• 7 Dinner (D)
• 16 Breakfast (B)
• 9 Lunch (L)

• Nazca: Take to the skies on your Peru tour to see the iconic Nazca Lines, archaeological enigmas scratched in the ground 500 B.C. and A.D. 500. Gaze down in awe of these massive designs and patterns you can only view from above. Your private flight will show you many of the lines, complete with their names and a bit of history. From above, you’ll observe the different types: straight, geometric (such as triangles, rectangles, trapezoids, spirals, arrows, zigzags, and wavy lines), and pictorial (including a spider, hummingbird, cactus plant, monkey, whale, llama, duck, flower, tree, lizard, dog, and even a mysterious humanoid figure). Some of the animal geoglyphs are up to 1,200 feet long! You’ll also learn why the Nazca culture created these lines in the desert plains of the Rio Grande de Nazca River basin and how the Nazca people were able to carve out such massive designs.
• Lima: Join a local specialist for a gentle hike to explore jungle trails that snake between the roots of towering trees for an immersive introduction to the rich ecosystems of the rainforest. Here in the Amazon, you’ll find a staggering 540 bird species, 362 ant species (a world record you have to see to believe) and over 100 mammal species that have been registered within Inkaterra’s ecological reserve.
• Lima: Under the cloak of night, cruise the Madre de Dios River at night in search of wildlife that roams the riverbanks under darkness. Keep on the lookout for the likes of nightjars, owls, capybaras and caimans as you learn about the curious behavior and characteristics of this nocturnal world.
• Lima: Take in the highlights of Lima, the ‘City of the Kings,’ including a panoramic view of the ancient districts. Join a local specialist for a visit to the UNESCO-listed Historic Center. Learn how before it was destroyed by earthquakes in the mid-18th century, observing how the historic buildings display a collaboration between local craftspeople and others from the Old World. Then drive along the coastline as you learn more about the fascinating history of Peru’s capital city. 
• Lima: Dive into the rich history of Casona San Marcos, an ancient building in Lima now part of the property of a university. Learn to play the “cajón” (meaning “box” or drawer”) box-shaped percussion instrument played by slapping the faces with the hands, fingers, or sometimes implements. Continue your musical discovery trying the basic steps of “musica negra”, a dance that originated in Chincha (near Paracas) that is popular during over the Christmas season. Over your lesson, try a snack from a “pregonero”, a vendor who specializes in selling a typical snack through boisterous advertising in the city streets.
• Sacred Valley: We’ll Dive into Culture and meet a Quechua Shaman who will perform a ceremony welcoming you to Peru.
• Machu Picchu: Discover how Peru’s most famous cocktail, the Pisco Sour, is prepared with a Local Specialist. You’ll explore the ingredients, techniques and secrets behind the drink, as well as its cultural importance in Peru.
• Cusco: Visit the mystical Incan stronghold of Ollantaytambo. These famous ruins are a massive Inca fortress made of large stone terraces stretching out across a hillside. Walk among the stone platforms, the sun temple of six monoliths and the Princess Baths fountain ? the Baño de la Nusta at the base of the ruins flowing from carved stone into a pool. Over your exploration, learn how the old town is an Inca-era grid of cobblestoned streets and adobe buildings.
• Machu Picchu: Soak in every moment of your Machu Picchu tour in style as you descend to the Lost City in the clouds aboard the Vistadome train. Traveling the Inca Trail, you’ll traverse dramatic landscapes with a panoramic view of the soaring peaks, river, and ruins. Sit back and relax as you enjoy this multi-sensory journey complete with background music, an informative audio commentary highlighting interesting sites, and an included light snack.
• Machu Picchu: Take a shuttle to the top of the mountain where you’ll meet your local specialist for a guided hike of Machu Picchu. You’ll learn about Machu Picchu’s history and the use of each section of including ceremonial, storage, agriculture, temples, astronomical, and observatory as well as the possible reasons why the Incas left Machu Picchu.
• Machu Picchu: The ruins of Machu Picchu beckon yet again and we enjoy one final opportunity to reconnect with its story. Journey to take in the ruins at sunrise spending some time on your own to explore the hill-top fortress. Soak in every moment at this iconic site, making stops at points of interest while your guide shares their insights on the archaeological sites.
• Cusco: Begin your day at the ruins of the UNESCO-listed Sacsayhuamán fortress overlooking Cusco. With zig zagging walls and ruins of giant stones, see how the shape and harmony of the landscape is similar to Machu Picchu. Stroll through this Incan architecture of sacred buildings such as residential buildings, towers, shrines, warehouses, roads and aqueducts. And while you may not be able to take in the grand scale, the complex design is based on the shape of the head of a puma, a sacred animal in Inca spirituality.
• Cusco: Join your Local Specialist for a guided walk through Cusco’s colonial center, including the nearby 13th-century Incan settlement of Koricancha. Here in Cusco’s Golden Temple of the Sun dedicated to the Sun God Inti, view the trapezoidal and irregular shapes and rounded edges. Note how the stones fit together and were built simply by placing them on top of each other without using any mortar. This staggered placement also enables them to withstand earthquakes.
• Puno: Bring Peru’s culture to life as you decorate your own torito de Pucará – a colorful ceramic bull steeped in Andean tradition. Found on rooftops across the region, these painted icons symbolize protection and prosperity, offering a hands-on way to connect with local heritage through creativity.
• Lake Titicaca: Cruise the deep blue waters of Lake Titicaca with a Local Specialist, discovering its floating islands constructed from reeds by the Uros Indians. 
• Paracas: Explore Paracas, a town on Peru’s west coast known for its beautiful beaches. Named after the Paracas people who were fishermen and farmers of beans, maize and red peppers, Paracas is now the gateway to the Paracas National Reserve. In this pristine desert you’ll find colonies of sea lions and sea birds. With an afternoon at leisure, explore Paracas Bay where restaurants and shops line the boardwalk and fishermen’s boats gather at the docks.
• Paracas: The Museum of Ica traces the stories of Peru’s earliest civilisations. Through ancient pottery, textiles, skulls and mummies, you’ll discover how the Paracas, Nazca, Wari and Inca peoples lived, created and connected with the land. Exhibits highlight the cultural identity and traditions that defined these Indigenous communities long before Spanish colonisation. 
• Paracas: Visit Cultur Pisco, a winery dedicated to preserving Peru’s national spirit. Tour the property with a Local Specialist to learn how Pisco has been produced through generations, exploring the history, grape varieties and distillation process. Then sample a curated selection of Pisco styles that showcase the care, tradition and expertise behind this celebrated drink, deeply rooted in local culture. 
• Ballestas Islands: Connect with nature, cruising around the uninhabited Ballestas Islands, a “mini-Galapagos” teeming with wildlife. See the mysterious Candelabro in Pisco Bay. Gaze up where birds including the guanay cormorant, Peruvian booby and Peruvian pelican cruise above. Colonies of sea lions gather on rocky isles, barking as they welcome you to their home. Smaller gray or tan South American fur seals lounge on rocky shores shaded by the cliffs. Even Humboldt penguins – who only populate the coast of Peru and northern Chile – waddle along the shore.
• Puerto Maldonado: Take a short boat ride to an uninhabited river island, where you can see the striking contrast of vegetation within the transition rainforest. Walk through jungle trails on this floodplain which provides the island with an ecosystem rich in birdlife, including the Amazonian umbrellabird, one of the most sought-after species by birdwatchers.
• Cusco: Climb the exhilarating Inkaterra Canopy Walkway for an unforgettable opportunity to observe the rainforest from its rooftop. Follow a sophisticated network of seven suspension bridges originally designed for scientific research strung between eight treetop observation platforms over 30 meters (100 feet) above the forest floor. This half-day, medium difficulty exploration is an immersive and colorful way to experience the jungle stretching out beneath you. 
• Sandoval Lake: Embark on a half-day hike on a boardwalk jungle trail to Lake Sandoval, a glassy ox-bow lake tucked inside the protected Tambopata National Reserve. Board a dug-out canoe to paddle through eerie mangroves and glide out onto the palm-flanked lake, home to thousands of bird species as well as anacondas, black caimans, yellow spotted side-neck turtles, red howler monkeys and two endangered (and elusive) families of giant river otters.  
• Sacred Valley: Discover the Amazon’s otherworldly realm of aguajales rainforest swampland on a gentle hike along a –200 meter (656 feet) walkway through this diverse ecosystem. Learn how vegetation has adapted to this atmospheric natural habitat and the exotic species of amphibians, reptiles, snakes, birds and mammals that are drawn here. 
• Sacred Valley: Boldly venture out at night to discover some of the strange species that come alive under deep darkness in the Amazon. Wildlife activity greatly differs between day and night, as some creatures curl up and sleep while others employ ingenious adaption mechanisms to emerge. Enjoy a gentle, quiet stroll as your senses heighten to the mysterious nocturnal sounds of birds, mammals, insects, and amphibians wandering close by.

• Selected hotel dinners plus a locally hosted meal
• Standard regional accommodation
• Deluxe coach, cruise and train travel, and select flights

Trafalgar

Explore Lima with a city tour that takes in its historic centre and Main Square. Visit Casona San Marcos, where Local Specialists introduce the history of this centuries-old building, now associated with the National University of San Marcos.

Try a snack from a local street vendor and notice how Lima’s colonial architecture reflects the work of craftspeople from Peru and the wider Spanish world. The visit offers a grounded introduction to the capital’s layered past.

Learn to play the cajón, Peru’s box-shaped percussion instrument, during a hands-on workshop in Lima. Experiment with its distinctive rhythms and try introductory steps associated with Afro-Peruvian música negra.

The session connects sound and movement with cultural traditions rooted in communities along Peru’s coast, including Chincha. Rather than simply watching a performance, you can feel how rhythm, dance and shared participation keep this heritage alive.

Meet a Quechua shaman in Peru’s Sacred Valley for a special welcome ceremony. Set against Andean scenery, the encounter introduces a living spiritual tradition and offers a chance to listen, observe and reflect.

The valley’s mountains and agricultural landscapes have long held significance for local communities. This hosted experience brings that cultural relationship into focus through a ceremony, rather than treating the region solely as a backdrop to its archaeological sites.

Meet Sacred Valley farmers over a locally hosted Be My Guest lunch and learn how they cultivate Peru’s distinctive Giant White Corn. Your hosts explain the differences between ancestral farming methods and newer techniques used today.

This exceptionally large-kernelled corn is closely associated with the valley’s fertile land. Sharing food and conversation with its growers makes the region’s agricultural heritage tangible and gives the meal a purpose beyond dining.

Watch a Marinera dance performance in the Sacred Valley, following the dancers’ graceful footwork and swirling handkerchiefs. The partnered dance uses gesture and playful interaction to tell its story without words.

Although encountered here in the Andes, Marinera is a celebrated expression of Peru’s coastal culture. Its movement reflects Spanish, Indigenous and African influences, offering a lively perspective on the many traditions that shape Peruvian identity.

Roll up your sleeves in a hands-on Peruvian cooking class in the Sacred Valley. Prepare classic ceviche and learn to mix a Pisco sour, exploring the ingredients and techniques behind two national favourites.

Ceviche’s bright citrus flavours and the grape-based spirit in a Pisco sour speak to Peru’s varied culinary traditions. Making both yourself offers a more immediate sense of their textures and tastes than a restaurant meal alone.

Explore Ollantaytambo’s hillside Inca fortress, where broad stone terraces rise above a Sacred Valley town beside the Urubamba River. Walk among the ruins and examine the scale and precision of their stonework.

Ollantaytambo was an important Inca stronghold, while the town below retains an Inca-era street plan. Together, the archaeological site and lived-in streets reveal how this valley was shaped by both imperial ambition and everyday settlement.

Ride the Vistadome train toward Machu Picchu, looking out across the Urubamba Valley’s river, mountains and changing vegetation. Panoramic windows make the landscape an essential part of this included rail experience.

The route passes through dramatic Andean terrain toward the cloud-forest setting of the Inca citadel. With a light snack included, the journey offers time to take in the geography that made Machu Picchu both striking and secluded.

Discover Machu Picchu with a Local Specialist, exploring its temples, terraces and stone-built spaces while learning about their possible ceremonial, agricultural and residential uses. A second visit provides another opportunity to absorb the citadel and its mountain setting.

Built by the Inca high above the Urubamba Valley, this UNESCO World Heritage Site continues to prompt questions about its purpose and history. Two opportunities to visit give its architecture and landscape room to register.

Watch Andean weavers demonstrate traditional dyeing and weaving in the Sacred Valley. See how techniques and materials contribute to the colours of locally made textiles, and hear from the artisans who maintain these skills.

Visit a family-run chichería to taste chicha and learn about this traditional Andean drink. Bringing craft and hospitality together, the experience highlights cultural practices that remain part of community life.

Explore Sacsayhuamán with a Local Specialist, examining the immense fitted stones and zigzagging walls of this Inca complex overlooking Cusco. Continue on a guided tour of the city’s historic centre.

Cusco was the capital of the Inca Empire and later became a centre of Spanish colonial rule. Seeing its commanding hilltop ruins alongside its streets makes the city’s architectural layers easier to understand.

Visit Qorikancha, the Inca Temple of the Sun, on a guided exploration of Cusco. Look closely at its finely fitted stone walls and the building techniques that have endured in this earthquake-prone region.

Once among the Inca Empire’s most important sacred sites, Qorikancha later became the setting for the Spanish-built Santo Domingo complex. The structures reveal, in one place, the meeting and collision of two architectural traditions.

Explore Raqchi, an archaeological site on the route between Cusco and Puno. Walk through remains associated with an important settlement on the Inca road network and consider how people and goods moved across the high Andes.

Raqchi broadens the picture of Inca civilisation beyond its best-known citadels. Its surviving structures point to the planning and infrastructure needed to connect communities across a vast and demanding landscape.

Share lunch and conversation in a local family home in the Puno region, then paint your own torito de Pucará, a colourful ceramic bull associated with good fortune and protection.

Pairs of these bulls are often placed on rooftops in the region. Decorating one offers a hands-on introduction to an Andean art form whose meaning is still visible in homes and communities today.

Cruise Lake Titicaca with a Local Specialist to the Uros Floating Islands. Meet a local family and hear how island platforms and homes are built and maintained using totora reeds.

The deep-blue lake sits high in the Andes, while the islands represent a distinctive way of living with its waters and plant life. Meeting residents adds a human perspective to the skill and continual work involved in sustaining their homes.

Travel across Lake Titicaca to Taquile Island and meet members of its Indigenous community. Learn about the island’s UNESCO-recognised textile traditions and share a home-cooked lunch.

On Taquile, knitting and weaving carry social meaning as well as artistic skill, with patterns and garments reflecting local identity. The community-hosted visit offers direct insight into practices passed between generations, while supporting the people who sustain them.

Visit the Regional Museum of Ica to examine artefacts from cultures including the Paracas, Nazca and Inca. Its collections offer a closer look at the pottery, textiles and other objects left by communities of Peru’s southern coast.

These exhibits put the region’s desert landscapes into historical context. Material made and used over centuries helps reveal how different societies expressed identity, developed skilled crafts and adapted to their surroundings.

Tour a winery near Paracas to learn how Peruvian Pisco is produced. Explore the production site, hear about the grapes and distillation process, and sample a selection of Pisco styles.

This grape spirit is closely tied to Peru’s coastal wine-growing regions. Tasting different expressions while learning how they are made brings greater depth to a drink often encountered only in a Pisco sour; a lunch of regional dishes is also included.

Cruise around the Ballestas Islands with a Local Specialist, watching for seabirds, sea lions and, when present, Humboldt penguins along the rocky shore. The boat trip also passes views of the Paracas Candelabra, a large hillside geoglyph overlooking the bay.

These uninhabited islands shelter dense coastal wildlife. Observing the colonies from the water offers a vivid encounter with Peru’s Pacific ecosystem without landing on their breeding grounds.

Join a Local Specialist near Puerto Maldonado for an introduction to the Amazon rainforest, learning about the vegetation and wildlife around the Inkaterra Field Station. A pre-dinner boat expedition offers a chance to watch for caiman along the riverbanks.

The forest changes as daylight fades: sounds carry across the water and creatures that are difficult to spot by day become active. Wildlife sightings are never guaranteed, but the guided outing reveals another side of the river ecosystem.

Climb the Inkaterra Canopy Walkway near Puerto Maldonado for a treetop perspective on the Amazon. Cross its elevated suspension bridges and look out over layers of leaves and branches that are hard to appreciate from the forest floor.

Originally designed with rainforest observation in mind, the walkway provides a different vantage point for noticing the forest’s structure and, with luck, its birdlife. The height and shifting views make this a distinctly physical way to experience the canopy.

Hike through the Tambopata National Reserve toward Sandoval Lake, surrounded by dense vegetation and birdsong. At the lake, watch the water and forest margins for wildlife such as birds, monkeys, caiman or giant river otters.

This oxbow lake is an important habitat within the Amazon. Its palm-fringed setting and quieter waters contrast with the surrounding river channels, offering time to observe the rainforest closely as the light changes toward sunset.

Explore an Amazonian aguajales swamp habitat, learning how its plants adapt to wet conditions and support local wildlife. Visit an organic bio-orchard to see tropical plants close up and hear about their uses, including medicinal knowledge held by Indigenous communities.

These guided encounters shift attention to the forest’s less conspicuous life. Looking at palms, other vegetation and their relationships with animals helps explain the biodiversity behind the rainforest’s dense green appearance.

Walk quietly through the Amazon rainforest after dark with a Local Specialist. Listen for insects, amphibians, birds and mammals, and learn how the forest’s activity changes when daytime species settle and nocturnal ones emerge.

Without daylight’s visual distractions, small movements and calls become more noticeable. This guided outing is less about promising a particular sighting than experiencing the forest on its own terms, through its sounds, shadows and changing rhythms.

Explore Lima’s Miraflores district on an optional guided walk with a Local Specialist. Discover neighbourhood highlights, including the popular Larcomar shopping centre, while getting a closer look at this coastal part of the capital.

Miraflores offers a different perspective from Lima’s historic centre, with contemporary city life unfolding near the Pacific shore. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Visit the Choco Museum in Cusco as an optional way to explore Peru’s connection to cacao. Browse its displays and learn more about the ingredient behind one of the world’s most familiar flavours.

Cacao has deep roots in the Americas, making it a fitting subject for a cultural stop in Peru. The museum visit offers a focused alternative to general sightseeing and is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Explore the Maras salt pans and Moray’s circular terraces on an optional excursion from Cusco. See the many small salt pools spread across the hillside at Maras and the concentric agricultural formations at Moray.

Both sites show distinctive ways people have worked with the Sacred Valley’s terrain. Their contrasting shapes and settings make this a strong choice for travellers interested in Andean landscapes and ingenuity. The excursion is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Join an optional walking tour of Cusco after dark for a different view of the city’s historic streets. Moving on foot gives you time to notice architectural details and the atmosphere of its centre in the evening.

Cusco’s Inca foundations and colonial buildings tell a layered story, particularly striking when seen beyond a daytime sightseeing visit. This guided experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Take an optional Peruvian cooking class in Cusco and learn to prepare classic local recipes. Working with the ingredients yourself offers a practical way to discover the flavours and methods behind the dishes.

Peruvian cuisine draws on diverse regional produce and culinary influences; a class makes those connections easier to appreciate than a meal alone. This hands-on experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.