Peru Highlights
Culture Tour.
Tour Offered By: Southern Explorations

Trek Duration: 11 days

The Peru Highlights tour features a comprehensive overview of the best that Peru has to offer. Journey to the Amazon basin rainforest in a dug-out canoe. Stay in an impressive lodge, complete with an ethno-botanical center and experienced guides to teach you all about the rainforest. Your perfect Peru Tour continues with a trip to the lost citadel of Machu Picchu, through the magnificent Sacred Valley in the Andes. The trip ends with a visit to Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the World.

This Peru Highlights tour is offered by Southern Explorations. Visit its web page for more information including prices, scheduled departure dates, description of accommodations, physical requirements, details of what is included in the tour and to make tour reservations.

Peru Hightlights Tour Itinerary:

Day 1 (Friday) Lima
Arrive in Lima and transfer to your hotel. Arrive early and we can arrange optional museum visits or tours of the city and surrounding sites.

Day 2 (Saturday) Lima - Pto Maldonado - Amazon Jungle Lodge
Accomodations at Posadas Amazonas OR Sandoval Lake Lodge depending on availability. Take a morning transfer to the airport for a flight to Puerto Maldonado. A one hour motorized canoe ride up the Tambopata River brings you to the lodge, where you unpack and unwind. After a short welcome orientation and a briefing on the lodge and the Ecotourism Project before our afternoon activity, we'll climb the Canopy Tower which is a 115 ft. (35 m) scaffolding tower offering spectacular views of the river and the surrounding forest. (B,L,D)

Day 3 (Sunday) Puerto Maldonado
Accomodations at Posadas Amazonas OR Sandoval Lake Lodge depending on availability. Rise at dawn for a visit to the Tres Chimbadas oxbow lake. After an early breakfast, depart from Posada Amazonas by boat and take a brief walk to the lake shore. From here, embark on a long, easy canoe ride around the lake. Scout out giant river otters, turtles, hoatzin, and wading birds and then return to the lodge's trails in time for a visit to a small parakeet clay lick. Dozens, and sometimes hundreds, of parakeets congregate here on clear days to ingest clay, creating an incredible photo opportunity. In the afternoon visit the community's ethno-botanical center. Hike the trails around the center with one of the residents who will explain the everyday uses of forest resources in medicine, construction, food, and fiber. Return to the lodge for the evening. (B,L,D)

Day 4 (Monday) Pto Maldonado - Cusco
Rise early and early depart down river to Pto. Maldonado and then transfer to the airport for a short flight to Cusco, center of the Inca Empire. Southern Explorations' guides pick you up at the airport and take you on a quick tour of the beautiful Plaza De Armas. From there, travel to your hotel, where you are free for the rest of the day to relax and acclimatize to the altitude (10,856 ft). (B)

Day 5 (Tuesaday) Cusco
Your day begins with a guided walking tour through the colorful markets of Cusco, the colonial cathedral, and Koricancha, the impressive Temple of the Sun. After lunching on tasty local cuisine, depart for an afternoon tour of Cusco's temples and visit several prominent Inca sights, including: the fortress of Sacsayhuaman, with its megalithic stone terraces; Kenko, with its carved stone surfaces and subterranean altars; the small fortress of Puka Pukara that protected the royal capital from attacks; and the water temple, Tambo Machay. In the late afternoon, return to the comfort of your hotel to venture out on your own to further explore the captivating culture of Cusco. (B)

Day 6 (Wednesday) Cusco - Sacred Valley
This is an all day guided excursion to the Sacred Valley, as important today as it was during the reign of the Incas. Here we will visit the picturesque Pisac Market and the ruins overlooking it, and then continue down the Urubamba Valley. After lunch we will reach Ollantaytambo (9,185 ft.), a small town with an impressive Inca fortress. Overnight at a local hotel in Urubamba. (B,L)

Day 7 (Thursday) Machu Picchu
Early transfer from your hotel to the train station at Ollantaytambo. The scenery during this two-hour ride down the Urubamba gorge is a delightful collage of mountain vegetation and cloud forest. Upon arrival at the station and, a bus ride takes you to the mountain citadel of Machu Picchu (7,800 ft.), for a full day guided tour. You will return to nearby Aguas Calientes in the late afternoon and overnight at a local hotel. (B)

Day 8 (Friday) Machu Picchu - Cusco
An optional early rise for those who want to experience the serene beauty of Machu Picchu in the morning (great opportunity for photos). The other option is to sleep in, relax, and explore the village. The mid-afternoon train takes us back to Cusco and transfer to your hotel. (B)

Day 9 (Saturday) Cusco - Lake Titicaca
Embark over the "altiplano" (high plains) onboard a bus for a full day of high altitude views. Reach Puno, along the shores of Lake Titicaca. Transfer to hotel. (B)
Cusco - Puno, via backpacker train at no extra charge. An upgrade to first class train is availble for an additional fee.

Day 10 (Sunday) Lake Titicaca
In the morning take a short drive
to the dockside at Puno harbor for
an 8 :00 A.M. departure. From here, travel by boat to the famous floating Uros Islands for a quick visit of these interested floating islands. Continue the journey by boat to reach the tranquil Taquile Island, housing a community of male weavers and spinners in a Mediterranean-like setting. In the late afternoon, return to Puno for shopping. Puno is the best place to buy ALPACA wear. (B, L)

Lake Titicaca, the cradle of Incan civilization, is the largest lake on the South American continent. It is reputed to be the highest navigable lake in the world (about 3810 m/12,500 ft above sea level), extending from southeastern to western Bolivia, The lake is 196 km (122 mi) long with an average width of 56 km (35 mi). The lake has waves, testament to its size and not surprising the waters are cold. With that high of an altitude and fed from snow-clad Andes the lake does not invite swimming. It is the remnant of an ancient inland sea and the blue waters make a beautiful contrast to the parched altiplano.

Day 11 (Monday) Lake Titicaca - Lima - Return Home
A free morning to enjoy breakfast at the hotel. On the outskirts of Puno are mysterious pre-Inca ruins called chullpas (funeral towers). The finest sit on the windswept altiplano on a peninsula in Lake Umayo at Sillustani. The Colla people -- a warrior tribe that spoke Aymara -- buried their elite in giant cylindrical tombs, some as tall as 12m (40 ft.) The stonemasonry is exquisite (many archaeologists and historians find them more complex and superior even to Inca engineering), and the structures form quite an impression on such a harsh landscape. You'll explore this area before your flight to Lima, which arrives around 7:30 PM for your connecting international flightback home, marking the end of Southern Explorations services. (B)

*Key: (B)reakfast (L)unch (D)inner

For More Information
Visit Southern Explorations to reserve this Peru tour. Southern Explorations offers many tour packages to Peru, Costa Rica, the Amazon, the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, Bolivia, Agentina, Chile, Patagonia and Panama.