Discover the Wonders of Peru

Arrive in Lima

You are met at the airport and driven to your hotel in Miraflores, the green district above the Pacific. The rest of the day is yours to settle in and shake off the flight — perhaps a first walk along the clifftops, and an early Peruvian dinner.

Colonial Lima and the Larco Museum

A private half-day tour of the capital. You start at the adobe pyramid of Huaca Pucllana, then walk the UNESCO-listed old centre — the Plaza de Armas, the Government Palace, and the 16th-century Convent of San Francisco, whose library holds thousands of antique volumes above its cloistered garden. You finish at the Larco Museum, home to one of the country's finest collections of pre-Columbian ceramics, textiles and gold. The afternoon is free.

Into the Andes, by way of Chinchero

A morning flight carries you up to Cusco. Rather than stopping in the city — better to acclimatise lower down first — you drive on towards the Sacred Valley, pausing at the highland village of Chinchero. Here a weaving family walks you through the whole craft, from shearing and spinning to dyeing with wild plants and flowers, with a Quechua-speaking guide translating. You are welcome to try your hand at it. You reach your valley hotel in the late afternoon.

Pisac, Ollantaytambo and lunch with Ccorccor

A full day in the valley the Inca held most sacred. You browse the weavers' market at Pisac before climbing to the citadel above it — terraces, temples and granaries cut into the mountainside. At Ollantaytambo, the "last living Inca town", you walk streets still laid out to the original plan and stand beneath the vast fitted stones of the Temple of the Sun. Lunch is a farm-to-table meal with the Ccorccor community up at Chinchero, cooked with what the fields give and eaten in the family's company.

Walking in to Machu Picchu

An early train down the Urubamba gorge to Kilometre 104, where the Short Inca Trail begins. After a first look at the riverside ruins of Chachabamba, you climb for around three hours through cloud forest — orchids, ferns, birdsong — to the beautiful terraced site of Wiñay Wayna. A gentler hour on brings you to Inti Punku, the Sun Gate, and your first sight of Machu Picchu spread out below in the afternoon light. You descend to a private camp at the foot of the citadel, where the tents are already up and a hot dinner is waiting. It is a moderate day's walking at altitude — and one most people never forget.

Prefer not to walk? The same day can be done entirely by train, straight to Aguas Calientes — just let us know.

Machu Picchu at first light, then Cusco

You are among the first up to the citadel, in time to watch the sun come over the ridge (cloud permitting). Your private guide leads a couple of hours through the Temple of the Sun, the main plaza, the Sacred Rock and the ceremonial fountains, explaining how the place was built and lived in — after which you are free to wander, meet the resident llamas, or, with a permit, climb one of the peaks. In the afternoon a train and private transfer bring you to Cusco.

The Inca capital

A private half-day among Cusco's layers. You start above the city at Sacsayhuamán, where boulders the size of rooms are fitted without mortar, then visit the carved shrine of Q'enqo and the spring-fed terraces of Tambomachay. Back in town you see the Qorikancha — once sheathed in gold, now half-swallowed by a Spanish church — and the Cathedral on the Plaza de Armas, with its Cusco-school paintings and quiet Andean symbols worked into the woodwork. The afternoon and evening are yours to enjoy the city.

Across the altiplano on the Sun Route

A full day's journey to Lake Titicaca, but a scenic one, breaking often. You stop at the "Sistine Chapel of the Andes" — the painted church at Andahuaylillas — and the great temple of Raqchi, then take a buffet lunch of regional dishes. The road climbs to the La Raya pass at over 4,300 metres, the watershed between the Cusco and Puno regions, before dropping to the little museum at Pukará and, by late afternoon, the lakeside town of Puno.

The reed islands and a night on Amantaní

Out by boat across the highest navigable lake in the world. You call first at the Uros islands, built and rebuilt entirely from totora reed, then cross the deep water to Amantaní, where a local family takes you in for the night. Lunch is home-cooked; the afternoon brings an optional gentle climb to the Pachatata shrine for the view towards the Bolivian cordillera. After dinner the islanders often gather for music and dancing, and you are warmly pulled into it. The homestay is simple and family-run — the point of the night, rather than a compromise on it.

Taquile, and back to Puno

After breakfast with your hosts you sail on to Taquile, where the men knit and the community's textile tradition is recognised by UNESCO. You walk the island's stone paths to the square, learn how its unusual social order works, and take a last lakeside lunch at a local cooperative before returning to Puno in the afternoon.

Homeward

A private transfer to Juliaca airport for your onward flight, with time on the way to take a last look at the lake. We can extend the trip here — the Amazon at Puerto Maldonado, the canyons around Arequipa, or a few quiet days on the coast — just ask.