Lima – Arequipa – Puno – Cusco 12-Days

Arrival to the city of Lima. A representative of our Travel Agency will be waiting for you at the airport to welcome you and transfer you to the hotel of your choice in a private vehicle.

Free afternoon to rest, walk, food taste and enjoy the city.

Hotel Lima.

Flight from Lima. Arrival to the city of Arequipa. A representative of our Travel Agency will be waiting for you at the airport to welcome you and transfer you to the hotel of your choice.

Free afternoon to rest, walk, taste and enjoy the city in a romantic evening.

Hotel Arequipa.

After breakfast, our guide will pass by the Hotel to start the City Tour. This day we will visit the city of Arequipa: the Carmen Alto viewpoint (place where you can see the Chilina Valley), the Yanahuara viewpoint, the convent of Santa Catalina, a “small village” of the 17th century opened to the public in the year 1970, after 400 years of cloister, which transports its visitors four centuries in the past.

You will pass through numerous large courtyards and gardens, the kitchen and slave quarters and the stone laundries, the Plaza de Armas, where you will see the Cathedral (only façade), the Church and the Cloisters of the Society of St. Ignatius. Return to the hotel.

Hotel Arequipa.

Very early in the morning between 04:00 and 04:30 am. we will pass by the hotel. Departure from the city of Arequipa via Yura, passing by the slopes of Chachani, Pampa de Arrieros, Pampa Cañahuas National Reserve where you can see the wonderful vicuña, we continue through Vizcachani, Pampas de Toccra,

 where you can see a variety of birds, then we will go around the crater of Chucura to reach Patapampa (4 800 masl.) and Mirador de los Andes where you can see the volcanoes that surround the city of Arequipa. Descent to the village of Chivay.

Lunch in a local restaurant. After our delicious lunch we will transfer to the hotel of your choice. In the afternoon, optional visit to the “Baños Termales La Calera” where you can take a refreshing medicinal bath.

Hotel Chivay.

After breakfast at the hotel, we will leave very early in the morning towards the Cruz del Condor (41 km. from Chivay), where you can observe one of the most wonderful places of the Canyon, and almost always you can see the condors in masterful flights. We will return to the villages of Pinchollo, Maca, Achoma, Yanque and the viewpoints of Antahuilque and Choquetico. Return to Chivay, lunch at the passenger’s expense.

Then we will leave towards the city of Puno by the same road of the first day taking the detour in Patahuasi (from this place the road is completely asphalted until the city of Puno).

On the way we will observe different Andean landscapes, like forests of stones, immense lagoons with a variety of birds, small villages of the zone, the towns of Imata, Santa Lucia and the city of Juliaca. After six hours we will arrive in Puno. Transfer to the hotel of your choice.

Hotel Puno.

Breakfast at the hotel. Very early in the morning a representative of our Travel Agency will pick you up to take you to the Main Port and board the boat that will take us to the Floating Islands of the Uros that are actually inside the “National Reserve of Lake Titicaca”. These beautiful islands are only 30 minutes away.

The Uros people still maintain their own culture and traditions, as well as the practice of artisanal fishing, mainly “El Carachi”. When the fishing is abundant, the inhabitants keep the fish drying in the sun, as well as hunting wild birds and collecting duck eggs. Today we have 75 islands that are well organised. After a brief explanation and a 40 minute visit we continue our tour.

We continue our journey to the natural island of Taquile, whose inhabitants are mainly dedicated to agriculture, fishing and handicrafts. The inhabitants today continue to live with their ancient Inca traditions and laws, with customs, religious and popular manifestations such as:

The coexistence before marriage called Sirvinacuy, Payment to the Earth or Pachamama. It should be noted that spinning and weaving are mainly carried out by men, from the age of 8 years old. The women exclusively make threads and weavings.

After this pleasant experience we will have a typical lunch included. After lunch passengers will have two hours free to visit the Handicraft Centre of the city, take pictures with incredible panoramic views and return to the city of Puno.

Hotel Puno

Breakfast at the hotel. Transfer to the bus station at 06:30 am. Departure to the city of Cusco at approximately 07:00 am.

We will start with the famous Ruta del Sol Puno – Cusco in tourist service. During the tour we pass through the small town of Ayaviri which is an important centre of cattle breeding and textile production.

We stop at the Lithic Museum of Pukara, a culture that developed between 1600 BC and 400 AD. – 400 AD.  Here we will find the impressive temple of Kalasasaya.

In this museum we will be able to find ceramics with zoomorphic figures, sculptures among them the Sculpture of the “Hatunñaqac” that translated to our language means “The Supreme Slasher of the Ancient Pukara Culture”.

In the tour we will pass by “La Raya” which would be the border between the cities of Puno and Cusco at more than 4, 335 m.a.s.l. where the famous Nevado del Chimboya is located, where the Amazon River is born and where visitors can get beautiful pictures of the landscape, this visit lasts approximately 5 to 7 minutes.

We will have a stop to enjoy a succulent buffet lunch in a country restaurant, where you will be able to enjoy the delicious culinary art of our region for 40 minutes.

On the way we will stop in Raqchi where we can appreciate a spectacular temple dedicated to the God Wiracocha who was considered a great Inca Deity, this temple was built by the Inca Pachacuteq. It has a large central wall with a stone base of beautiful Inca architecture. The other walls are made of giant adobe bricks.

The structure also has twelve circular lateral columns. Around the temple there are several buildings used as dwellings and warehouses. We will pass through the picturesque village of Andahuaylillas,

 where we will make a stop to enter the Church of San Pedro de Andahuaylillas, dating from the 16th century, known as the Sistine Chapel of the Americas, due to the beauty of its murals and polychrome ceilings,

works in gold leaf and paintings of the Cusquenian School that it houses inside that make your visit a totally different experience. Here we will have a time of 25 min. approximately of tour with our Tourist Guide.

Arrival in Cusco, reception and welcome by a representative of our Travel Agency. Transfer to the hotel of your choice to take a well-deserved rest.

Hotel Cusco.

After breakfast our representative will pick you up at the hotel to take you to the City Tour.

The City Tour is an excursion that includes a circuit around the city and its surroundings, we will visit: The Qoricancha considered as the Royal House of the Sun in the City of Cusco which is formed by a mixture of Inca and colonial construction.

Saqsayhuaman which is considered as a great Inca fortress where the Inca cyclopean constructions are found. Qenqo, Inca astronomy centre. Pucapucara known as an Inca military centre and Tambomachay considered as a purification centre and water temple.

Free afternoon, and you can explore the city of Cusco.

Hotel Cusco.

Breakfast at the hotel. Our excursion starts with the pick-up of you between 8:00 and 8:30 am. approximately, to start our visits.

We will start with direction to the first point of visit the Salt mines of Maras that is conformed with more than 3 thousand wells of natural mines, where the guide will explain us the process of extraction of the salt on the part of the local population and we will have time to take pictures to this wonderful place.

Afterwards, we will move towards Moray, we will pass by the main square of Maras where we will be able to observe the colonial houses that still conserve their stone doorways carved with coats of arms from the colonial era.

The Archaeological Centre of Moray; it is known as an Inca agricultural laboratory that the Quechuas used to experiment with the crops of the different regions in which they were present.

We will be able to walk along the paths enabled to take pictures and feel the variation of the climate according to the depth of the terraces, which have a difference of 150 m between the lowest and the highest point.

Buffet lunch in a restaurant in Urubamba. In the afternoon we will visit the living Inca village of Ollantaytambo where we will have a guided visit in the Archaeological Park of Ollantaytambo, a gigantic social, military, administrative, agricultural and religious complex in the time of Tahuantinsuyo.

At the end of our visit we will have free time to go to Ollantaytambo Station to take the train that will take us to Aguas Calientes, where a representative of our travel agency will be waiting for us to transfer us to the hotel of our choice.

Hotel Aguas Calientes.

At the agreed time after breakfast we will go to the bus station to take one of the busses to Machupicchu.

At the agreed time after breakfast we go to the bus station to take one of the first units that will lead us to the Lost City of the Incas where we can observe the magical and mysterious Inca citadel,

 after this experience we will have a guided tour of the archaeological complex of Machupicchu for an average of 2 hours, where we can also explore the guide will give us an explanation of what function this place had in the Inca period,

in turn enjoy the impressive Inca architecture as: The Guardian’s House, the Religious Sector, the Intihuatana, the Temple to the Pachamama, the Industrial Sector and the impressive terraces.

We say goodbye to the Sanctuary of Machupicchu and we go to take the bus back to Aguas Calientes where we will have a delicious lunch in a tourist restaurant.

At the indicated time we take the return train from Aguas Calientes Station to Ollantaytambo Station, there a representative of our Travel Agency will be waiting for you to take you to the tourist transport that will transfer you to the hotel of your choice in the Sacred Valley.

Sacred Valley Hotel.

This day a representative of our travel agency will pick us up from the hotel to start our tour.

We will visit the picturesque colonial town of Pisaq where on Sundays the inhabitants of the communities come down for the celebration of the mass in Quechua, then we will go to the Archaeological Complex of Pisaq where we will be able to observe the magnificent platforms of Inca architecture extended in the mountains or known as platforms that had different functions. We will have some free time to visit the handicraft market, observe local Andean handicrafts and buy souvenirs. Lunch in Pisaq. Return to Cusco city at the end of our tour we will drop you off at the hotel of your choice. Hotel Cusco***.

Breakfast at the hotel. At the agreed time, transfer from the hotel to the airport, we say goodbye to the city of Cusco. During the trip we will be able to observe the majestic Andes Mountains and its countless snow-capped peaks. Arrival to Lima.

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