8 Days Peru Express

Upon your arrival in Lima, a Valencia Travel representative will welcome you at the airport and take you, on private transportation, to your hotel.

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We will start our colonial and contemporary Lima City Tour with a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean. This tour will take you through the modern districts of Miraflores and San Isidro. On the way there you will see the Huaca Pucllana, a pyramid-shaped pre-Inca ceremonial temple that has survived Lima’s massive urban growth. Colonial Lima You will then visit the Historic Center of Lima, designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. On this tour you will discover a city that was once the center of the Sixteenth Century Spanish Colony.

Santo Domingo Convent You will also visit the Convent of Santo Domingo, where the relics of three Peruvian saints are preserved: Saint Rose of Lima, Saint Martín de Porres and Saint Juan Macias.

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A Valencia Travel representative will pick you up from your hotel and take you to the airport where you will catch your flight to Cusco! Upon your arrival in Cusco, we will transfer you to your hotel so you can rest. Free time to enjoy the city.

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We will pick you up from your hotel in Cusco at around 4:30 as we need time to drive out to the trailhead and then complete our trek. The drive itself takes about 3 hours, passing through wonderful Andean scenery along the South Valley.

From here, we’ll set off on our trek, first following a pretty stream, seeing herds of alpacas and llamas as they graze on the hillsides. We’ll stop for a packed lunch somewhere along the trail, enjoying the scenery as we eat and relax for a while. Heading on, we’ll pass by the remote potato fields of this rugged region, and we might also see some local wildlife. If we’re lucky, we’ll see some chinchillas, charming Andean rodents that have the densest fur of any mammal that lives on land. As we near our destination, we’ll start to see many red mountains. And after trekking for a total of about five hours, we’ll finally reach our goal: Vinicunca, the spectacular Rainbow Mountain.

Once we’ve had time to take in all the magnificent sights, we’ll set off on our return trek, which will take three to four hours. Our private transport will be waiting for us when we get back to the trailhead, and we’ll set off back to Cusco.

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We’ll pick you up from your hotel at 8:30 and then set off towards the Sacred Valley. In Pisac, we’ll explore the extensive ruins and enjoy the beautiful views across the valley. You’ll be given a guided tour of the ruins, passing through various structures that once served as homes, storage rooms and temples, and you’ll see Inca altars, carvings, and tunnels. We’ll now head on towards Urubamba, where we’ll stop for about 45 minutes for lunch. After another 30-minute drive, we’ll reach the wonderful Inca town and archaeological site of Ollantaytambo. Ollantaytambo was the royal estate of the Inca emperor Pachacuti, who conquered the region and built the town and a ceremonial center.

We’ll see the extent of the water system when we return to the town, where fast flowing water channels built by the Incas are still in use today. Walking to the town square, we’ll have great views of the ruins above us, as well as Inca granaries and store houses built on the sides of the surrounding mountains. Here we can also watch the daily life of Ollantaytambo, where many of the locals still wear traditional dress.

After the visit to Ollantaytambo, return to your hotel in Sacred Valley.

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Our adventure in Machu Picchu begins in Cusco, when we pick you up from your hotel in the morning (the exact time will depend on the train schedule). We then head to the train station and board the train for a 2.5 hour scenic drive to a point known as Km 104. This is where we begin our short Inca Trail hike.

From here, we have a hike of approximately four hours to the Inca site of Wiñay Wayna ('Forever Young'), at approximately 2,680 m (8,792 ft) above sea level. Wiñay Wayna is an impressive Inca ruin built on a steep hillside overlooking the Urubamba River. It consists of an upper and lower section of housing or storage, connected by an Inca staircase and a cascade of channels and water sources. After exploring Wiñay Wayna, we will continue our walk to Inti Punku (the Puerta del Sol). From the Puerta del Sol, you will have your first and spectacular view of Machu Picchu. Inti Punku is believed to have once been the main entrance to Machu Picchu. The site was dedicated to Inti, the Inca sun god, and was placed on a ridge near Machu Picchu in the right place to allow the rising sun to pass through the gate each year on the summer solstice.

We will continue our walk to Machu Picchu, tantalizingly approaching the famous citadel. But before reaching Machu Picchu, we will take a side road off the trail and head towards Aguas Calientes, leaving our exploration of Machu for the next day, when we will have more time to explore. Aguas Calientes is the city below Machu Picchu, and this is where we will have dinner and take you to your hotel. You will probably want to spend the night early as we get up early the next day for our exploration of Machu Picchu.

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To best appreciate Machu Picchu, we’ll wake up early in the morning so we can get to the citadel in good time. You’ll have time for breakfast first, and then your guide will pick you up from the hotel at around 5:40. We’ll then walk to the bus departure point for the short but zigzagging ascent up the road to Machu Picchu.

We’ll then pass through the gates into the Machu Picchu archaeological site. Here you’ll begin your guided walking tour with an experienced and highly knowledgeable guide. Our tour of Machu Picchu will last about two hours, and will take you to all the most famous and most spectacular parts of the extensive archaeological complex.

Once we’ve finished our tour of Machu Picchu, we’ll take the bus back down to Aguas Calientes where you can relax and have lunch (not included) before we board the train back to Poroy and Cusco. Upon arrival at the station, we’ll be waiting to take you back to your hotel in Cusco, where you can think back to your incredible tour of one of the world’s most famous and most impressive attractions.

Optional service ($75): There is time for those who still have enough energy to climb Wayna (Huayna) Picchu, the mountain behind Machu Picchu. For many people, climbing Wayna Picchu is one of the highlights of their visit to Machu Picchu. The climb itself is interesting as you will see how the Inca cut out some steps out of the rocks and as you will have amazing views on Machu Picchu from different angles.

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After breakfast, transfer Hotel to Cusco Airport for your flight to Lima.

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