Peru Boutique - Andes & Amazon Tour

The Destination background

Lima, known as the city of the Kings was listed as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1991 and is home to some of the most beautiful colonial architecture in the whole of South America.

Cuzco, the ancient capital of the Incas is regarded as the oldest inhabited city of the Americas which was subsequently built upon by the Spanish Conquistadores in the 16th century. The invaders erected grand colonial mansions and beautiful cathedrals and churches on the old palaces of the Incas. Considered the most important pre-colonial city in the Americas, Cuzco is also the gateway to Machu Picchu, the new seventh wonder of the world. Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Incas, was a religious centre built on the saddle of a mountain high in the Andes which today is accessed by train or trekking along the Inca Trail.

Puerto Maldonado is the gateway to the southern Amazon basin and Peru's Amazon rainforest. A haven for wildlife and innumerable species of flora and fauna, this is a must see for any nature lover.

Full Itinerary

• Day 1. Lima

  Arrival to Lima, reception at the airport and transfer by private vehicle to your hotel. Free evening

• Day 2. Lima (B & L)

  After breakfast, a half day, privately guided tour of colonial and modern Lima, including the cathedral, dating from 1654, the main square, which still houses the original bronze fountain built in 1650, and the San Francisco Convent and its catacombs. Known as the city of the kings, Lima was founded in 1535 by Pizarro and rebuilt in 1991, the same year that UNESCO declared it a world heritage site.

  After lunch at the Casa Moreyra restaurant, you will have a choice of options. You may either visit a museum of your choice; choosing from the Gold Museum or the Rafael Larco Herera Museum which showcases an overview of 4000 years of Peruvian pre Colombian culture; you may embark on a cooking class with a local gourmet chef and explore the diversity and complexity of Peruvian cuisine or you may prefer to return to your hotel for an afternoon of leisure. Free evening.

• Day 3. Lima - Cuzco - Urubamba (B, L & D)

  After breakfast, transfer to the airport for your mid morning flight to Cuzco. Arrival and private transfer to the Urubamba, the sacred valley of the Incas. The drive will take just over an hour and will allow you to slowly acclimatize to the high altitude of the Andes. Passing through the old town of Chinchero you will also visit en route, the amphitheatre of Inca terracing at Moray and witness the incredible engineering of the Incas followed by a visit to the pre-Inca salt pans of Maras. Arrival to your hotel, settle in to your room and lunch.

  After lunch, a free day to help with acclimatization. Dinner at your hotel.

• Day 4. Urubamba (B, L & D)

  After breakfast, a private full-day varied excursion of the Urubamba, including a visit to the seldom visited ruins above Pisaq. These ruins are considered amongst the finest in the Cuzco area and allow for an opportunity to appreciate the masterful building techniques of the Incas. The trip continues with a drive up to the splendid Hacienda Huayo Ccari from where you will begin your wonderful ride through the countryside on Peruvian Paso horses (you may opt out of the horse riding trip if you wish). The hacienda is a traditional hacienda owned and lived-in by one of the oldest land-owning families in Cuzco. The Paso Horse is a modern day Peruvian horse descended from the horses introduced into Peru by the Spanish in the sixteenth-century and which are world renowned for their very smooth gait.

  After the ride, a delicious three-course lunch will be served in the hacienda's elegant dining room before continuing the trip to Ollantaytambo and the famous ruins above the city of the same name.

  Return to your hotel for dinner and a briefing on the up and coming Huchuy Qosqo trek.

• Day 5. Urubamba - Huchuy Qosqo Trek (B, L & D)

  Today is the start of your authentic, 2 day, 1 night trek over varied terrain to a largely unknown Inca site situated on a plateau, with stunning views overlooking the valley and snow-capped peaks of the Vilcabamba range. You will first drive to Tauca, approximately 35 min drive away where you will meet your crew and pack animals. The trek will be steady over undulating ground but you will appreciate the wonderful views of the Andes and cover a total distance of 10km in about 5 hours. Lunch will be cooked along the way before arriving to the Huchuy Qosqo inca site (3,650m/12,045ft) and your camp for the night. The site is thought to be the remains of a palace built by Viracocha, the Eighth Inca. Amongst a large number of buildings, some stone, some adobe, is a kallanka (great hall) over 40m in length. Providing water to the site is an Inca built irrigation channel, lined with stones for about 800m. Dinner and overnight in tents.

• Day 6. Huchuy Qosqo - Lamay - Urubamba - Machu Picchu (B & D)

  After a cooked breakfast, a visit of the Inca site with your guide before commencing on the hike down to the village of Lamay on the banks of the Urubamba Valley. Transfer to Ollantaytambo railway station for the 1 1/2 hour train journey to Aguas Calientes. Arrival and check-in to your Hotel, the Inkaterra Pueblo Hotel.

  Enjoy the wonderful setting of the hotel surrounded by cloud forest and home to an abundant array of birds, hummingbirds and orchids. Dinner at your hotel.

• Day 7. Machu Picchu - Cuzco (B)

  After an early breakfast, you will take the bus up to magnificent Machu Picchu, the most spectacular ancient city in the world. Built by the Inca Pachacutec, and comprising stone blocks fitted with masterful precision, Machu Picchu harmoniously blends into the mountain landscape. A fully guided tour where your guide will explain the main construction of the site and also take you to many less visited parts including the Inca's bridge. If time permits, you may also climb up to Wayna Picchu Mountain, overlooking the complex before returning back down to Aguas Calientes by bus for the return train trip to Cuzco. Arrival, reception and transfer to your hotel.

• Day 8. Cuzco (B & D)

  After breakfast, a free morning to wander around the ancient capital of the Incas.

  After lunch (not included), a private guided tour of Cuzco including the Cathedral, Qoricancha or temple of the sun, the Inca fortress of Sacsayhuaman overlooking Cuzco, Qenko and Puka Pukara sites. A visit to the Inca Museum completes the day before returning to your hotel. Dinner at the excellent Map Cafe restaurant.

• Day 9. Cuzco (B)

  A free day in Cuzco at leisure. If you prefer, you may embark on a half day white water rafting trip, a half day mountain biking trip or just enjoy the sights and sounds of Cuzco on your own.

• Day 10. Cuzco - Puerto Maldonado - Tambopata Amazon (B, L & D)

  After breakfast, transfer to the airport for the flight to Puerto Maldonado. Reception at the airport before transferring to the river port on the Madre de Dios River. A 25 minutes journey down the Madre de Dios River by motor canoe brings you to the start of the trail to Sandoval Lake Lodge. From here the trail takes you on a 2-mile walk/or rickshaw ride through secondary forest, until you reach a small canal where we board canoes and are paddled 220 yards through a flooded forest of 100-foot tall Mauritia palms. As the canal opens onto the shimmering surface of the lake, we transfer to a catamaran and are leisurely paddled across half the lake to the lodge. After lunch and a brief rest to avoid the early afternoon heat, we once again board the catamaran and set off to explore the entire west end of the lake. Here, in the flooded palm forest we drift to the sounds of hundreds of Red-Bellied Macaws as they return to the palm forest for the night. We return to the lodge around nightfall for dinner. After dinner we will return to the canoes to look for the large and extremely rare Black Caiman.

• Day 11. Lake Sandoval Lodge (B, L & D)

  A pre-dawn wake-up call will enable us to be on the lake for sunrise and a hopeful encounter with the family of Giant Otters which frequent the lake and are most active at this time of day. Most of the fish-eating water birds around the lake actively fish in the early morning as well, and this outing should provide excellent views, and photographs, of the prehistoric- looking Hoatzins. After returning for a late breakfast we set off into the cool under storey of the tall virgin forest near the lake to see some towering wild Brazil Nut trees and a demonstration of how our hosts collect, open and commercialize this important natural product. After lunch and an hour or so to relax we once again board the catamaran to explore the eastern part of the lake, where we might see one or more of the five species of monkeys which live in the forest near the lake, such as the Brown Capuchin Monkey. There is a final chance after dinner to try and spot some Black Caiman on the lake, or to go on a short night walk through the primary forest.

• Day 12. Lake Sandoval - Puerto Maldonado - Lima (B)

  After a dawn breakfast, we paddle across the lake, perhaps encountering a family of macaws leaving their roost to forage or a troupe of monkeys greeting the day. We hike back out to the river and return to Puerto Maldonado for our return flight to Lima. Arrival and transfer to your hotel. Free evening at leisure.

• Day 13. Lima (B)

  A leisurely day with plenty of opportunity for shopping before your transfer to the airport and your return flight home.

End of our services.

Tour Prices

• Superior Boutique

  • Price per person US$4425.00 - based on two people sharing.
  • Single supplement not applicable.

• Premium Boutique

  • Price per person US$6800.00 - based on two people sharing.
  • Single supplement not applicable.

Tour Price Includes:

• Accommodation in double rooms at selected boutique hotels and a lodge in the Amazon jungle.
• All meals as indicated in the itinerary.
• Transfers, tours and excursions as per itinerary based on private service with English speaking guides.
• All internal flight tickets in economy class.
• Vistadome train tickets.
• All entrance fees (excluding Tambopata fee of $20 per person) and tips.

Tour Price Does Not Include:

• International flight to Peru and US$31.00 tax for all International air departures.
• All domestic flights require a US$6.00 charge (airport tax).
• Personal expenses such as telephone bills, laundry expenses, beverages, etc,
• Tambopata fee of $20 per person
• Insurance against theft, loss, illness and/or accident etc.
• Baggage porterage and other extras not specified.

Hotels

Superior Boutique

• Lima Hotels

  Second Home or Clifford Hotel. (Subject to availability.)

• Sacred Valley Hotels

  Recoleta or Libertador. (Subject to availability.)

• Cuzco Hotels

  Picoaga or Novotel. (Subject to availability.)

• Aguas Calientes Hotels

  Inkaterra Pueblo Hotel. (Subject to availability.)

• Amazon Lodge

  Sandoval Lake Lodge. (Subject to availability.)

Premium Boutique

• Lima Hotels

  Country Club Hotel. (Subject to availability.)

• Sacred Valley Hotels

  Inkaterra Urubamba Private Villas. (Subject to availability.)

• Cuzco Hotels

  Monasterio Hotel or Casona Hotel. (Subject to availability.)

• Aguas Calientes Hotels

  Inkaterra Pueblo Hotel. (Subject to availability.)

• Amazon Lodge

  Sandoval Lake Lodge. (Subject to availability.)

• Trains

  Vistadome train. (Upgrade to Hiram Bingham train subject to availability.)