10/09 Lima, Cusco, Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca, Puno (Small Group)

After you arrive to Lima, pass through immigrations, retrieve your luggage, clear customs and enter the terminal your driver will be waiting with our blue & gold ILE Tours sign. You will be driven 45 min to check in to your Miraflores hotel. Enjoy the nearby shopping and restaurants in Miraflores if you arrive early enough. Overnight Lima.

At 2PM you will be met in your hotel lobby by your guide and driver and taken on a private city tour of Lima. Visit the Plaza Mayor, San Francisco Convent & catacombs off Lima Main Square is a sprawling monastery complex containing cloisters, convent, temple, 2 churches, library, tomb of Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro and catacombs. Completed in 1674. This is a meandering, thoughtful tour to enjoy frescoes on hallway walls, sculptures and history. LOW CEILINGS IN DARK CATACOMBS! WALK SLOWLY, DON'T BANG YOUR HEAD IN LOW DOORWAYS, ARCHWAYS and LOW CEILINGS. You will returned to your hotel after the tour. Overnight Lima. (B)

After breakfast be sure to leave nothing behind in your Lima hotel. You will be greeted in your hotel and taken by private van to the Lima airport in time for your 1 hr flight over the Andes Mountains to historic Cusco. You will be greeted in the Cusco Airport and taken to check in to your downtown hotel (15 min), Rest, breathe deeply, drink the complimentary coca tea provided by your hotel,  eat light this day and do not exert yourselves your first day in Cusco. This day will be spent acclimitating to Cusco’s 11,000 ft elevation, Overnight Cusco. B)

At 10AM you will be met at your hotel to enjoy the wonderful sites around the city. Sacsayhuaman 15 minutes outside of Cusco with huge walls comprised of monolithic stones,  Q’enqo – a small cave like structure used in Inca ceremones, Pucapucara- the small fortress and Tambomachay with its fountains and small canals.  All of these sites are near each other and played an important part in the Inca’s ceremonies religious and civic.  After completion of the tour you will be returned to your hotel. Overnight Cusco. (B)

One of the most important tours recommended by ILE Tours is the full day Sacred Valley Tour. Here you will learn of the Incas important and impressive legacy left to us by their knowledge of building and great respect for the sun and nature. 

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At 9AM, after breakfast you will be greeted in your hotel and driven NE out of Cusco to Pisaq. Stop periodically at scenic overlooks for pictures of the dramatic landscape before continuing on to Pisaq. Known for its indigenous craft market, Pisaq was also the easternmost fortress of the Sacred Valley. You can see Pisaq from the winding road that approaches the market town and the ruins high above the town square. 

Next continue west through the picturesque Sacred Valley to enjoy an excellent Andean buffet lunch in one of the best restaurants. You will next visit the archaeological city of Ollantaytambo, the Inca’s northern fortress walled city where they guarded the Sacred Valley to the north. Here you can appreciate the complexity of this magnificent Inca construction built in accordance with the landscape. Spectacular views of the Sacred Valley from atop the wall where there are more magnificent cut stones.

Ollantaytambo still retains its original Inca style, layout, walls and Overnight Ollantaytambo. (B,L)

After breakfast and check out leave your overnight bags with your hotel and go out to explore the small streets and shops of Ollantaytambo. Much has remained the same here for the past hundreds of years in this small Inca village, Small mountain fed canals line the streets to bring water to homes.  Short walkback to your hotel to retrieve your overngiht Mid-monring train to Aguas Calientes (90 min) where you will be greeted and escorted (walk) to check in to your hotel.  Enjoy the hot springs and small winding streets filled with restaurants and shops in town. Overnight Aguas Calientes.(B)

After breakfast check out and store your overnight bags with your hotel. You will be met by your guide to walk to the buses for the 20 min ride up to Machu Picchu. Buses run continuously and only stop at the top and bottom.  Enjoy 2  hrs with your guide then have plenty of time to hike and explore the park on you own. Machu Picchu was probably an estate of the Inca Pachacutec, who also designed Cusco.  It was a town with individual  homes for nobility made in the classical Inca style with polished dry-stone walls. Its 3 three primary structures are the Intihuatana, the Temple of the Sun, and the Room of the Three Windows. The magnificence of this site is fully appreciated at sunrise. As the mist rises just after sunrise the site itself is revealed to you. Like a saddle straddling a mountaintop, Machu Picchu sits hidden amongst other spectacular surrounding mountains. When finished take one of the continuous running buses 20 min back down to Aguas Calientes, retrieve your overnight or carry on bags from the hotel and be at the Aguas Calientes train station at least 30 minutes before your departing train to Cusco and van back to your hotel (3.5 hrs). Overnight Cusco. (B)

After breakfast and  check-out be sure to leave noting behind in your Cusco hotel. 06:30 hotel greeting and transfer to your tourist bus for a 7AM deparure to Puno(1o hrs). Stops along the way include the Sistine Chapel of the Andes, Andahuaylillas. This is a very pretty cathedral with frescoes on almost every wall. Sorry no pictures allowed. The temple ruins at Raqchi are magnificent at the second stop. There are remains of cottages, warehouses and terraces and it is a beautifully excavated clean site. The remains of the largest Incan church are there and the tight stonework left standing is incredible.

Next at the small town of Sicuani you’ll stop for a sit-down relaxing outdoor buffet Andean lunch. The next stop is La Raya, the highest point on the route at 4,300 meters elevation. The final stop is the museum in Pukaraou to see the ancient pre-Incans artifacts. When you arrive in Puno you will be met and taken to check in to your hotel. Overnight Puno. (B/L)

After breakfast you will be taken to Titicaca lake for a visit to the floating man-made Islands of Uros on a group motor yacht tour. Here you will meet, up-close the citizens who have preserved their old traditions and still live on the water. “The Aquatic Tribe” will show you how they have kept their customs, make their islands and display their crafts made of reeds. For an additional very small tip (5 soles per person) they will take you for a short optional ride on one of their reed boats if you wish.

The motor yacht tour then continues to the Greece-like steep island of Taquile, inhabited by native Quechuas. On Uros and Taquille you can appreciate and purchase some of the finest handmade crafts and basket weavings in Perú to support the very friendly and welcoming island people. Typical lunch on Taquile Island. The motor yachts have bus style seating and you can climb to the cabin roof to get fresh air and great photos. Be sure to bring brimmed hats and jackets as it will be sunny, windy and colder in the afternoons.(B/L)

After breakfast you will be greeted in you hotel and taken to the Juliaca airport for your flight to Lima (45 min) for your flight to Lima. (B).