Incas & Intrigue in Peru

You don’t really get more ‘bucket list’ than Machu Picchu. But there’s much more crammed into this impressive nine-day itinerary besides discovering lost ancient cities. In fact, we’re pretty confident we’ve checked off everything you could want from a whistle-stop tour of Peru. A deep dive into Peruvian food and drink. The exquisite Rainbow Mountain and the ethereal Salineras de Maras salt flats. And an insight into rural community life. Seven days of annual leave well spent.

People, Places & Planet

We work hard to create trips which 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 porters we work with are not directly employed by our local partner, but we work with the same communities each year; they are fairly paid and we also supply uniforms, walking shoes and provide safe transport and community support for them. Our trek manager is a leading figure and consultant for the Porters' Federation, which campaigns for the fair treatment of porters in the region.
• We’re passionate about the welfare of our punctilious porters. Alongside setting the golden standard for fair treatment, we've taken the next step with our pioneering Porter Project. In Peru, despite trekking the Inca Trail numerous times, most porters never have the opportunity to visit the stunning ancient ruins of Machu Picchu. We’ve taken the initiative to fix this and in 2018 started a project to ensure each of our porters has the opportunity to experience an important part of their own cultural heritage. We can now proudly say that over 164 porters have been involved this project, and our mini-documentary ‘Carried Away’ about our porters, has helped raise awareness of the awesome job these porters do.
• 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.
• Funded by the Community Kickstart Project, our operator is working with Medlife to deliver emergency food parcels to the households of porters and other staff members who have continuously worked hard to guide our clients along the iconic Inca Trail.

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.
• 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

Peru

There are no required vaccinations. However, recommended vaccinations include tetanus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, rabies, typhoid, tuberculosis and yellow fever. Additionally, Zika fever, a mosquito‐borne viral disease, is a known risk in Peru. There is currently no vaccine or prophylaxis available, so you should take the usual precautions to avoid mosquito bites. Please check all vaccination recommendations with your doctor or travel clinic.

Amazon: 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 or travel clinic for further advice. We also strongly recommend that you obtain a yellow fever vaccination. Additionally, 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 take the usual precautions to avoid mosquito bites.

Eating and Drinking

All breakfasts, four lunches and one dinner included

Is this trip for you?

Although graded Moderate (level 3), the altitude can make physical activity feel more tiring than at sea level. The altitude on the Rainbow Mountain walk is significant and makes this one day a more strenuous grade than the rest of the itinerary.  However, as this walk is on the final day of the trip you will have had plenty of time to acclimatise and it shouldn’t be an issue for most. It is also possible to skip this activity and spend the day in Cuzco (there are plenty of things to do in and around the city to keep you occupied!)  if you prefer or are struggling with the altitude.

The walk on Rainbow Mountain starts at 4600m and climbs to a maximum of 5000m – please ensure your travel insurance covers you up to this altitude.

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.

Inca Trail Regulations

There are a number of important regulations regarding the Inca Trail that we would like to make you aware of:

• Spaces on the Inca Trail are on a first-come, first-served basis, so late bookings can’t always be accommodated. We urge you to book as early as possible.
• In an amendment to our usual Booking Conditions, if you cancel your booking more than eight weeks before departure and wish to transfer your deposit to another departure or another trip, the transfer fee is £150 as we will lose the permit we have purchased on your behalf.
• No transfers are possible within eight weeks of departure.
• So that we can arrange your Inca Trail permit, we need your full name, passport details, date of birth and nationality, exactly as per the passport you will be using to travel to Peru.
• Should the passport used to purchase your permit be lost, stolen or expire before your Inca Trail start date, you must purchase a new passport and notify Exodus immediately as we will need to apply to amend your Inca Trail permit. To do so, you must supply copies of both your old and new passports to Exodus in advance of travel and pay an administration fee of £25. For this reason, we strongly recommend that you make a copy of your passport at the time of booking and keep it somewhere safe.
• Please be aware that these regulations may change at any time, and Exodus is not responsible for the decisions made by Peruvian authorities.
• There is a possibility that the Peruvian authorities may increase the entrance fees to the Inca Trail, Machu Picchu and other major sights at any time. If they do so, we will inform you of this increase and the extra amount will need to be paid locally in cash in Peru
• Inca Trail permits are 'On Request'. If travelling within the current year, we will try to purchase your permit immediately upon receiving your booking. If travelling next year, we will apply for your permit as soon as they are released for sale. In either case, if we are unable to get your permit, we will contact you to discuss your options.

Notes about Machu Picchu

• The tickets are valid only for one entry and re-entering isn’t possible
• Once you have completed the chosen circuit with your guide, you cannot walk back to view anything already visited
• Once you finish the circuit, you will have to leave the site. You can no longer explore the site further after the guided tour
• The local authorities have restricted the temples which can visited at Machu Picchu depending on the time of the visit to the site.  On this itinerary, you will visit the Condor’s Temple, but not the Sun Dial Temple or the Sun Temple
• Inca Trail programs allow you exclusive access to Machu Picchu via the Sun Gate, before starting the guided tour

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.