Peruvian cuisine is loved for its flavours and originality; it’s well worth digging into the local delicacies. Among these are: ceviche, seafood or fish marinated in lime juice; lomo saltado, a Peruvian take on a beef stir-fry; and various hearty soups, including the delicious quinoa soup. Other dishes include roasted cuy (guinea pig) and alpaca steak. To drink, there’s pisco sour, the national beverage.

Drinking water is included throughout the trip as the tap water in Peru is not safe to drink; boiled and filtered drinking water is provided on the trek; elsewhere your leader buys large water containers from which you can refill your bottle.

Hotel breakfasts are normally simple buffets, usually including bread/toast, preserves, cereal, sometimes eggs or cooked dishes, sometimes fruit, tea/coffee and fruit juice. Regrettably, we cannot guarantee that wheat-free or gluten-free products are available for breakfast in all locations – if you have an intolerance you may wish to bring your own breakfast food.

During the hike, hearty breakfasts are served and good-quality cooked lunches and dinners are provided. They usually consist of soup to start, a main course with meat/fish and some carbohydrates, followed by a dessert. Between meals, snacks are also provided. Tea/coffee is brought to your tent each morning and juice or hot drinks are provided with all meals during the trek.

Gather in the historic heart of the former Inca capital to meet your Tour Director and fellow travelers over a convivial Peruvian meal. Share expectations, ask questions, and begin bonding as you sample regional flavors and toast the journey ahead with classic Andean hospitality.

Enjoy a relaxed introduction to Cuzco’s culture and cuisine as your leader outlines practical tips for altitude, local customs, and highlights for the days to come. This hosted evening sets a warm tone and ensures you feel oriented from the very start.

Explore Cuzco’s historic core on a guided stroll that traces the city’s layered past from Inca foundations to Spanish plazas. Join a guided panoramic tour of atmospheric streets near the Plaza de Armas, noting finely cut Inca stonework beneath colonial balconies and church facades.

Hear how sacred sites like Qorikancha were transformed during colonization, and learn practical tips for navigating markets, cafés, and viewpoints. This walk balances orientation with context so you can appreciate Cuzco’s living heritage and vibrant Andean rhythm.

Spend meaningful time with an Andean community in the Sacred Valley, where you’ll try your hand at bracelet weaving using traditional techniques passed down through generations. Engage with local artisans and learn how natural dyes and backstrap looms sustain culture and livelihoods.

Share a celebratory pachamanca lunch, cooked with hot stones in the earth—an age-old ritual honoring Pachamama. The aromas of wood smoke and Andean herbs set the scene as stories and skills bring highland traditions vividly to life.

Visit the striking Maras salt ponds, a honeycomb of thousands of shallow, hillside pools fed by a mineral spring. Walk designated viewpoints to admire the dazzling terraces where families harvest salt as their ancestors did in pre-Inca evaporation pools.

Learn about cooperative management, seasonal techniques, and the subtle flavors of Andean salt. The pale basins against red earth create superb photo angles, inviting you to pause for photos and reflection amid a landscape shaped by patience and sunlight.

Begin the Lares Trek from the Huaran trailhead, following shepherds’ paths through potato fields, stone-walled pastures, and highland streams. The climb reveals sweeping views and quiet valleys little-touched by mass tourism.

Reach the Cancha Cancha community, where Quechua is widely spoken and daily life follows seasonal rhythms. Expect crisp mountain air, llamas on the slopes, and a star-bright sky that frames the surrounding peaks—an intimate introduction to the Quechua-speaking highlands.

Ascend steadily to the highest point of the trek, where thin air, silence, and wide horizons heighten each step. The route skirts glassy tarns and a delicate highland waterfall, with snow-capped peaks lining a far-off horizon.

At the pass, savor a sense of achievement and the clarity of Andean light before descending through hamlets where handwoven mantas and traditional dress remain part of everyday life. This is classic Lares country—rugged, beautiful, and humbling.

Traverse Huillquicasa Pass amid wide alpine meadows, sharing the trail with llamas and alpacas tended by local families. The descent opens to scattered settlements and broad views that capture the spacious character of the Lares Valley.

On reaching Lares, ease sore muscles in the Lares hot springs, where mineral-rich waters and mountain vistas offer a soothing finale to the trek. Steam rises into cool air as you reflect on remote trails, quiet villages, and resilient Andean traditions.

Explore Machu Picchu with an expert guide who brings clarity to its stone terraces and temples perched on a mist-shrouded ridge. Follow the designated circuit to see ceremonial precincts, agricultural steps, and water channels that reveal remarkable Inca planning.

Hear how master stonemasons aligned walls without mortar and why this royal estate was abandoned. From the Guardhouse to the Sacred Plaza, pause for photos and reflection as cloud forest frames one of the world’s most evocative archaeological sites.

Hike to Palcoyo Rainbow Mountain, a quieter sibling to Vinicunca that reveals broad, multicoloured ridgelines shaped by mineral-rich sediments. Walking at high altitude rewards you with broad Andean vistas and sculpted valleys striped in ochres, rusts, and jade.

Absorb the stillness, photograph surreal geology, and learn how climate and minerals paint these slopes. This experience is at additional cost and can be booked on tour, subject to weather and acclimatisation considerations.