Traverse the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna Reserve to mirror-like lagoons where flamingos feed in pink-tinted waters. Continue to steaming fumaroles and mud pots near 5,000 m before easing into natural hot springs with volcano views.

Minerals tint Laguna Colorada in reds and whites while borax islands and distant cones paint a surreal palette. This high-altitude circuit blends wildlife, geology, and restorative warmth in one of the altiplano’s most cinematic corners.

Ride singletrack and rural lanes beyond Cusco on a guided mountain biking outing tailored to the group’s comfort level. Pedal past potato fields, adobe hamlets, and big-sky ridgelines with regular stops for panoramas.

Along the way, learn about Andean crops and water channels that still irrigate terraced slopes. Helmets and bikes are typically provided. This experience is optional, at additional cost, and bookable on tour.

• 6 Dinner (D)
• 17 Breakfast (B)
• 4 Lunch (L)

• Paracas: Mother nature has her favourites, and the Paracas National Reserve is one of them. We’ll take a tour of this protected natural area guilded with deserts, islands and the beautiful blue ocean. 
• Nazca: Climbing up 43 ft in the sky, you’ll see the fascinating group of geoglyphs called the Nazca Lines from a (really) tall tower. Think: desert artwork of spiders, spirals and a mysterious astronaut-like human.
• 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.
• Cusco: Your chance to pick up some mementos at San Pedro Markets and then see Cusco Cathedral, San Blas and Coricancha.
• 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.
• Machu Picchu: It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for! Time to explore the Incan citadel with your new Contiki fam. #travelgoals
• Cusco: Travel from Cusco to Puno on a full-day journey that turns the transfer into part of the adventure. Along the way, you’ll stop at Andahuaylillas, Raqchi, La Raya and Pucará, (plus enjoy buffet lunch with Andes views). It’s a comfy ride with reclining seats, air conditioning and onboard restrooms.
• La Paz: Tuck into a 3-course set menu at Manq’a (“food” in Aymara), a seriously cool restaurant with a big heart. Your meal supports culinary training and better opportunities for vulnerable youth, while championing sustainable, fairly priced local produce and proud cultural food traditions.
• La Paz: See the city through the eyes of masked shoe shiners (these are the people who keep La Paz moving). Expect a walking tour that goes beyond the usual sights, with real stories about daily life, stigma, and informal work, all while supporting community projects that back shoe shiners and their families.
• La Paz: Leave La Paz after dark and roll into Sucre on a 13-hour overnight journey. Oh yeah, and there are comfy reclining seats on this ride!
• Sucre: Get your bearings in Bolivia’s “White City”. Wandering the colonial centre with its elegant plazas, architecture, and easy-going vibe. Then you can grab a proper local bite at Salteñería El Patio — Sucre’s go-to for juicy salteñas in a classic courtyard setting.
• Potosi: Walk the UNESCO-listed historic centre where grand churches and cobbled streets meet the shadow of Cerro Rico. Expect a loop through Plaza 10 de Noviembre, plus time to dive into the Casa Nacional de la Moneda — the former mint turned museum that tells the story behind Potosí’s wealth (and its cost).
• Potosi: Head to a local ex-miner’s home for a home-cooked meal and a no-filter chat about life in the mines. You’ll enjoy local dishes like quinoa soup and potatoes, plus get a deeper look at the challenges (and resilience) behind this tough line of work.
• Uyuni: Roll through Uyuni’s high-altitude outpost vibes — dusty streets, a lively plaza, and market stalls with llama wool and quinoa on repeat. It’s the rugged launchpad for what you came for… and your Trip Manager will help you get orientated before the big landscapes take over.
• Uyuni Salt Flat: Near the Uyuni Salt Flats, this special stay is made out of salt. Yep, actual salt. It’s an accommodation with a seriously unique twist, serving up a stay in one of South America’s most surreal landscapes. Geological icon meets human ingenuity. Not a bad combo for a night on the trip!
• Salta: Wander around Plaza 9 de Julio and the city’s leafy, pastel-lined streets, taking in the cathedral and the glow of San Francisco Church. As evening hits, you’ll have the chance to soak in the local peña scene (think folk music energy and regional flavours).
• Buenos Aires: Head out with your Trip Manager to get the lay of the land — key spots, neighbourhood vibes, and the best ways to spend your free time. 

See La Paz through the eyes of masked shoe shiners who guide a candid walk across plazas, markets, and viewpoints. Hear about the city’s informal economy and the stigma that led workers to adopt distinctive balaclavas.

Beyond iconic streets and skyline vistas, this experience funds community projects for shoeshiners and their families. It’s urban storytelling with social purpose—street life and big-city energy framed by the snow-capped sentinel of Illimani on the horizon.

Support a culinary training project at Manq’a—Aymara for “food”—with a thoughtful set-menu dinner. Taste highland ingredients elevated with modern technique while young chefs gain hands-on experience and community-focused skills.

This initiative empowers vulnerable youth and champions producers of native crops like cañahua, quinoa, and Andean potatoes. Expect balanced flavors, warm hospitality, and the satisfying knowledge that your meal fuels opportunity as well as appetite.

• 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.

Explore the stark beauty of the Paracas National Reserve, where ochre desert meets the deep-blue Pacific. Trace cliff-lined headlands to wind-scoured viewpoints and pause for photos and reflection above wave-battered shorelines and seabird rookeries.

Formed by ancient marine deposits and constant winds, Paracas protects unique coastal ecosystems and migratory birds. Expect contrasts—red-sand coves, cobalt water, and silent expanses—while your guide unpacks the geology and wildlife that make this protected area such a Peruvian standout.

Charge into the desert on a dune buggy adventure around Huacachina’s towering sands. Feel the drop-and-surge of wind-sculpted slopes before strapping in for sandboarding down the dunes—soft grit underfoot, big blue sky above, and a perfect desert oasis framing the scene.

These dunes are among South America’s largest, shaped by relentless coastal winds. Guides show technique and set a comfortable pace, so thrill-seekers and cautious riders alike catch the rush while taking in soul-stirring vistas of golden ridgelines and the palm-ringed lagoon below.

Climb a dedicated Nazca Lines viewing tower to scan the desert pampa etched with immense geoglyphs. From this vantage, trace geometric figures and stylized forms while your guide explains theories—from astronomical markers to ritual pathways—behind these millennia-old designs.

Created by removing dark stones to reveal pale earth beneath, the lines endure thanks to the arid climate. Seeing their scale from above offers rare context, turning a stretch of highway into an open-air gallery of ancient ingenuity and quiet mystery.

Stroll the UNESCO-listed heart of Arequipa, nicknamed the “White City” for its luminous sillar stone. Join a guided city walk past the Plaza de Armas, grand arcades, and elegant churches, with viewpoints framing El Misti and its volcanic siblings.

Discover how sillar tuff shapes facades and courtyards, and admire the vivid monastery quarter with its ochre and indigo lanes. Arequipa’s blend of Andean tradition and Spanish baroque reveals itself in carved portals, sunlit cloisters, and the rhythm of daily life around café-lined squares.

Explore Cusco with a guided tour that threads Inca foundations and colonial splendor. Browse the San Pedro Market for roasted corn, cacao, and colorful textiles, then admire the baroque grandeur of the Cathedral and the stonework legacy at Coricancha, the Inca Temple of the Sun.

As capital of Tawantinsuyu, Cusco radiates history in tight cobbled streets and hand-hewn walls. Your guide decodes sacred alignments and Spanish-era facades, revealing a city where Andean cosmology and Catholic iconography continue an intricate dialogue.

Visit a community-run weaving center to meet llamas, alpacas and vicuñas, learning how fibers are collected, spun, and dyed with cochineal, indigo, and native plants. Watch master weavers at work as patterns encode identity, myths, and landscapes.

In a region without a historic written script, textiles served as cultural record. Try your hand at the traditional Sapo toss, chat with artisans about sustainable livelihoods, and see how your visit supports craft preservation across the Sacred Valley’s highland villages.

Board the Inca Rail from Ollantaytambo and follow the Urubamba into cloud forest before a short bus ascent to the main gate. Enter Machu Picchu with a specialist guide who brings terraces, temples, and water channels to life amid condors and orchids.

Raised in the 15th century and abandoned to mist and moss, the citadel blends sacred geometry with mountain guardians. Highlights might include the Temple of the Sun and Intihuatana, while panoramic viewpoints deliver that singular heart-thudding “I’m here” moment.

Transform the journey between Cusco and Puno into a cultural arc. Visit Andahuaylillas Church, famed for mural-rich interiors, explore Raqchi’s Temple of Wiracocha, and pause at La Raya pass for sweeping cordillera views and photos.

This classic overland route threads Inca, colonial, and pre-Inca heritage. Museums at Pucará reveal ceramic traditions, while a relaxed lunch introduces highland flavors. It’s an engaging primer on the cultures and geographies surrounding Lake Titicaca’s basin.

Cruise Lake Titicaca across cobalt waters to the floating Uros reed islands, stepping onto springy totora platforms and learning how communities build homes and boats from lake reeds. Continue to Taquile for a gentle hike and artisan market.

Titicaca’s high-altitude light sharpens every color—embroidered belts, knitted caps, and the blues of sky and lake. Hear stories of cooperative traditions and textile techniques as you wander stone paths with endless views toward snow-flecked Andean peaks.

Settle into a lakeside village stay on the Capachica Peninsula to share local life and flavors—quinoa soups, lake fish, and Andean tubers. Dine with your hosts and join a small celebration of traditional music and dancing as dusk settles over Titicaca.

Conversation bridges cultures while simple comforts and mountain silence frame the night. Learn about farming rhythms, reed lore, and textile motifs, then step outside to constellations that seem near enough to touch in the crisp altiplano air.

Wander Sucre’s whitewashed lanes and car-free plazas as your leader points out churches, balcony-trimmed mansions, and leafy courtyards. The calm cadence of the “White City” sets a graceful stage for your time in Bolivia’s constitutional capital.

From tiled domes to convent cloisters, the architecture reflects Spanish-era ambition softened by mountain light. Pick up tips on local salteñas and museum stops so you can tailor the rest of your day with confidence.

Explore Potosí’s UNESCO-listed centre beneath the looming cone of Cerro Rico. Trace cobbled streets to Plaza 10 de Noviembre, admire ornate church facades, and step into the Casa Nacional de la Moneda, the former mint that fueled an empire.

Silver wealth and human cost intertwine here—stories of colonial boom, global trade, and the famed “pieces of eight.” Exhibits and courtyards reveal craftsmanship, coercion, and the city’s enduring spirit at 4,000 metres above sea level.

Gather at a local home to share a home-cooked meal—perhaps quinoa soup, potatoes, and warming Andean stews—while hearing first-hand accounts of life working Cerro Rico. It’s a grounded encounter with the resilience behind Potosí’s history.

Conversation ranges from traditions and risk to community bonds and changing fortunes. This intimate evening supports families directly and pairs regional flavors with candid, unforgettable storytelling.

Set out by 4×4 across the Salar de Uyuni, starting with photogenic relics at the Train Cemetery and artisan salt works in Colchani. Roll onto the blinding-white expanse for picnic stops, playful perspective shots, and a walk among towering cacti on Incahuasi Island.

Crusted polygons, endless horizons, and crisp highland air redefine scale and silence. As the light softens, your driver-guide positions the vehicle for sunset over the salar, turning the flats into a vast canvas of golds and violets.

Experience a unique stay in a lodge built from blocks of salt—walls, tables, even some beds—set on the salar’s fringes. After dinner, step outside into extraordinary darkness where the altiplano night sky spills with stars.

The salt architecture melds human ingenuity with elemental landscape. Dry air, quiet corridors, and wide serenity elevate a night’s rest into a once-in-a-lifetime memory between days of vast Andean scenery.

Glide through the wind-swept Dalí Desert, where scattered rocks evoke minimalist canvases against a vast sand-and-sky horizon. Continue to the jewel-toned shores of Laguna Verde and Laguna Blanca beneath conical volcanoes.

High light and spare forms define this route, a final flourish of Bolivian surrealism before descending toward Chile. Expect big-window vistas, clean desert air, and the gratifying calm of long views in every direction.

Walk Salta’s elegant heart to arcaded cafés, pastel facades, and the cathedral that glows at golden hour. Your leader points out photogenic angles, snack stops, and museum options near leafy Plaza 9 de Julio.

Andean and colonial threads intertwine here—church towers, tiled courtyards, and a relaxed pace that invites lingering. Use this orientation to map out scenic viewpoints and evening peña venues for later explorations.

Get your bearings in Buenos Aires with a leader-led walk through emblematic streets and plazas. Learn how neighborhoods—from stately Recoleta to bohemian San Telmo—shape the city’s mood, food, and nightlife.

Architecture sweeps from Belle Époque grandeur to modernist edges, while porteño rituals unfold at corner cafés. Gather tips on must-try empanadas, parrillas, and leafy parks so you can chart your own path across Argentina’s charismatic capital.

Hike to Vinicunca (Rainbow Mountain) to see mineral-striped slopes in shades of crimson, gold, and lavender. The high-altitude trail rewards steady pacing with sweeping views across the Vilcanota range.

Guides monitor conditions and acclimatization, with photo stops and rest breaks along the way. Dress warmly and bring sun protection. This experience is optional, at additional cost, and bookable on tour.

Join a hands-on cooking class to plate Peruvian staples—think ceviche techniques, quinoa salads, or lomo saltado—guided by local chefs. Sip pisco-based sips while learning spice balances and market-fresh secrets.

Finish by sharing a chef-led dinner you helped create, a flavorful lens on Peru’s coastal, Andean, and jungle influences. This experience is optional, at additional cost, and bookable on tour.

Spend an evening at a Cholitas wrestling show, where bowler hats and braids meet theatrical takedowns. The ring becomes a stage for strength, humor, and social commentary as Aymara women flip expectations—sometimes literally.

Expect crowd energy, playful storylines, and plenty of photo moments. Seating and transfers vary by venue. This experience is optional, at additional cost, and bookable on tour.

Glide above the city on Mi Teleférico cable cars for wide views across canyons and the Illimani massif, then continue to Valle de la Luna to wander otherworldly clay spires and labyrinthine gullies.

It’s a striking contrast: urban altitude mapped from the sky, followed by silent, wind-carved formations just beyond the bustle. This experience is optional, at additional cost, and bookable on tour.

Trek into the Maragua Crater, a folded geological bowl of striped sediment, to sites where dinosaur footprints are preserved in tilted rock slabs. Trails reveal vivid layers and Andean village life.

Local guides share paleontological context and cultural notes as the landscape unfurls in ripples of color. Sturdy shoes and sun protection recommended. This experience is optional, at additional cost, and bookable on tour.

Enter the slopes of Cerro Rico on a guided mine visit to learn about past and present extraction. Meet miners, see narrow galleries, and hear unvarnished accounts of work in the mountain that built Potosí’s legend.

Safety equipment is typically provided and conditions may be dusty, cramped, and strenuous. Participation is voluntary and subject to local regulations. This experience is optional, at additional cost, and bookable on tour.

Carve down desert dunes near San Pedro with a sandboarding session that pairs instruction with free runs on sloping faces of the Cordillera de la Sal. Expect soft landings, big laughs, and cameras working overtime.

Guides help with stance and speed control so you can find your flow. Boards and helmets are typically included. This experience is optional, at additional cost, and bookable on tour.

Chase golden hour among salt-crusted ridges and wind-hollowed caves on a Vallecito sunset tour. As shadows stretch, the Cordillera de la Sal glows in apricot and rose, perfect for photography and quiet contemplation.

Guides share insights into the desert’s geology and microclimates while you wander textured pathways. This experience is optional, at additional cost, and bookable on tour.

Settle into a traditional peña folk evening where guitars, bombo drums, and zambas fill a convivial sala. Plates of empanadas and regional wines round out a lively night that celebrates northwest Argentina’s storytelling traditions.

Audience claps set the rhythm as dancers trace spirals and gaucho steps. Transfers and venue vary. This experience is optional, at additional cost, and bookable on tour.

Go beyond the obvious with an Argentine Sherpa dinner, a hosted feast that spotlights neighborhood gems and the stories behind them. Taste seasonal small plates and classic cuts while decoding porteño dining rituals.

This intimate format blends culinary discovery and local insight—think perfect chimichurri, Malbec pairings, and the culture around asado. This experience is optional, at additional cost, and bookable on tour.

Cruise the Tigre Delta to see stilted houses, island gardens, and weekend-life unfold on labyrinthine waterways north of Buenos Aires. Rivers replace roads here, and the city’s buzz gives way to willow-framed calm.

Guides cover delta ecology and history as you glide past rowing clubs and floating markets. Time permitting, stroll Puerto de Frutos for crafts and snacks. This experience is optional, at additional cost, and bookable on tour.

Make a night of it with a classic dinner & tango show. Savor Argentine staples—steak, malbec, provoleta—before the lights drop and the orquesta típica launches soaring bandoneón lines for dancers’ close-embrace drama.

From milonga mischief to polished stage numbers, it’s a whirlwind through tango’s history and heart. Venues vary by date. This experience is optional, at additional cost, and bookable on tour.

Begin your adventure by gathering with your group for a convivial evening over Peruvian flavors. Share a welcome dinner at a neighborhood spot where chefs champion coastal ceviches, Andean grains, and bright ají peppers. Conversation flows, the city hums outside, and the table fills with dishes that showcase Lima’s pantry of Pacific seafood and highland produce.

Learn how Peru’s capital became Latin America’s culinary lodestar, shaped by Indigenous traditions and Spanish, African, Chinese, and Japanese influences. This relaxed first night sets the tone for the journey ahead and lets you meet your Tour Director and fellow travelers in style.

Contiki