Peru: Beyond the Sacred Valley with the Lares Adventure

On this holiday you can get under the skin of Peruvian culture and set foot on wild landscapes little trodden by visitors. You won’t miss out on the highlights: you visit imperial Cusco, Machu Picchu and the temple fortresses of Pisac and Ollantaytambo. But between visits to these stars of Inca heritage you’ll be walking along silent, sun-blistered upland trails, usually within sight of snow-dazzled Andean peaks, discovering buzzing village markets and the rustic settlements of weavers and livestock herders, meeting giggling bands of children making their daily rural trek to school, all under the scrutiny of grazing llamas.  You don’t have to go far: new community roads are opening up previously little-visited regions not far from  the Sacred Valley of the Incas.

You don’t have to rough it either: sleep in cosy purpose-built lodges, nourished with hot meals. You’re accompanied by guides who will lay out a menu of options for you: drives, strolls or more serious hikes; visits to co-operatives, hamlets or archaeological sites: it’s up to you. The idea is that you enjoy an off-road adventure exerting as much physical effort as you feel comfortable with. Travel between the lodges by road if you wish. Or choose the toughest hikes and be rewarded with sight of truly wilderness landscapes.

In addition, a lot has been going on in Peru. Boutique hotels, fusion cuisine and chic shopping opportunities are springing up in all the tourist hotspots.