• 3 Dinner (D)
• 11 Breakfast (B)
• 1 Lunch (L)

• Lima: Hit the streets of Lima with a Local Guide. Explore the vibrant Chinatown before diving into a buzzing market to taste exotic fruits. Check out Peru’s famous potatoes, corn, chillies and spices. Then it’s on to artsy Barranco for murals, galleries and the Bridge of Sighs, finishing with ocean views at Love Park. It’s a proper first taste of this wonderful country.
• Lima: Start above ground at Lima’s iconic cathedral, then head beneath the city into the San Francisco catacombs. It’s a maze of underground chambers lined with centuries-old remains and patterns built from bones. It’s equal parts fascinating and spine-tingly (not your average sightseeing stop).
• Arequipa: Get to know the ‘white city’ better. Explore the highlights like Plaza de Armas and take some pics of the incredible backdrop of volcanoes.
• Arequipa: Wander into Santa Catalina, a “city within a city” where bright painted walls, sunlit courtyards, and quiet cobbled lanes feel like stepping back in time. Add in the ornate Cúpula of San Ignacio, and you’ve got colour, history, and serious camera-roll material all in one hit.
• Colca Canyon: Brave the lookout point at 3287m. Take in the unrivalled views and spot some Andean Condor birds.
• Puno: If you’ve secretly always wanted to hop on one of these, here’s your chance.
• Puno: Jump on a boat to hop around the reed islands in the world’s highest navigable lake (3657m). And stop off to meet the locals.
• Puno: Spend a day immersed in the rich traditions and heartfelt warmth of the communities living on the islands of Lake Titicaca (AKA the highest navigable lake in the world).   
• Luquina: Settle into island life as a local family welcomes you into their home on Lake Titicaca. You’ll spend time getting to know daily life here, from hands-on activities like farming and weaving to simply soaking up the slower pace. It’s a chance to step away from the usual and see how these communities live, right in the heart of the world’s highest navigable lake.
• Luquina: Sit down to a home-cooked meal made with fresh, regional ingredients straight from the lake and surrounding land. Think warming quinoa soup, native Andean potatoes and freshly caught fish. You might even get involved in the prep before tucking in — all while swapping stories and getting to know your hosts over dinner.
• Puno: Stop off at a traditional Peruvian town and get a feel for local life. Step up your cultural knowledge at Pukara’s museum, packed with stories and artefacts from the region. Then take a quick wander through town to soak up the markets, colours, and everyday Andes energy.
• Cusco: Your chance to pick up some mementos at San Pedro Markets and then see Cusco Cathedral, San Blas and Coricancha.
• Cusco: Graze on cancha or cacao nibs as you browse the local wares and see historical sights.
• Sacred Valley: See llamas IRL and learn how Indigenous communities use weaving to share stories, identity, and culture — a tradition passed down without written language (and help keep ancient skills alive by providing sustainable income for local artisans!) Your visit here will help support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 11: Sustainable Cities & Communities.
• Sacred Valley: See this former heartland of the Incan Empire and hike around the Pisac ruins. 
• Machu Picchu: It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for! Time to explore the Incan citadel with your new Contiki fam. #travelgoals

Clip in and zipline across the canyon on a series of cables that deliver soaring views and an adrenaline rush. Guides handle safety briefings and equipment so you can focus on flight and perspective.

Between runs, breathe in cool mountain air and photograph rugged ridgelines and river gorges. This is a fun way to experience Andean scenery from a new angle. Optional experience at additional cost, bookable on tour.

Roll up your sleeves for a hands-on cooking class that explores regional ingredients—ají amarillo, choclo corn, Andean herbs—and classic techniques. Shake a pisco sour before preparing starters and a hearty main under a chef’s guidance.

Share the dishes you’ve created over dinner, gaining insight into migration, terroir and the global rise of Peruvian staples. Vegetarian options are typically available. Optional experience at additional cost, bookable on tour.

Enter the cloud-kissed citadel of Machu Picchu with an expert guide, tracing royal quarters, ritual stones and agricultural slopes. Learn how architecture and landscape interlock—granite aligned to cardinal points, terraces easing rainfall in this humid montane forest.

Wander among temples and terraces framed by knife-edge ridges and drifting mist. Hear origin theories, rediscovery tales and preservation efforts, then savor a quiet moment as orchids, hummingbirds and cloud forest ambience complete the scene.

Unwind in mineral-rich pools fed by volcanic sources, letting a soak in natural hot springs ease muscles after high-altitude travel. Steam rises against the Colca Valley backdrop while Andean peaks catch late light.

Facilities include changing areas and simple cafés, leaving you free to alternate between warm pools and cool air. Stay after sunset if you wish—highland night skies are often a highlight. Optional experience at additional cost, bookable on tour.

• Mexico City: You’ll now book and pay for your Free Time Add-Ons through WeTravel — a simple website link where you can browse all the FTAs, pick what you’re keen on, and pay directly by card, in any currency. You’ll get the link in your Welcome Email, usually 3–5 days before your trip starts. Once you’re in, it’s easy: check out the pics, descriptions and prices, add your chosen experiences to your cart, then check out online. You can book before your trip starts or while you’re on the road, up until each activity’s booking deadline.Missed the link? No stress. Your Trip Manager can share it with you on trip too.

Travel across the high puna of the Salinas y Aguada Blanca National Reserve, scanning open steppe for elegant vicuñas and alpacas. The air is crisp, the horizons vast, and the Andean light sharp against volcanic silhouettes.

Pause to sip a traditional Andean herbal tea that locals favor for altitude, then continue to the Patapampa viewpoint for sweeping perspectives of snow-capped peaks and wind-carved plains—an elemental prelude to Colca’s depths.

Explore the “White City” on foot, tracing sillar-stone streets from the elegant Plaza de Armas past baroque facades framed by distant volcano views. Your guide reveals how eruption, trade and faith shaped Arequipa’s distinct identity.

Wander the cloisters and cobalt-and-ochre lanes of the Santa Catalina Monastery, a serene city-within-a-city. Peek into chapels, courtyards and the ornate Cúpula of San Ignacio, where light and colour meet centuries of devotion.

Stand at the rim of one of the world’s deepest canyons and watch the skies from Cruz del Condor. With patience, you may see the immense Andean condor ride morning thermals, wing shadows gliding over river-carved cliffs.

Your guide highlights natural behaviors and the bird’s significance in Andean cosmology, while the canyon’s stratified walls and agricultural terraces reveal how people and landscape have long coexisted.

Set out across Lake Titicaca, starting with a short port transfer as you ride a local triciclo. Glide by boat to the Uros Floating Islands, built from totora reeds, where hosts explain how homes, boats and walkways are woven from the lake itself.

Continue to Taquile Island for a gentle hike and a window onto UNESCO-recognised textiles. Meet artisans whose intricate patterns encode identity and tradition, and enjoy luminous lake views from stone paths.

Settle into Luquina for a rare chance to stay with a local family on the shores of Lake Titicaca. Share simple routines, learn a few phrases, and feel the cadence of highland life away from the usual tourist trail.

Gather for a home-cooked dinner—perhaps quinoa soup, native potatoes and fresh lake fish—and hear stories of weaving and farming traditions passed from generation to generation in this resilient Aymara community.

Trace history across the highlands, starting at the Pukara Museum, where pre-Inca ceramics and iconography reveal early Andean beliefs. Roll on to the windswept La Raya Pass, a natural divide between Titicaca and Cusco watersheds.

Walk amid the broad walls and ceremonial spaces of the Raqchi Archaeological Complex, including the imposing Temple of Wiracocha. Your guide connects trade routes, empire-building and sacred geography into a compelling narrative.

Stroll the storied streets of Cusco from the Plaza de Armas and majestic Cusco Cathedral to finely jointed Inca walls. Follow an ancient lane toward Qorikancha (Temple of the Sun), where imperial stonework meets Spanish convent cloisters.

Dip into San Pedro Market’s produce aisles, then wander the artisan quarter of San Blas. Along the way, spot the famed Twelve-Angled Stone and pastel Siete Borreguitos street, learning how Inca and colonial layers still shape everyday life.

Survey the heart of the Inca heartland from the Taray Lookout, where patchwork fields and river curves set the scene. Explore the mountain-perched Pisac ruins, walking terraces and temples that watched over the valley’s lifelines.

Return to village rhythms at the Pisac Market, meeting weavers and makers whose textiles and ceramics carry local stories. Your guide decodes designs, dyes and techniques rooted in Andean tradition.

Climb stepped Inca terraces into the strategic stronghold of the Ollantaytambo Fortress. Massive stone blocks, precise joins and commanding views illustrate Inca engineering at a living village that still follows ancient street grids.

Pause at the Temple of the Sun to examine finely carved monoliths and alignment with the surrounding peaks. Your guide reveals the site’s role in administration, ceremony and defense within the Sacred Valley network.

Saddle up for mountain biking near Cusco, rolling through village lanes and fields bordered by stone walls. Expect gentle dirt tracks, crisp air and big-sky vistas over the Andean countryside.

Guides set the pace and share stories of farming cycles and water channels that feed Inca-era terraces. Suitable for active travellers comfortable on a bike. Optional experience at additional cost, bookable on tour.

Challenge yourself on a high-altitude hike to Rainbow Mountain (Vinicunca), where mineral layers paint the slopes in bands of red, ochre and turquoise. The air is thin, the trail steady, and the panoramas vast.

Guides monitor pace and weather while sharing geology and local herding culture. Celebrate at the viewpoint with photos of the striped mineral slopes and glacier-draped peaks. Optional experience at additional cost, bookable on tour.

Contiki

Taste coastal Peru in Lima’s oceanfront barrio with a group welcome dinner in vibrant Miraflores. Expect bright citrus, ají amarillo and fresh seafood on menus inspired by the Pacific, with time to raise a pisco to the journey ahead while taking in soft Pacific views.

Get to know your crew and meet your Trip Manager for an informal briefing that sets the tone for Peru’s history-rich cities, highland cultures and Andean landscapes. This shared table usually takes place early in the tour, often on day 1.

Join a guided panoramic tour to uncover Lima’s contrasts, from colonial plazas and wooden balconies to street art and seaside parks. Step inside the storied Lima Cathedral and wander Chinatown’s markets where you can sample tropical fruit and discover Peru’s famed potatoes and chillies.

Descend into the eerie San Francisco Catacombs, then cross to Barranco to admire murals and pause at the Bridge of Sighs. The circuit blends architecture, cuisine and coastal light for a rounded introduction to the capital.