• 3 Dinner (D)
• 9 Breakfast (B)
• 2 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.

Settle into village life on the Capachica Peninsula and stay with a local family in simple, welcoming homes. Share a home-cooked Andean meal—quinoa, lake trout, native potatoes—and swap stories by the hearth before an evening of traditional music and dancing.

Hosts share Aymara and Quechua customs, from farming rhythms to textile patterns tied to community and landscape. The hush of the lake and bright stars set a mood of lakeside tranquility.

See La Paz through the eyes of masked shoe shiners on a guided walking tour that threads plazas, market lanes, and overlooked corners of the city. Explore stalls of the Witches’ Market and street art that maps stories of migration, labor, and resilience.

Hear candid accounts of daily hustle and the stigma these workers navigate in Bolivia’s informal economy. Your visit supports community projects while revealing the rhythms of everyday city life beyond the usual postcard views.

Pedal a mountain biking adventure across rolling puna and patchwork fields just beyond Cusco. Trace Andean landscapes on dirt tracks past adobe hamlets and terrace-lined hillsides, with stops for panoramic photos and breathers.

Guides match routes to ability, mixing single-track and rural trails with vehicle support and quality gear. This experience is bookable on tour at additional cost and offers an active, wind-in-your-face counterpoint to city exploration.

• 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.

Climb a 13-metre lookout to view the Nazca Lines etched into the pampas—ancient geoglyphs whose scale only reveals itself from above. From the tower, pick out distinct figures like the Tree and Hands carved into the desert plateau.

Hear how scholars—from Maria Reiche onward—have probed their mystery and meaning, debating astronomy, water rituals, and ceremonial pathways. The stark landscape and razor-straight lines make for thought-provoking, camera-ready perspectives.

Stroll the Plaza de Armas in Peru’s luminous White City, framed by Misti and Chachani volcanoes. Admire baroque-mestizo facades hewn from volcanic sillar before you step inside Santa Catalina Monastery, a 16th-century walled city of cobalt lanes, red-ochre cloisters, and quiet courtyards.

Your guide interweaves Arequipa’s colonial origins with monastic life, from the convent’s once-closed world to its artistic treasures and vivid, photogenic architecture opened to visitors in the 1970s.

Join a guided city tour through the former Inca capital—Plaza de Armas, the soaring Cusco Cathedral, artisans’ lanes of San Blas, and the bustling San Pedro Market. Step into the Inca-to-colonial story at Qorikancha (Coricancha), once sheathed in sheets of gold.

See precisely carved Inca stonework supporting Spanish churches above—a living palimpsest of empire, resistance, and revival—while tastes and aromas of cacao, coca, and Andean cheeses spill from market stalls.

Meet gentle camelids as you meet llamas, alpacas and vicuñas at a community-run center. Watch masters learn traditional Andean weaving on backstrap looms and see natural dye techniques using cochineal and native plants. Try your hand at the jovial Andean coin toss to play Sapo.

Weaving transmits stories, identity, and place where histories were long preserved without writing. Your visit helps sustain heritage skills and fair income for artisan families in the valley.

Settle into panoramic seats to take the train to Machu Picchu, tracing the Urubamba River through cloud-forested canyons. Board the shuttle and step inside the Inca citadel with your expert guide as soaring Andean peaks frame terraces and temples.

Unpack the site’s 15th-century engineering, ritual spaces like the Temple of the Sun, and the Intihuatana’s carved stone. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Machu Picchu balances grandeur with intimate details—orchids, llamas, and lichen-mottled walls.

Cross the altiplano on the famed Route of the Sun with curated cultural stops. Marvel at Andahuaylillas ‘Sistine Chapel of the Andes’, then walk among the colossal walls of the Temple of Wiracocha at Raqchi. Pause at the high La Raya pass for sweeping Andean views.

Explore the Pucará Museum’s pre-Inca monoliths and learn about the region’s iconic bull figurines. A hearty Andean lunch and changing mountain light make the journey a highlight in its own right.

Cruise Lake Titicaca to the Uros floating islands, walking carefully on springy mats woven from totora reeds as families explain reed-boat building and lakeside traditions. Continue to Taquile Island for a gentle ridge walk to a village square ringed by stone arches.

Hear how Taquile’s world-class textiles—often made by men—encode identity and are recognized for their quality. The horizons stretch cobalt-blue, with snow-streaked cordilleras floating on the lake’s mirror.

Dine at Manq’a—Aymara for “food”—where a three-course seasonal menu celebrates seasonal Bolivian produce like quinoa, high-altitude tubers, and ají peppers. Meet the team behind this social enterprise nurturing culinary talent and empowering youth.

Expect inventive plates that champion fair-priced, local supply chains and heritage flavors. It’s purpose-led dining that pairs palate with positive impact in one of South America’s highest capitals.

Lace up to hike Rainbow Mountain (Vinicunca), a high-Andes trail that crests at colorful ridgelines streaked with stripes of red, ochre and turquoise. Expect thin air, wide horizons, and herds of alpacas nibbling ichu grass.

The palette comes from mineral-rich sediments lifted by Andean tectonics and revealed by erosion. This challenging, high-altitude outing is bookable on tour at additional cost; acclimatization and layered clothing are essential for the high-altitude Andes.

Join a hands-on cooking class where a local chef guides you to prepare Peruvian classics—think lomo saltado, causa, and bright ají-amarillo sauces—before you taste your creations over a relaxed dinner.

Discover how Andean tubers, coastal seafood, and Japanese techniques shaped modern Peruvian cuisine. This flavorful, social experience is bookable on tour at additional cost and pairs kitchen skills with cultural insight.

Take a ringside seat for the Fighting Cholitas wrestling show, where bowler-hatted, pollera-skirted athletes flip expectations—along with their opponents. Acrobatics, humor, and crowd energy collide in a uniquely Bolivian night out.

The performance channels pride and identity as Aymara women command the ring with grit and flair. This vibrant cultural spectacle is bookable on tour at additional cost and makes for an unforgettable La Paz evening.

Explore the stark beauty of the Paracas National Reserve, where ochre desert headlands meet the Pacific in dramatic sweeps. Trace the coast by lookout points to witness the desert meeting the Pacific, including the wind-sculpted Playa Roja cliffs, and pause for photos and reflection above turquoise bays alive with seabirds.

Learn how the cold Humboldt Current shapes this protected ecosystem, drawing penguins, boobies, and cormorants to its rocky shores. The reserve also shelters traces of the ancient Paracas culture, famed for exquisite textiles and desert-adapted lifeways.

Buckle up to ride a dune buggy across the shifting desert sea surrounding the palm-fringed oasis of Huacachina. Feel the rush as you sandboard the towering dunes, carving smooth lines on golden slopes with the oasis lagoon gleaming below.

Guide-led runs are tailored to beginners and thrill-seekers alike. The late-day light gilds the landscape, delivering that cinematic sunset over the sands moment you’ll replay long after the dust settles.

Contiki

Toast the start of your adventure and join a welcome dinner at a neighborhood restaurant in Peru’s capital. Sample Peruvian classics like ceviche, anticuchos, and causa, and raise a pisco sour with your new travel crew. The setting in Lima’s vibrant coastal barrios blends ocean air with the city’s renowned culinary energy.

Hear how Lima became Latin America’s dining powerhouse through Andean, Spanish, and Nikkei influences. Chefs champion seasonal produce from sea and sierra, turning simple ingredients into bright, layered flavors that set the tone for the journey ahead.