors to Peru. As you wander the streets and side alleys of the city you will witness the perfect tapering Inca stonework that provided the foundations for many of Cusco’s colonial and modern buildings. The city itself is the continent’s oldest continuously inhabited city and was the home of the Inca Empire for two centuries before the Spanish built their first capital here. Today Cusco is a fascinating combination of both cultures. Take the time today to acclimatise to the city’s 3,450m altitude.

In the afternoon, your private guide will take you on a walking tour around Cusco. You will see the Stone of Twelve Angles at the Inca Roca Palace and the facade of Qoricancha temple, considered the most important temple of the Inca Empire. Then, you will head to the heart of the city, ‘the Plaza de Armas’, surrounded by colonial arcades and four churches. In this place you will find the beautiful ‘Cathedral’ of Cusco, built in the XVI.

Later on, you’ll visit Florencia y Fortunata cafe for an organic coffee tasting. They are a social enterprise that seek to highlight women working in the world of specialty coffee. Their coffee batches come from different parts of Peru, especially Cusco and Cajamarca. Afterwards, you will be transferred back to your hotel in Cusco.

You will be transferred from your Cusco hotel to the Sacred Valley of the Incas (approx. 1.5hrs). Here, you will embark on a private guided trip to Maras Salt Ponds and the circular terraces of Moray. On the way you will see some of the most scenic spots in the Sacred Valley. First, you’ll visit the ancient salt ponds near the village of Maras, where salty springs emerge from the hillside where the Incas built terraces to capture the flows and harvest salt.

Continue to Moray, where huge circular agricultural terraces were built by the Incas on limestone sinks served to plant various crops. It is said to have a cosmological significance, however, the Incas used the terraces as an agricultural laboratory to determine the optimum conditions for each species in varying altitudes.

You will then arrive to Piuray Lake, for an amazing culinary experience. You will taste traditional Pachamanca, a Peruvian dish based on the baking with the aid of hot stones of potatoes, lamb, mutton, pork or chicken marinated with Andean ingredients. Enjoy this traditional dish while you relax in a unique Andean landscape, surrounded by mountains, farmlands and the Piuray Lagoon. After this great experience, you will be transferred to your hotel in Ollantaytambo town (1hr 15mins).

Early in the morning, you’ll head to the local train station located in Ollantaytambo town to board the tourist train to the starting point of the trek. After going through passport control, you will start your full day trek to the site of Machu Picchu.

On route, you’ll visit the Chachabamba archaeological complex (2,150m), where you embark on a 8km (5miles) ascending trail, which after approx. 4 hours takes you to the archaeological complex of Winaywayna (2,650m). On the way up, you’ll enjoy magnificent views of the Urubamba River valley and the Choquesuysuy archaeological complex located on the other side of the river, and also of a beautiful waterfall not far from Winaywayna. You then continue to climb to Inti Punku, ‘The Sun Gate’. This will take an hour of hiking along a trail of flat stones on the edges of cliffs in highland jungle. From this fabulous spot, you may contemplate the sacred citadel of Machu Picchu. From Inti Punku you will descend to the back side of Machu Picchu and then head straight to the main entrance to take the tourist bus to Aguas Calientes, the little town close to Machu Picchu.

Note: For this Inca Trail trek, you’ll need to take a backpack with your personal items to pass the night in Aguas Calientes town. Your main luggage will be safely stored at your hotel in Ollantaytambo.

After breakfast, you’ll return to the Machu Picchu site by shuttle bus for the guided tour. This is one of those genuinely magical places, and your first glimpse of these ruins in the mist is something to remember. The site is perched high in the Andes, surrounded by verdant cloud forest, with the river Urubamba running through the gorge far below. Hidden away on a ridge, Machu Picchu is invisible from below, so it’s no surprise it remained a secret for so many years (until 1911).

Explore the upper terrace with your guide first, making sure to get that great portrait! You’ll then take a guided tour of the ruins, learning more about these 200 or so houses and temples. It’s fascinating to be able to gaze down on the city from above and imagine how it would have looked during the height of the Inca empire. Catch the bus back into town and enjoy some free time to look around. At around 14.30, take the tourist train back to Ollantaytambo town (approx. 1hr 45mins), followed by the private transfer to your hotel in Cusco (approx. 1.5hrs).

Begin your day with a city tour of Cusco, first visiting the huge ‘Inca Ceremonial Centre of Sacsayhuaman’; the enormous structure overlooking the city of Cusco. Its constructions are amazing, with huge rocks perfectly fitted. It is said that it took over 10,000 workers 50 years to build it. The origin of the temple of Sacsayhuaman is still unknown today. The archaeologist attributed its construction to the Period of the Inca Pachacutec.

Later, you continue visiting another important Inca site known as ‘Qenqo’. This is a place with subterranean passages and carved stone channels in a zigzag pattern. In its inner part there is a carved stone table where it is said the Incas mummified their dead. Afterwards you will do a short visit to the archaeological Inca sites of ‘Tambomachay’ a temple dedicated to the God of Water and ‘PucaPucara’. After these visits, you will return to Cusco by private car transfer.

Today, you’ll explore ‘Palcoyo’ known as the new mountain of colours. Depart from your hotel at 05:30, driving for approx. 1.5hrs to Cusipata Town where you have the first stop to use the facilities. Then continue the journey for another 1.5hrs to the community of Palcoyo and the starting point of your hike. On the way, you’ll enjoy an amazing view of the Andean landscapes with farm areas of potatoes, corn, alpaca and the ‘red river’, one of the most mesmerising places in Peru.

Once in Palcoyo community, you will start hiking for about 45mins until you reach the viewpoint. Here, you can truly appreciate the three rainbow mountains at 4,900m high with panoramic views of the Red Valley and the impressive Ausangate snow mountain (considered the highest mountain in Cusco).

Continue walking for 20mins to the ‘Bosque de Piedras’ (Stone Forest), a stunning rocky attraction that dazzles its visitors. Here you’ll spend 2hrs exploring before returning to Combapata (1-hour hiking) to see a colonial bridge called Rumichaca built in 1604. Finish the tour at Checacupe village to appreciate three more bridges from different periods (Inca, Colonial and Republic times). Return to Cusco by car, arriving to your hotel at approx. 17.00.

Say goodbye to Cusco as you’re transferred to the airport for your domestic flight to Lima. Upon arrival at Lima airport, you will be transferred to your hotel in Miraflores, Lima (30mins).

By the late afternoon, your private guide will take you on a walking tour around the modern district of Miraflores. You will visit the popular Kennedy Park, considered the point of convergence of both limenos and travellers alike, and arguably the forefront of modern Lima. It is surrounded by a vast array of restaurants, cafes, shops, and about every other thing the capital of Peru could offer you.

You will walk through the Larco Avenue before heading to the nice shopping mall named Larco Mar, which was built on a spectacular cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the traditional ‘Parque del amor’ (Love Park), entirely dedicated to all lovers. Finally, you will visit the traditional ‘Malecon’, a six-mile strip of parks, gardens and green space along the cliffs overlooking the sea; paragliders launch from just north of Larcomar. Before returning to the hotel, head to a local restaurant for your included last dinner in Peru.