Embark on one of the greatest adventures of your life and join us for this cultural, adventure and sightseeing retreat in Peru and Bolivia, South America.
Take the chance to connect with a culture so rich in traditions dating back millennia, and to explore a uniquely imposing and diverse landscape dominated by mysterious deserts, canyons and Andean mountains.
Peru has it all.
Bold and brash, Bolivia lifts travellers to its dizzying heights with stunning scenery, legendary landmarks and a rich, indigenous heritage.
Bolivia is an energetic, enigmatic piece of South America – alive with passion, awash with colour, connected to the past but living very much in the present. Soak in thermal baths surrounded by erupting geysers and desert; marvel at ruins on Lake Titicaca’s Island of the Sun (the mythical birthplace of Inca civilization) and, of course, check out the mega salt-lick of the Salar de Uyuni – it’s like being on a snowfield…but with flamingos!
Upon your arrival, you will need to go through customs control which may take around up to 1 hour. Our Assistant will be waiting for you with a sign once through arrivals. Travel time from the airport should be around 45 minutes depending on delays and traffic.
Your hotel is situated in the best part of the city with short walking distances to the parks, ocean-front and beaches, banks and currency exchange shops, supermarkets and plenty of cafes and restaurants to choose from, too!
Today you will be picked up by our driver and English speaking guide to take you on a personal tour of the city and especially the attractions of down-town Lima including the Catacombs of San Francisco church/convent, the Presidents Palace and main squares of San Martin and Plaza Mayor. We then continue to the airport and take a flight to Cusco is the late afternoon (between 3.30 and 4.30pm)
You then will meet one of our Cusco team and transfer 20 minutes to your hotel located a block to the main square.
The guide will come and meet you and help you to explore the most interesting places on foot. By walking, it is easy to get to most popular spots such as the Cathedral, Koricancha temple, San Pedro market, the Bohemian part of Cusco known as San Blas, and the famous pedestrianized stone street of ‘hatumrumiyoc’. Cusco historical centre is relatively concise and takes only some minutes to cross the main blocks and cobbled streets. However it is elevated at 11000ft and up and downhill on many streets so we suggest to take everything slowly. In the afternoon, you have some free time but if you would like to do any extra activities such as horse ride, cookery class, visit the nearby temples or Inca Planetarium then let us know.
We start by driving out to Chinchero – a town famous for ruins and traditional textile/weaving workshops and handicrafts. Here you can learn about traditional weaving and the different types of Andean animals that the wool comes from. We will also see the Chinchero ruins and then head to the famous pre-Inkan Salt Terraces of Maras where Salt is still being mined today. For those who want to, there is the option to hike down into the Sacred Valley and finishing at our restaurant for lunch, in order to take more photos. The hike is not difficult and all downhill and lasts about 45 minutes. The transport would take approximately the same time to get there by road. At around 12.30pm we arrive in Urubamba and the heart of the Sacred Valley where we take some lunch. Typical regional food in buffet format overlooking some pretty landscapes of garden and the river, before moving on to our final stop of the day Ollantaytambo around 2pm.
We take a train at around 8.30am and continue to Aguas Calientes /Machu Picchu village in 1 hour and 40 minutes. From here, we continue by shuttle bus (25 minutes) up to the ruins at 10.30am and enter the ruins around 11am. Your guided tour normally lasts up to 2 hours covering all the main temples and most important buildings of the Inca citadel. You will then return back down by the shuttle bus and have lunch in the town before embarking on the 3.20 or 4.20pm train back to Ollantaytambo, and transfer from there back to Cusco in time for a dinner.
Today, you will need to take breakfast at 7am, as you will leave for the airport no later than 7.30am you will need to account for the short 20 minute transfer to the airport from your hotel but check in can be 1.5-2 hours before flight departure on internal flights. You will arrive to Arequipa 1 hour later then transfer to your hotel located in the centre of the city (about 25 minutes from the airport). Your guide can meet you after lunch and then take you on a walking tour of the city.
Some time around mid-day, we transfer 3.5-4 hours by private van to Colca Canyon. We climb up to a high pass from Arequipa to a panoramic viewpoint to 7 volcanoes which can be seen on a clear day as well as spotting the native Vicuna’s, a wild specie of the Camelid family - related to Alpacas and Llamas.... We should then arrive at our hotel around 4pm and with a backdrop of the Canyon – the world’s second deepest!
If you like, you could visit some nearby hot-springs (optional cost). After the hot springs we then take transport back to town where we can enjoy a local show and dinner typical of the region in the nearby town of Chivay
After some time for breakfast, we then go to a view point where we can see Condors fly. There is a light trek involved, along the side of the Canyon which travels between several different viewpoints. Total time to walk on this well paved section is around 30-45 minutes. From here, we drive across the Andes to Puno and Lake Titicaca (6 hours). In order to gain some distance on the way to border with Bolivia, we would not stop in Puno city, but continue around Lake Titicaca another 30 minutes to the small village of Chucuito and a nice hotel located onlooking the lake.
On this day we will we arrive at the border town of Desaguadero. Here we stamp out at Peru Immigrations, cross the bridge and stamp in at Bolivian customs. We can change money here if we want.
We will also need to adjust our time as we lose 1 hour when crossing into Bolivia. We then continue 30 minutes and can stop at Tiwanaku pre-Inca ruins – the largest of its kind in Bolivia. There we will visit the Pyramid of Akapana and the semi-subterranean Temple, as well as the Kalasasaya Temple, one of the largest and oldest ceremonial centers in the world. We will also know the famous Puerta del Sol, a stone arch of approximately 10 tons, in which the calendar of Tiwanaku is observed. Later, we will visit the archaeological museums where will see the Monolith Bennett, the largest of all the monoliths. After the visit to the archaeological site, we will have lunch in a typical restaurant in the village of Tiwanaku. We then continue in the afternoon to La Paz city in another 2 hours
After breakfast, the guide should meet you and take you on foot around the places of the city for example a tour of San Francisco church, Witches market, Murillo Square, Executive’s and Legislative’s Palace, Metropolitan Cathedral, Belvedere point Killi Killi, and a cable car ride to admire the city. If time we will take cable-car ride within the city! Afterwards we can drive to Moon Valley names after Neil Armstrong felt it somewhat similar to landscapes on the moon. Around 8.30pm we should leave from to the bus station to board the tourist class bus to Uyuni.
This is a 9.5 hour journey so we offer the most comfortable seats in the best possible transport to get there.
We will arrive to the bus station around 7am and take time for some breakfast in Uyuni town as the tour will start around 10am.
SALAR DE UYUNI SALT FLATS TOUR DAY TOUR
The magical Salt Flats of Uyuni is one of Bolivias top attractions and it really feel’s like you could be on the surface of another planet. But with this also note that conditions are tough here!!!
Altitude is high and cold. It’s also very dry and dusty. Warm clothes and a bandana for your face are very important items to bring. A good winter jacket, gloves and woolen hat at night especially to keep you warmer.
At 10am we commence the tour.
We will first visit the train cemetery where you can see the old rusting trains from decades ago. After this
we proceed to Colchani and witness how the salt is processed before we arrive to the salt flats themselves and see the "Ojos de Sal" where water bubbles up through the salt plains. We will see where the salt has been placed in mounds ready to be transported, the original salt hotel (no longer used for guests) and visit
the Inca Huasi island to see the giant cacti and have great views of the salt flats all around. There will be plenty of time for taking amazing photos before we head toward the village of San Juán where we stay the night in a salt hotel.
We leave around 8.30 to drive a few minutes the airport and fly at around 10.30am
We then have an indirect flight via Cochabamba in 2 hours and 30 minutes arriving to La Paz by 1.15pm. Pick up from the airport and drive into the city in around 30 minutes leaves you the rest of the day free.
After some time for breakfast, we have to transfer around 3.5 hours to get to Copacabana town based on Bolivias side of Lake Titicaca. We will take a 1 hour boat ride out to Sun Island.
On the Island there are light trails for walking and some old ruins, time for lunch as part of the tour.
After breakfast, we will continue to the border (20 minutes) then drive to Puno (another 2.5 hours) for an early lunch, We will then travel 1 hour more to Juliaca to catch an early evening flight to Lima and transfer to our hotel in Miraflores as per first night.
Transfer to airport fly home at any time
