There’s not really any argument:  in terms of cultural magnificence, enigmatic history, uniqueness and stunning human creativity, Machu Picchu and Easter Island are respectively Peru and Chile’s most divine highlights.  The Incas and the indigenous people of Easter Island couldn’t be more diverse, reflected in their history and their world views. But now you can combine the two, along with other stunning sights, on one two-week holiday. What seem to be isolated and remote places are in fact remarkably accessible: there are even direct non-stop flights from and to the UK.

Start your trip in Lima, the City of Kings and certainly the most regal capital in South America. Fly up into the Andes and continue to the Sacred Valley of the Incas, Peru’s bucolic paradise, peppered with the vestiges of Inca civilisation.  From there it’s a train journey through a dramatic canyon to Machu Picchu, where you spend the night close to the ruins so that you can benefit from a second visit fully to appreciate this extraordinary mountain-top site.   From Imperial Cusco you fly to Santiago, Chile’s cosmopolitan and dynamic modern capital, and thence fly across the Pacific Ocean to isolated, Polynesian Easter Island,  famed for the remarkable stone statues of huge heads standing guard over the rugged scenery and lonely beaches.