11/10 Lima, Cusco, Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca, Colca Canyon, Arequipa (Small Group Tours)

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

After breakfast and check out be sure to leave nothing behind in your Lima hotel. You will be transferred 45 min to the Lima airport for your one-hour flight SE over the Andes to historic Cusco where you will be greeted at the Cusco airport and taken to your downtown area hotel. Rest, breathe, enjoy the complimentary coca tea provided in your hotel to better acclimate to Cusco’s 3,300 meter elevation. 

At 2PM 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. 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 that can be can be glimpsed from the road and from the market town below high above the town square to the north. 

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. 

Ollantaytambo still retains its original Inca style, layout, walls, houses and small mountain fed canals that brings water to the houses. If time permits we will finish our visit to the Sacred Valley with a stop in the small weaving town of Chincheros. A traditional town that still retains its typical form of dress and life. Some of the finest crafts you will see in Cusco are made in Chinchero. After a full day of traveling you will be brought back to your hotel in the early evening.

Very early in the morning our staff will greet you at your hotel and take you to either the Poroy or Ollantaytambo train station depending on the time of year, for your train to Aguas Calientes. You will be greeted in Aguas Caliente by your guide and taken by bus up to Machu Picchu, one of the most remarkable and enigmatic archaeological sites in the world. Few works made by man are as harmonious with nature as the citadel of Machu Picchu.

The “Lost City” is located at the top of a flattened mountain. Enjoy the wonders of Machu Picchu with your guide: the Sacred District, the Popular District to the south, and the District of Royalty in the urban sector. Visit the Temple of the Sun, the Room of the Three Windows and Temple of the Condor. Besides the outstanding archaeological remains see the spectacular panoramic views of the Jungle Mountains and the Urubamba River 400 meters below. After the tour return to Aguas Caliente by bus and board your train back to Cusco. You will be greeted at the train station and taken back to your hotel.

After breakfast and check ou be sure to leave noting behind in your Cusco hotel. You will be met in your hotel at 06:30 sharp and be taken to your First Class tourist bus for your 10 hour guided bus tour to Puno. Stopping along the way you will visit 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 stop for a sit-down relaxing buffet 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 artefacts.

When you arrive in Puno you will be met and taken to your hotel to check in. 

After breakfast you will be taken to Lake Titicaca piers for a tour of the floating man-made Islands of Uros by 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 the inhabitants of Uros 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 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. At night return to Puno by boat where your van will be waiting to return you to your hotel.

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.

After breakfast and check out be sure to leave nothing behind in your Puno hotel. Today you will take a tourist bus to Chivay near the fantastic Colca Canyon about 4 hrs away from Puno. Colca Canyon is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon but does not have the steep walls. Overnight in your lovely hotel in Chivay.

After breakfast and check out be sure to leave nothing behind in your Chivay hotel. You will be taken to the viewpoint of “the Cross of the Condor”, a few kilometres from Condor Cabana where the Colca Canyon starts. Here we hope to witness the wonderful spectacle of the flight of the Condors. Continue of to "The White CIty" of Arequipa to check in to your hotel.

After breakfast take a thoughtful walking tour of Arequipa with its pleasant, sunny, dry climate. Notice th mostly white buildings constructed with the white sillar volcanic stones. Begin with a visit to the Cathedral of Santa Catalina Convent and the museum. 

There we’ll be able to observe the Juanita Mummy, one of the oldest preserved mummies of South America. Also be sure to observe the majestic presence of “El Misti”, the snow covered inactive volcano Arequipa sits at the base of. After the city tour you will be returned to your hotel.

After breakfast and check out be sure to leave nothing behind in your Arequipa hotel. Hotel greeting and transfer to the airport for you 1:30 hr flight to Lima and your and your international connection home.