Upon arrival at the airport in Lima, you will be greeted by one of our representatives and transferred to the hotel.

Lima, the Spanish Vice-Royal capital of South America, is home to some of the most remarkable colonial mansions, churches, and squares on the continent. The cosmopolitan districts of San Isidro, Barranco, and Miraflores offer a great variety of museums, restaurants, and shopping opportunities.

Breakfast at your hotel. Transfer to the airport for your flight to Cusco.

Your driver and bilingual guide will meet you at the Cusco airport. Travel via Land Rover 4x4 (or similar vehicle) to the Sacred Valley of the Incas. On the way, your guide will tell you about the many activities and excursions you will enjoy during your stay.

This full-service excursion in the Sacred Valley is structured around a comfortable car and driver, a bilingual expert guide, various suggested excursions and full board of meals at your individually-serviced villa.

The Sacred Valley is a good starting point for your journey, with its moderate altitude, pleasant climate, beautiful scenery, picturesque villages, and friendly local people. It offers a great opportunity to explore Inca sites, local artisan markets, and if you choose, to do some adventure hiking or rafting.

Perhaps start your tour with a guided visit to the colourful, traditional Indian market in Pisac (open on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays); a blend of colour, tradition and living Andean culture. People of the highlands come down to exchange their produce such as vegetables, weavings and pottery, for essentials like salt, sugar and rice in a trade called “trueque”. Visit the church and the interesting “Museo Folclórico”.

Enjoy a picnic lunch while viewing the stepped terraces along the mountainsides. The three-course lunch consists of an appetizer and a main course, plus dessert, wine and bottled water. Another option: lunch at Tunupa or Tres Keros, excellent local Andean restaurants.

Other options:

Pisac Ruins and Awanacancha

On a hill 18 miles outside Cusco stands the historic Pisac ruins, among the finest in the Valley. See Pisaca, a curving wall; the Intuhuatana group of temples; and the military area known as Q’allaqasa. This excursion also includes a stop at Awanacancha, where you can meet native weavers and see South American camelid species, like the llamas and vicuñas. Duration: ½ day (about 3 hours) Difficulty Level: II / Attractions: Archaeological sites, Scenery, Culture.

Chinchero

Visit Chinchero, a small authentic Andean village, where you will explore Inca ruins, visit a history-rich colonial church, and roam through a local market. Duration: ½ day (about 3 hours) Difficulty Level: I / Attractions: Archaeological sites, Historic sites, Scenery, Culture.

If you prefer to do some river rafting, horseback riding or biking, you can request it to the Villa Manager and he will make the arrangements.

Arrive at Inkaterra Villas in the hamlet of Higuspucro, on the outskirts of Urubamba. Your host will greet you, show you around your Villa, discuss your chosen meal times, and handle special requests.

Enjoy cocktails on the terrace or in front of the fireplace, followed by dinner served in your private dining room.

After dinner, take a stroll around the town of Urubamba or enjoy a massage in your room.

Enjoy breakfast, which includes a variety of fresh fruit, cereal, and other local products, in your room or on the terrace.

During the morning, enjoy a three-hour excursion to Maras and Moray. You will enjoy some of the best views of the Sacred Valley on the way. First stop will be the ancient salt mines of Maras, which may be viewed from an old chapel just above. Next, visit the huge circular agricultural terraces at Moray, built by the Incas in natural sinkholes on a limestone plateau and used as an agricultural laboratory.

Lunch at a local restaurant.

Continue to Yahuarmaqui, a ceramic workshop, to learn from a truly experienced artist. You can choose among a variety of raw ceramics and paint them yourself. After you have done your decorating, the item will remain at the workshop for firing, and will be delivered to you before your departure.

Other option:

Patacancha & Willoq

This full-day excursion lets you meet and interact with the indigenous people, as you come to understand their traditional lifestyle, how they make their living, and how life changes little from one generation to the next. You will learn about ancient weaving methods (and have a chance to purchase some lovely handicrafts), and will enjoy a three-course picnic lunch with spectacular views of the Andes.

Duration: 1 day / Difficulty Level: I / Picnic Lunch / Attractions: Living culture and Landscapes.

Cocktails and dinner.

Breakfast at your Villa.

Morning visit to Ollantaytambo, considered the oldest continuously occupied settlement in the Americas, and an excellent example of Inca city planning.

This site, with its extremely well-built stone walls, was as much a temple as a fortress for the Incas. The spectacular steep terraces that guard the Inca complex mark one of the few places where the Conquerors lost a major battle. The temple area is located at the top of the steep terracing, providing excellent defence. Stones used for these buildings were brought from a quarry high up on the opposite side of the Urubamba River—an incredible feat involving the efforts of thousands of workers. The archaeological complex was still under construction at the time of the Conquest and was never completed.

The Museum and Cultural Center of Ollantaytambo stands near the gates to the fortress. It promotes traditional culture and technology within the district of Ollantaytambo, and its Museum Shop stocks textile and ceramic products from the surrounding communities.

Lunch at a local restaurant.

After lunch, you will be transferred to Ollantaytambo train station, where you will board your Vistadome train to Machu Picchu, one of the great wonders of the world.

In ancient days, it served as the favoured country retreat for the royal family and Inca nobility. The surrounding mountains, the natural beauty of its cloud forest, and its significantly lower altitude than Cusco, inspired the Incas to build Machu Picchu Citadel, today a UNESCO World Heritage Site. So that you get the most out of your visit, we have prepared a suggested itinerary.

You will be met at Machu Picchu train station by hotel staff, who will help transfer your luggage to the Inkaterra Machu Picchu. After check-in, you will be shown to your casita. There, you will plan your excursion to the ruins, hear about optional activities on the hotel grounds, make your dinner reservations, and book other services, such as sauna and massage.

During the afternoon you may enjoy the hotel’s attractions: Perhaps you will go for an Orchid Walk on the grounds, where you will learn about the world’s largest collection of native orchid species in their natural setting (372 species). Another option: The Nature Walk.

Visit the Casa del Té (Tea House) and participate in processing tea grown on the hotel grounds. Watch as the freshly picked leaves are ground by hand over rock, or are slowly dried over an open fire.

In the afternoon, enjoy tea time, choosing among a selection of organically grown teas from the hotel’s natural garden.

Afterwards, you may relax in Inkaterra’s Andean Sauna, a domed wet lodge built from eucalyptus branches. A choice of massage services is also available.

Nature presentations are offered every evening around 6 p.m. A resident biologist and the hotel’s head guide will speak and show a video about the extraordinary flora and fauna of the Machu Picchu Sanctuary.

Cocktails and dinner are also offered from 7 p.m. in the main dining room or Café Inkaterra.

Enjoy the comforts of your casita. (If you choose a Superior Deluxe or higher category casita, you can relax in front of your open fireplace.)

Rise early and enjoy a buffet breakfast—including eggs, cereals, fruit, and fresh bread—in the main dining room.

Board the first bus, for a 25-minute ride to the archaeological site of Machu Picchu, just in time to catch the sunrise over the enigmatic citadel.

Participate in a three hour excursion through the ruins and surroundings, to experience the energy and atmosphere of one of the most significant archaeological sites on the planet. You may stay at Machu Picchu and climb to Huayna Picchu for astonishing views of the citadel and surroundings.

The return bus from the ruins to the Citadel leaves every half hour until 5:30 p.m.

Lunch at Cafe Inkaterra or at the Main Restaurant.

Tea time at the hotel.

In the early evening, experience the mysteries of the cloud forest in a private Twilight Walk that includes time for meditation, a visit to pre-Inca rock paintings (pictographs), and a walk to Alccamayo to see Wiñay Wayna in the distance.

You may also enjoy the evening Nature Talk and cocktails.

Another option: Relax with a massage session at the Unu Spa—choosing among traditional massage, Thai massage, or a reflexology treatment (services at UNU Spa can be booked and paid directly in the hotel). You may also spend time in the Andean Sauna.

Enjoy dinner and then relax in your casita.

Buffet breakfast at the hotel.

In the morning, participate in a Yoga session or if you feel more active, you can participate in one of the excursions and hikes around Machu Picchu National Park that the hotel offers (at an extra cost): Mandor, Putukusi, Apu Machu Picchu, among others.

Mandor:

Walk along the Vilcanota River following the railroad tracks into the Mandor Valley to visit its waterfall. The Valley is inhabited by varied and fascinating birdlife, including cock-of-the-rocks, speckle-faced parrots and green jays. Relax and bathe under the waterfall before walking back to the hotel in the shadow of Machu Picchu.

Putukusi:

Hike up an exhilarating mountain that culminates in a spectacular view of the Machu Picchu ruins from the far side of the Vilcanota valley. On ascend appreciate the stark contrast between the mountain cloud forest and the elfin forest, as well as their interesting variation in trees, orchids and birds.

Apu Machu Picchu:

Hike the Machu Picchu mountain for two and a half hours from the ruins to the Summit of Apu Machu Picchu. This trail, accessed from the sanctuary, joins parts of the Inca trail leading to the Sun Gate before climbing to the mountain’s highest point. From there, look down on soaring eagles as well as Machu Picchu, other significant ruins in the area, Putukusi, Wayna Picchu, the Salcantay mountain and the Vilcanota River.

Lunch at Cafe Inkaterra or at the Main Restaurant.

At appropriate time, you will be escorted to the train station to take your train to the Sacred Valley (3:30 pm - 7:20 pm).

Private transfer from San Pedro Train Station to Monasterio Hotel in Cusco.

Breakfast at your Cusco hotel.

Cusco was the ancient capital and spiritual heart of the Inca Empire, as well as an important colonial center. Strolling its cobblestone streets, you will spot both marvellous Incan architecture and Andean Baroque structures from the Colonial Period. Cusco today is also known for its extraordinary handicrafts, and is home to some of Peru’s most talented textile and ceramic artists, as well as to superb restaurants and lively nightlife.

In the morning, take a private guided excursion through Cusco city. You will visit the Cathedral, located next to the main plaza, and home to the city’s greatest repository of colonial art; the Temple of the Sun; the famous stone of 12 angles; the San Blas neighbourhood; and the impressive Koricancha temple, an ancient Inca temple turned into a Catholic church during the Spanish conquest.

Then, continue with a journey to the nearby archaeological Inca complex called Sacsayhuaman (“Satisfied Falcon” in Quechua), which has a religious and military significance. Puca Pucara, “Red Fort”, thought to have been a hunting lodge, is a rock structure which looks pink in some lights and is composed of several residential chambers, storerooms, and an upper esplanade with spectacular views. Then go to Qenko, which means “zigzag”, and consists of a large limestone rock riddled with niches, steps, and carving, including the zigzagging channels which gave the site its name; finally go to Tambomachay, or “Cavern Lodge,” commonly referred to as the Baños del Inca, or Inca baths, a site for ritual bathing. The excellent quality of the stonework suggests that its use was restricted to the higher nobility, who probably used the baths only on ceremonial occasions.

Enjoy the rest of the day at your leisure; you may go shopping in some of the recommended stores in Cusco.

Breakfast at your hotel.

Private transfer to the airport in Cusco with bilingual escort.

Flight to Lima and onwards or book one of our recommended extensions.