Travelling overland in Peru?

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My wife and I are considering travelling in October 2015. We would like to spend a couple of days in Lima before travelling across country (preferably by land to get acclimatised to the altitude) to Cusco. See Machu Picchu, the Sacred Valley etc. Then on towards Puno and Lake Titicaca stopping en route and finishing up with a couple of days in La Paz from where we would fly home. We are both in our 50s and don't want anything too exerting or luxurious - although reasonable comfort would be appreciated. We could travel independently or possibly as part of a small group. We were thinking of about 14 days in total but are flexible. What could you suggest? Thanks very much.

Asked by Geoff N

We actually have a trip called the Andes and Altiplano which covers exactly all the areas you identified - take a look to get a day-by-day break down of what the trip includes.

I know you mentioned travelling overland from Lima to Cusco, but this is an exceptionally long and gruelling journey by road (about 20-24 hours) and the best option really is to fly (1 hour and 20 minutes). The altitude shouldn’t be anything to worry about, we book this for all our clients all the time. We normally recommend to take the first few days in Cusco relatively easy to give you time to acclimatise. If you are really worried about the effects then we could transfer you from Cusco airport to the Sacred Valley straight away (about 1.5 hours by road) where the altitude is a couple of hundred metres lower. You could spend a few days in the Sacred Valley, before visiting Machu Picchu and then head back to Cusco once you’ve acclimatised. From Cusco you could then take the wonderfully scenic Andean Explorer train to Puno and Lake Titicaca or travel along the same route by a comfortable tourist bus.

Answered by Konrad Mludzinski
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