Luxury Peru: Andes to Amazon

Day 1

Arrive in Lima and transfer to hotel on the Pacific coast in Miraflores.

You will be met at the airport and escorted to your hotel by one of our local representatives. The half-hour drive through Lima is not the most enchanting introduction to this city of extreme contrasts, but it does encapsulate the invigorating buzz of a modern-day Latin American capital.

Day 2

Tour colonial Lima, visit Larco pre-Columbian art museum. Fly to Cusco.

Lima is a vast, complex metropolis, with a history dating from the era of its wealth and importance to Imperial Spain to its current status as a dynamic, growing city of trade, industry and tourism.

In the morning visit the impressive Larco  Museum, one of the finest museums in Latin America, housing a vast collection of pre-Columbian pieces. The majority of artefacts in the museum are ceramics, depicting a number of Peruvian cultures including the Moche, Sicán and Chimú and there is also an excellent collection of textiles, gold and silver work, and mummies.  We love this museum, so we have included just for you a special  guided tour.

Transfer to the airport for a 1hr flight to Cusco in the Andes; on arrival you’re met and driven to your next accommodation.

Day 3

Half day city tour of Cusco; visit Sacsayhuamán Inca fortress ruins.

The name Cusco derives from the Quechua word for navel, indicating its location at the centre of the Inca Empire. Today its many impressive original Inca walls display extraordinary craftsmanship, while the bustling squares are dotted with ornate baroque colonial churches. It’s a vivacious city, where shoeshine boys and postcard sellers jostle for your attention in cobbled streets lined with handicraft shops and cafés. In the evening, the town centre fills with people flocking to the many restaurants, bars and cafés.

Today  a half-day tour of the city. You visit Q’oricancha, once the principal Inca Sun Temple, with intricate stonework, and then explore the colossal zigzag walls of Sacsayhuamán, brooding on a hillside above Cusco. The first conquistadores to see it were awestruck, and centuries later it is still an extraordinary and imposing sight.

Day 4

Explore the Sacred Valley, including Pisaq market.

Explore the fertile Sacred Valley of the Incas. Once the bread-basket of the Inca empire, it was heavily populated in imperial times and scores of archaeological sites remain, where well-preserved ruins bear witness to the highly developed society that the Incas created. The drive passes through or close to several of the villages and temple-fortresses that pepper the valley.

You visit Pisaq, both the village, and the terraces and fort high above. The engineering and preservation are unrivalled. From the flat valley floor the sculpted hillside rises up like a green staircase to the heavens.

Continue along this picturesque, patchwork valley to the temple of Ollantaytambo. The snow-frosted Andean cordillera forms a stunning backdrop. Ollantaytambo, sitting strategically at the gateway to the Amazon basin, was never captured by the Spanish conquistadores, but the inhabitants decided that the settlement was too vulnerable and would eventually fail, and so they abandoned it. The fortress, the colonial grid plan and the Inca foundations are still intact and there are wonderful views down over the sloping hillsides and into the fertile valley.

Day 5

Excursion to Chinchero indian village, Maras saltpans and Moray Inca site.

Drive through stunning countryside, against a backdrop of the purple, snow-capped Andes to Chinchero, 28km from Cusco. Chinchero is an attractive Indian village with a colourful Sunday market. The central square has a splendid Inca wall on its western side, etched with 10 trapezoidal niches, each large enough to hold a human being. Also on the square, sitting on its upper level, is the town’s colonial church, built of adobe and decorated internally with beautiful floral designs.

Continue to the Maras saltpans, a series of terraces where a natural source of saline water is evaporated by the strong Andean sun. In use since Inca times, the saltpans continue to be worked by the local community. You’ll also visit Moray, an Inca experimental agricultural centre. It comprises numerous terraces carved into a large, natural amphitheatre, each one with a different microclimate from those above and below.

Time permitting, you can also visit a traditional weaving project, where local women demonstrate the weaving technique and you can learn about the use of natural dyes and patterns unique to the numerous mountain communities surrounding the Sacred Valley – also a great opportunity to buy excellent quality products, directly from the producers.

Day 6

Transfer to Ollantaytambo. Hiram Bingham train to Machu Picchu. Guided tour of the ruins.

Embark the Hiram Bingham luxury train. All the stops are pulled out to give you a wonderful top quality experience, with  gourmet cuisine and commentaries by expert guides. Travelling for 90mins by train from Ollantaytambo, you reach the ruins of Machu Picchu. As the river Urubamba enters its narrow gorge between thickly-forested granite hills, there is room only for a single track, which hugs the right bank and passes through hamlets that are no more than a collection of shacks beside the railway. Close to the foot of the mountain on a saddle of which the citadel was built is the bustling village of Machu Picchu.

The majestic ruined city, reclaimed from tropical cloud forest, is reached by minibus up a sinuous road, or on foot up a near vertical rocky path. The American explorer Hiram Bingham discovered it in 1911, by which time it was completely buried beneath jungle vegetation. It is the ruins’ location, on a ridge spur amid forested peaks and above a roaring river canyon, that most ignites the imagination.

Upon arrival, you will have a guided tour of the ruins, learning all about the majestic site, its history and the many stories and myths that surround it, before retiring to the nearby Sanctuary Lodge for an overnight stay.

Day 7

Revisit Machu Picchu, return to Cusco by Vistadome train.

Revisit the ruins in the morning, before returning to Cusco by Vistadome train service.

Day 8

At leisure.

At leisure in Cusco. You might continue to explore the city, its markets and museums; or venture further afield to lesser known but enchanting historic sites such as the frescoed colonial church at Andahuaylillas. If you fancy something more active, you might choose to go white-water rafting, horse riding or mountain biking in the lovely countryside around the city.

Day 9

Fly to jungle city of Iquitos, board your 4 day Amazon cruise.

Fly to Iquitos in the Peruvian Amazon. Here you will board your vessel, accompanied by experienced naturalists, you will get acquainted with the diversity of bird, animal and plant life in this most vigorous and undisturbed eco-system.

Cruises operate throughout the year – in the high water season (December – May) you can venture further into the flooded creeks, in the low water months (June – November) you can stroll along sandy beaches exposed by the lowering water-line. There are opportunities to encounter local communities, and wildlife you may see includes pink dolphins, black caiman alligators and giant river otters. Other excursions include trying your hand at piranha fishing and night jungle trips.

Days 10-11

Cruise with daily excursions.

Excursions by small launch and on foot to visit the rainforest. Each day’s programme includes many optional 2 to 3hr excursions into Amazonia. You will have the chance to explore remote Amazon river tributaries, spot monkeys and birds along a jungle trail, visit a local village, go fishing on one of the beautiful lakes, and much more.

The vessel is equipped with auxiliary aluminium skiffs which will take you along the waterways, or will ferry you to the landing point for onshore excursions. Each of the excursions is led by a trained and knowledgeable naturalist guide who speaks good English. We allow plenty of time for you to explore, listen to your guide’s explanation, and photograph the wildlife.

If there are days when you choose not to go onshore for an expedition, you can stay on board. Lie back in a lounge chair, breathe in the Amazon air, soak up the sun, read a good book, watch the ever-changing view, and simply experience total relaxation in the heart of the Amazon jungle.

Day 12

Fly to Lima, overnight in Miraflores.

Return to Iquitos and fly to Lima. Transfer to Belmond Miraflores Park.

Day 13

Transfer to Lima international airport.