Essential Peru

Discover the highlights of southern Peru, from Nazca to Arequipa

Journey through the spectacular landscape of Peru; tackling coastal desert, snow-capped Andean peaks, the altiplano and cloud forest. Along the way you’ll visit world-renowned highlights, including the mysterious Nazca Lines; Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca, where you’ll spend the night in an island homestay; and the 9,843ft (3,000m) deep Colca Canyon. We’ll also encounter traditional culture, condors, llamas, and a warm welcome from the Peruvian people.

Please note: the departure on 18 June 2023 coincides with the Inti Raymi Festival in Cuzco. Translating to the Festival of the Sun, it is the most important of all Andean festivals; Cuzco is filled with colourful processions and festivities. For full detail, check out our Essential Peru - Inti Raymi Festival Departure itinerary.

People, Places & Planet

We work hard to create trips that improve life for the people and places we visit and look after the planet we explore. Find out more about our sustainable travel ethos and practice here, and find out about the work of the Exodus Travels Foundation here. 

Some sustainable travel highlights of this trip include:

People

How this trip helps improve life for local communities.

• The use of a local guide means our customers will be well informed about local traditions, and cultural and social sensitivities.
• This trip brings income and opportunity to the destination community through the inclusion of locally-owned hotels and restaurants, the emphasis on eating locally produced food and support of other local enterprise.
• The homestay on Amantani Island on Lake Titicaca is a great opportunity, offering an authentic experience of staying with a local family, and the income from our stay is divided amongst the island community.
• The free day in Cuzco is a good chance to visit Café Manos Unidas, the first vocational training site for young adults with disabilities in Cusco, creating employment opportunities for youth in their own community. In 2018, Exodus funded £5,000 where during the first three months of operation has directly benefitted 15 youths as well as 52 other community members indirectly.

Places

How this trip helps protect and conserve local landscapes and nature.

• By travelling in a small group, led by a local guide, we ‘tread lightly’ to minimise our impact on local resources and the environment.  On this trip we stay one night in a homestay on traditional Amantani Island, Lake Titicaca.
• When visiting Machu Picchu, the costs of permits and for our guided tour will go towards to the upkeep and maintenance of this architectural site.
• We adhere to all Machu Picchu regulations. There are limited permits in order to reduce overcrowding and damage due to footfall, but our guides and porters are still very mindful of how we treat the environment. We work with a strict ‘leave no trace’ policy, meaning we have respect for wildlife and the landscape, separate rubbish and take all waste back to a proper disposal place.
• We work with our partners on the ground to proactively eliminate or reduce waste, for example eliminating all single-use plastic water bottles and instead providing refills for re-usable bottles. Our local operator provides water boxes instead of water bottles in order to provide water to the passengers. The boxes are taken back to the office in Cusco for proper recycling.
• Our local operator has been certified and verified by Rainforest Alliance since 2015.
• Our Animal Welfare Policy ensures all our trips adhere to ABTA’s industry-leading animal welfare guidelines to ensure the best possible practices with regards to working animals and wildlife viewing.

Planet

How we seek to keep the carbon footprint of this trip low.

• Through our Planet Promise, we have pledged to halve the carbon footprint of our trips by 2030 and made rewilding and carbon compensation commitments for every customer who travels.
• Accommodation and restaurants in the itinerary use locally sourced food which has not been transported long distances.
• Vegetarian options are available at majority of accommodation and restaurants.

Tips for sustainable travel on this trip

• Leave no trace: We do all we can to ensure we leave no rubbish behind in the wild and beautiful places we visit; we ask that you do the same. If there are no recycling facilities in-country, we’d ask you to consider bringing recyclable materials home with you.
• Plastic waste reduction: Please bring your own re-usable water bottle on this trip; filtered water will be provided where tap water is not drinkable.

Visa

Peru

Travellers from the UK, US and EU normally do not need a visa to enter Peru. Please note, visa requirements often change and it is your responsibility to obtain any required visas for this trip. Therefore, we recommend that you check with the nearest embassy or consulate of your chosen destination(s), including any countries you may be transiting or transferring through.

Some local governments provide guidance on what visas their citizens need. To help, we’ve gathered a selection of useful links below.

• Australia: www.smartraveller.gov.au/destinations/americas/peru
• Canada: www.travel.gc.ca/destinations/peru
• United Kingdom: www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/peru/entry-requirements
• USA: www.travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Peru.html

Vaccination

There are no mandatory vaccination requirements. Recommended vaccinations are: polio, tetanus, typhoid, hepatitis A. Zika virus, a mosquito‐borne viral disease, is a known risk in places visited on this trip. There is currently no vaccine or prophylaxis available. We therefore strongly recommend you take the usual precautions to avoid mosquito bites.

If you are travelling to the Tambopata reserve in the Amazon rainforest, the risk of malaria is slight, but you may wish to consult your doctor for further advice. We also strongly recommend that you obtain a yellow fever vaccination. Dengue fever and chikungunya are known risks in the Amazon region. Both are tropical viral diseases spread by daytime biting mosquitoes. There is currently no vaccine or prophylaxis available for either, and therefore the best form of prevention is to avoid being bitten. We recommend you take the usual precautions to avoid mosquito bites: always apply insect repellent and wear long-sleeved shirts and trousers while in the rainforest to avoid being bitten.

Eating and Drinking

All breakfasts, one lunch and one dinner (at the homestay) are included. The tap water in Peru is not safe to drink. Free drinking water will be provided in large containers, so please bring a refillable bottle with you.

Hotel breakfasts are normally simple buffet-style affairs, usually including bread/toast and jam, cereal, sometimes eggs or a cooked dish, sometimes fruit, tea/coffee and fruit juice. Regrettably, we cannot guarantee that wheat- or gluten-free products will be available for breakfast in all locations – if you have an intolerance you may wish to bring your own breakfast food from home. Where lunch and dinner are not included we'll visit a variety of local cafes and restaurants.

Peruvian cuisine is loved for its flavours and originality; it’s well worth digging into the local delicacies. Among these are ceviche (seafood or fish marinated in lime juice), lomo saltado (a Peruvian take on a beef stir-fry), and various hearty soups including the delicious quinoa soup. Other dishes include roasted cuy (guinea pig), alpaca steak. To drink, there’s pisco sour, the national beverage.

Weather

The diverse geography of Peru results in a very varied climate between different regions. Lima and Paracas fall within the coastal desert region of Peru, with a mild climate and very little rain all year. From April to November, the sky is almost always grey and cloudy and the air is humid. Average daytime temperatures in Lima remain between about 18C-24C (64F-75F) during this period, with July and August typically being the coolest. Nights are also mild – typically 15C-18C (59F-64F). From December to March, the skies in Lima are clear and temperatures at their warmest, but elsewhere in the country this is the rainy season.
Cuzco and the Andes have a temperate climate. December to March is the rainy season in Cuzco/the Andes and April to November is the dry season; characterised by clear skies and strong sunshine in the mornings, sometimes clouding over as the day progresses. Daytime temperatures are usually pleasant (around 20C/68F on average) but night times only 5C-10C (41F-50F), except for May, June, July and August when days are cooler and nights are often close to, or a few degrees below, freezing. In the Andes, however, anything is possible at any time of year, including cloud, rain or even snow, and rapid, unexpected changes.

Lake Titicaca and Colca Canyon are high (12,460ft/3,800m and 11,810ft/3,600m above sea level respectively). The sun is strong but the air can be cold, and nights can be close to freezing. You will need to bring warm layers and a waterproof or windstopper. Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu are in the cloud forest with large amounts of precipitation all year round as clouds move up from the Amazon Basin. Rain here can be heavy but is seldom prolonged. Cold fronts sometimes occur from July to August.

Peru is affected by the El Niño weather phenomenon where warming of Pacific Ocean surface water off South America drives a shift in the atmospheric circulation resulting in abnormally high levels of rainfall over parts of South America. These events occur at irregular intervals of two to seven years, and last nine months to two years. A strong El Niño event occurred in 2014-16. In El Niño years, temperatures in Lima can be much warmer than described above but it still rarely rains in Lima.

Is this trip for you?

This is a busy itinerary encompassing the highlights of southern Peru. You should be aware that the size of Peru means this holiday involves some long drives and early starts. The longest drive is between Nazca and Abancay and takes around 10 hours. The private buses used are comfortable and the scenery is outstanding. There will be several stops to help break up long journeys. The road between Nazca and Cuzco becomes increasingly winding as we climb higher into the mountains, and this, combined with the increase in altitude, may affect you if you are prone to travel sickness.

Although graded Activity Level 2 (Leisurely/Moderate), the altitude can make physical activity feel more tiring than at sea level. As this trip spends considerable time at altitude, we ask you to refer to the Altitude Warning within the Trip Notes for more information and advice on how to limit the effects of altitude sickness. The tour allows for gradual acclimatisation, visiting Abancay (7,874ft/2,400m) before moving on to Cuzco (11,155ft/3,400m), then Lake Titicaca (12,467ft/3,800m) and Colca Canyon (11,926ft/3,635m). Although we do not linger there, the maximum altitude visited on this trip is at Patapampa Pass (16,109ft/4,910m), which we drive over near Chivay, Colca Canyon. Please ensure your travel insurance covers you up to this altitude. It can be cold at these altitudes, particularly from May to August (although these months benefit from lower rainfall). You should bring appropriate clothing.

Cuzco, Arequipa and many of the Inca sites (including Machu Picchu) are built on hillsides and sightseeing often involves walking up and down steep streets or on uneven steps or terraces. As such, you should have a good level of mobility and a reasonable level of fitness.

Strikes are not uncommon in Peru and while these are generally peaceful protests, they can result in roadblocks and disruption to travel. In this event, your leader will amend your itinerary if necessary to minimise the impact.

List of regulations for visiting Machu Picchu. The main points impacting your visit are the following:

1. Tickets are valid for one entry only, which means you cannot leave the site and re-enter
2. Once you have done the chosen circuit with your guide, you cannot walk back to view anything already visited. Once you finish the circuit, you have to leave the site. You can no longer explore the site further after the guided tour.
3. The two visit times for visiting the site, either 6am to midday or midday to 4pm.
4. Local authorities have restricted temple visits at Machu Picchu. Visitation is dependent on the time you enter the site.

These regulations will affect how long you can spend at Machu Picchu and which temples you can visit. In the past, passengers could explore the site further after their guided tour – this is no longer possible. The alternative we implement on our visits is to explore the upper part of Machu Picchu (Sun Gate and Inca Bridge) before starting the guided tour. The guided tour will be about two hours’ long, after which you must exit the site. You can visit the Sun Temple, but not the Sun Dial Temple or the Condor’s Temple on this itinerary.

Schedule of visit to Machu Picchu on this itinerary:

• Midday access to Machu Picchu and explore upper part with the tour leader
• Start the guided tour at 2pm
• Passengers leave Machu Picchu at 4.30pm

Please see our COVID Travel Guide for Peru for more information on current guidelines for travel in Peru.

Following a review of all our trips we have categorised this trip as generally not suitable for persons of reduced mobility. However if you are a regular traveller on such trips, please contact customer services to discuss the trip and your personal condition.