Day-by-day programme of this 15-day itinerary across Lima, the Andes and Machu Picchu.
Day 1 — Arrival in Lima
Most flights land in Lima in the evening. A walk through the historic centre or the Miraflores district is the right way to settle in: you're at sea level, so make the most of it to rest before you start gaining altitude.
- 📍 Plaza Mayor de Lima — The colonial square at the heart of Lima, with the Cathedral and the Government Palace: a first taste of the viceregal past before you head towards the sea.
- 🏨 Tierra Viva Miraflores Centro
Day 2 — Lima between sea and ceviche
A relaxed day at sea level before heading south: the Miraflores and Barranco neighbourhoods, the cliffs over the Pacific, and the cuisine that has made Lima one of the world's food capitals.
- 📍 Barranco, Lima — Lima's bohemian district, among murals, galleries and the Puente de los Suspiros (Bridge of Sighs). The morning is perfect to wander it on foot before it fills up.
- 📍 Malecón de Miraflores — The long clifftop park above the ocean, with the Parque del Amor and paragliders at sunset. An open view over the Pacific in the golden hours.
- 🍽️ La Mar Cebichería, Lima — A renowned cebichería to try the national dish: raw fish cured in lime with onion, chilli and corn. Ceviche at lunch is the rule, when the fish is the day's catch.
Day 3 — To the desert: Paracas
You head south down the Panamericana by bus. Paracas is a small port facing a reserve where the desert drops straight into the ocean: the base for tomorrow's Ballestas Islands.
- ✈️ Lima → Paracas — Paracas, Ica
- 📍 Paracas National Reserve — A reserve where ochre dunes end in red cliffs and deserted Pacific beaches. Lovely in the late afternoon, when the light sets the desert alight.
- 🏨 Casa Andina Select Paracas
Day 4 — Ballestas and the Huacachina oasis
A morning boat trip to the Ballestas Islands, the "poor man's Galápagos", then a transfer inland to Huacachina, the oasis among the dunes where you ride buggies and sandboard at sunset.
- 🎯 Ballestas Islands — A boat trip among colonies of sea lions, Humboldt penguins and thousands of seabirds, passing the Candelabra geoglyph carved into the hillside.
- ✈️ Paracas → Huacachina — Huacachina, Ica
- 🎯 Huacachina — The giant dunes around the oasis are tackled by buggy, stopping to slide down the sand on a board. You reach the top in time for sunset over the desert.
- 🏨 Hotel El Huacachinero — Huacachina, Ica
Day 5 — The Nazca Lines, then up to Arequipa
A stop at the famous Nazca Lines, only truly visible from the air aboard a light plane. In the evening you take the night bus to Arequipa: the altitude starts to climb in earnest.
- ✈️ Huacachina → Nazca — Nazca, Ica
- 🎯 Nazca Lines — A flight on a light aircraft to see from above the giant geoglyphs traced in the desert over two thousand years ago: the hummingbird, the monkey, the condor. Eat a light breakfast, as the banking turns are hard on the stomach.
- ✈️ Nazca → Arequipa — Arequipa
Day 6 — Arequipa, the white city
Arequipa is built of sillar, the white volcanic stone, beneath the perfect cone of Misti. At 2,300 metres it's the right place to ease into the altitude: move slowly and drink plenty of water.
- 📍 Santa Catalina Monastery — A convent-citadel within the city, a maze of lanes painted red and blue where cloistered nuns once lived in isolation. You'll happily get lost here for an hour or two.
- 📍 Plaza de Armas de Arequipa — The central square ringed by arcades and dominated by the white sillar cathedral. The upper-floor bars have the best view of the volcanoes.
- 📍 Yanahuara Viewpoint — A row of sillar arches framing the Misti volcano: Arequipa's classic viewpoint, beautiful in the late-afternoon light.
- 🏨 Vita Hoteles Arequipa — Arequipa
Day 7 — To the Colca Canyon
You climb towards the Colca over a pass at nearly 4,900 metres, among herds of vicuñas and llamas. You sleep in Chivay, at the mouth of the canyon: a warm evening at the hot springs helps with the cold and the altitude.
- ✈️ Arequipa → Chivay — Chivay, Valle del Colca
- 🎯 La Calera Hot Springs, Chivay — Pools of warm thermal water fed by the Colca's volcanism, perfect at sunset when the temperature drops. A gentle way to handle Chivay's 3,600 metres.
- 🏨 Casa Andina Standard Colca — Chivay, Valle del Colca
Day 8 — Cruz del Cóndor and the altiplano to Puno
At dawn at the Cruz del Cóndor viewpoint the Andean condors ride the warm updrafts out of the canyon, gliding just metres overhead. Then a long transfer across the altiplano to Puno, on Lake Titicaca.
- 🎯 Cruz del Cóndor — The best place in the world to see the Andean condor in free flight: come early, because it's in the morning that the birds rise from the bottom of the canyon, one of the deepest on Earth.
- ✈️ Chivay → Puno — Puno
- 🏨 Casa Andina Standard Puno — Puno
Day 9 — The islands of Lake Titicaca
A day by boat on the highest navigable lake in the world, at 3,812 metres. From the floating Uros islands to the weaving community of Taquile, with the horizon fading towards Bolivia.
- 🎯 Uros Islands — Islands built and constantly rebuilt from totora, the lake's reed, where Uros families have lived for generations. You walk on ground that gives underfoot like a mattress.
- 📍 Taquile Island — A solid-ground island where the men weave and knit, a craft recognised by UNESCO. From the top the lake opens up, immense and blue, all the way to the Bolivian mountains.
Day 10 — From the puna to Cusco
The transfer from Puno to Cusco is itself an attraction: the tourist bus stops at Inca and colonial sites and at the La Raya pass. Ten slow but full hours, closing the altiplano and opening the valley of Cusco.
- ✈️ Puno → Cusco — Cusco
- 📍 Raqchi — The Temple of Wiracocha, one of the tallest surviving Inca structures, with its long central wall: one of the most striking stops on the road to Cusco.
- 🏨 Casa Andina Standard Cusco Plaza — Cusco
Day 11 — Cusco, navel of the Inca empire
A day for the historic Inca capital: from the perfect walls of the Qorikancha to the fortress of Sacsayhuamán overlooking the city. You're back at 3,400 metres, but by now you're acclimatised.
- 📍 Plaza de Armas del Cusco — The heart of the city, with the Cathedral and the Compañía de Jesús facing the square. All around, the San Blas quarter climbs among artisan workshops.
- 📍 Qorikancha — The ancient Inca Temple of the Sun, whose perfectly interlocked stone walls form the base of the Santo Domingo convent: two civilisations one atop the other.
- 📍 Sacsayhuamán — The ceremonial fortress above Cusco, with megalithic blocks weighing dozens of tonnes fitted without mortar. From up here the view takes in the whole red-roofed city.
Day 12 — Sacred Valley and the train to Machu Picchu
The Sacred Valley descends gently along the Urubamba river among markets and Inca ruins. From Ollantaytambo the scenic train sets off for Aguas Calientes, the town at the foot of Machu Picchu where you sleep to reach the site at dawn.
- 📍 Pisac — The village known for its large Andean market and for the Inca terraces clinging to the mountain above town. A good starting point for heading down the valley.
- 📍 Ollantaytambo — An Inca fortress and temple above a town still inhabited with its original layout: one of the few living towns where you walk among walls five centuries old. The train leaves from here.
- ✈️ Ollantaytambo → Aguas Calientes — Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu Pueblo)
- 🏨 Tierra Viva Machu Picchu — Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu Pueblo)
Day 13 — Machu Picchu
The highlight day: take an early bus up to enter Machu Picchu as it opens, ahead of the groups and with the mist lifting off the ruins. Entry is guided and along set circuits; in the afternoon the train heads back towards Cusco.
- 🎯 Machu Picchu — The 15th-century Inca citadel suspended among green ridges, rediscovered in 1911. Entry requires a timed ticket and an official guide: book your circuit weeks in advance.
- ✈️ Aguas Calientes → Cusco — Cusco
- 🏨 Casa Andina Standard Cusco Plaza — Cusco
Day 14 — The Rainbow Mountain
One last big excursion: the Mountain of Seven Colours (Vinicunca), whose mineral stripes look painted on. It's above 5,000 metres and you start at dawn: easy underfoot but hard on the lungs. In the evening, a farewell to Cusco in the San Blas quarter.
- 🎯 Rainbow Mountain (Vinicunca) — A middle-of-the-night start and a walk up to the ridge streaked red, ochre and turquoise, colours given by the minerals. You touch 5,000 metres: go slowly and wrap up, the wind cuts.
- 📍 San Blas, Cusco — The artisans' quarter of steep cobbled lanes, perfect for a last evening among workshops and small restaurants overlooking the rooftops of Cusco.
Day 15 — Departure
There's time for a last wander through the market before the domestic flight to Lima, where you connect for the international leg. Allow a good margin: Cusco airport is small and the morning flights are the most reliable.
- 📍 San Pedro Market, Cusco — Cusco's covered market, among fruit juices, bread, chocolate and textiles: the right place for a last coffee and some shopping before you leave.
- ✈️ Cusco → Lima — Aeropuerto Internacional Jorge Chávez, Lima
