Peru: the land of the Incas in 10 days without exhausting yourself!
Sea, mountains and the Amazon! Peru is the land of the Incas, a land of beauty, rain forest, high mountains and colourful people.
Peru is the third largest country in South America, with an area space of over 1 million square kilometres – in other words big! When exploring a big country on a tight time schedule compromises have to be made. It is important to decide what you want to see and how hectic you want to be. On our ‘must do’ list was Machu Picchu and the Amazon. Our next priority was to experience the culture, food and people – this meant staying the longest time possible in one place.
Exploring Peru’s three major regions: Coast, Andean Mountains and Amazon
Once we had agreed on our priorities, we compared different tour operators. After looking at various itineraries we decided to plan the trip ourselves. Planning a trip on your own is easy and straightforward. It also worked out cheaper for us. While planning my trip I did refer to the tour operator itineraries in order to make sure we didn’t miss anything.
The first experience most international travellers have of Peru is its capital Lima. Lima is a coastal city that doesn’t ever seem to see the sun and is really designed as a springboard to all the wonderful Peruvian regions. To orientate ourselves I booked a half day trip which introduced us to the city, all its points of interest and gave us an understanding of its history. This is one day trip I would recommend.
After spending a total of three nights in Lima – though Lima is an interesting place, I would have preferred to stay an extra night in the Amazon or in Cusco.
Cuzco: Andean Mountain Region
Our hotel in Cusco, provided us with a tour to their sister hotel in the Sacred Valley. This turned out to be a fantastic experience. The tour included stop offs at two major projects – one to help keep Peruvian traditions alive and the other to rehabilitate wild animals.
Machu Picchu was definitely a highlight. There are no words to describe its beauty. We decided against walking the Inca trail but instead caught the train. From the Sacred Valley the trip was only 2 hours, long enough to enjoy the scenery, but not long enough to become bored. Those who caught the train from Cusco had a 4 hour trip one way.
Puerto Maldonado: The Amazon Rain Forest
This was another dream come true. After doing our research we opted to stay in a hotel in Puerto Maldonado and do day trips out to the various places we wanted to go. Though it would have been a real experience staying at one of the eco lodges deeper in the jungle – the length of the boat trips meant we didn’t have enough time to do everything we wanted. Also staying in the town meant we were able to sample the delicious Peruvian food and drink at local restaurants and cafes as well as visit their local markets and parks.
Wow, nice post, this is one of my dream destinations, I would love to see Machu Pichu someday. We have the same style of traveling as well. I like traveling slow and staying in one place for as long as possible. If I only have a week, I would rather stay in one country than hop from one place to another. There are just so many things to do and see and even a week isn’t enough to explore thoroughly one city. Looking forward to more posts from you
I also like travelling slow. I prefer spending time absorbing things, experiencing the atmosphere. And I think we somehow managed to achieve the balance of seeing the things we wanted (Machu Picchu was non negotiable – we were going there!) and experiencing things. What I found worked quite well was when the tour groups would head off on various things – we would wander around, relax and take our time. Meant we really got to see and talk to a lot of people.
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Great post and photos! We´ve heard a lot of mixed reviews about the Inca trail from fellow travellers. People complained that the facilities (showers in particular) were very dirty. We have heard this from a lot of people. Have you heard anything similar?
No I haven’t heard anything about dirty facilities. I think people forget this is a third world country, not first world. They do their best but standards differ. The people that enjoy it are the ones that take the whole experience without expecting mod-cons and hunker down and wash in that bucket shower!
Sounds like a lovely trip. Personally, I think you made the rights decision making your own travel plans. In addition to working out cheaper, you didn’t have to deal with the many personalities that you encounter on an organized tour.
I know what you mean Nancie. I get quite fed up with certain personalities on an organised tour that want to be lead by the hand, complain about everything, and only want to read their homeland paper! I would rather be mixing and mingling with the locals.
Wow! Lima and Machu Picchu – modern and ancient cities. Nice to see their photos together like that. Makes me wonder how Machu Picchu was also a busy city back in the day. Amazing trip, Kerry!
Machu Picchu was truely amazing – it must have been a buzzing place but not as busy as we might think. It was in the process of being built when the Spaniards invaded. Its location was kept secret even from the local Inca tribes in an attempt to have something that could be preserved and store their gold. Thankfully it was hidden or we wouldn’t be able to experience it.
Really would love to do this trip. Hoping to make South America for 2012.
I’m really amazed you’ve gone as far as conquering one of the Great Wonders of the World, the Machu Picchu! Oh, how I wish I will have the chance to visit the place one day. I also agree with you that it’s better to take things slowly when you are on a trip to a certain country and certainly even a week is not enough to learn about what your destination has to offer. Great story and lovely photos Kerry! Thank you for sharing them with us…:)
Very interesting article, Kerry-Ann. Visiting Peru is very high on my “bucket list.” I am hoping to go in 2012 with my sister!
It’s great to hear that you enjoyed Puerto Maldonado as we plan to fly there for a bit. We’d love to see more of the Amazon if we had time but we don’t.