Machu Picchu, Cusco, Paracas, Ica, Nazca Lines Tour

Arrival at Lima Airport. Welcome and English-speaking assistance. Transfer to your hotel.

Meet with your tour guide for a half-day city tour of the capital of Peru. The city founded in 1535 by the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, still features many invaluable colonial buildings along the main square (the Plaza Mayor) and the nearby streets. Discover the majestic Cathedral of Lima, the Government Palace and the San Francisco Convent among many other impressive colonial buildings.

First-class bus transfer to Paracas (3 hours).

Overnight at your hotel in Paracas.

Early in the morning, transfer to the dock for your speedboat excursion to the Ballestas Islands (2 hours). This excursion will be the opportunity for you to observe large colonies of seals, sea lions, a variety of shorebirds, and if you’re lucky, some Humboldt penguins. You will, of course, get to see the 'Candelabro' (Chandelier), an impressive geoglyph carved into a sand dune and shaped like a chandelier, hence its name.

Take a buggy ride to explore the desert landscape of Paracas. The open sand fields offer a vast playground where the buggy can take steep curves at full speed. From the top of some of the tallest dunes around, take a dive and give sandboarding a go. Standing, sitting, or lying down, let yourself slide on the hot sand in this unique and quiet environment.

Overnight at your hotel in Paracas.

Note: The overflight time is contingent on weather conditions and the number of people flying that day. Therefore, patience and flexibility are the order of the day, especially between June and September: the coldest season in the southern hemisphere, where there is frequent fog until the early hours of the morning.

In the morning, private transfer from your hotel in Paracas to Ica (1 hour).

Transfer to the aerodrome to fly over the impressive and enigmatic Nazca lines (30 min). The Nazca Lines are actually enormous pre-Columbian geoglyphs whose meaning or use is still unknown today.

Visit the Tacama vineyard, one of the most famous vineyards in Ica and in all of Peru. Tacama produces delicious Chardonnay, Malbec, and of course, Pisco.

Visit to the famous Huacachina Oasis, where you will appreciate the combination of its lagoon and impressive surrounding high dunes.

Overnight at your hotel in Ica.

In the morning, private transfer from your hotel to the bus station.

First-class bus transfer from Ica to Lima (4 hours).

Afternoon at leisure.

Evening at leisure.

Transfer to Lima airport (45 min to 1 hour) for your direct flight to Cusco (1 hour 15 min). Arrival in Cusco (11,152 ft - 3400 m).

Drive from Cusco to the village of Pisac (1 hour) with its famous Sunday market where many indigenous Quechua communities meet to sell and trade their goods.

The rest of the week, the whole place is bustling with its handicraft and souvenir market. You will have time to search for jewelry, ponchos, hats, traditional music instruments, ceramics, alpaca products and many other typical Andean crafts (1 hour 30 min).

Visit Pisaqa, Intihuatana, Q’allaqasa, and Kinchiracay. (1 hour 30 min). All 4 places are part of an Inca site on the nearby hill at an altitude of 10,980 feet (3345 m).

The Inca shaped the hill by carving the ingenious terraces that are still used for agriculture to this day.

With the military, religious, and agricultural structures, the site was an important and busy place in Inca times.

Transfer to your hotel in the Sacred Valley (1 hour).

Overnight at your hotel in the Sacred Valley.

Transfer to the site of Maras (90 min).

Walk between the hundreds of salt ponds used to dry the salt according to a method inherited from pre-inca times.

The many colors of the polygonal ponds can go from light reddish to brownish to white according to the season. This contrasts with the surrounding landscape and gives the site a most-unusual aspect.

Free time to shop pink salt collected by the local community workers.

Transfer to Moray archeological site (30 min).

Walk around and down those impressive circular agricultural terraces that were used to conduct scientific experiments in Inca times (30 min).

Finish your tour with a visit to the small town of Chinchero, where the original upper village is an open-air museum. The small cobbled alleyways are lined with craft shops that seem to have been frozen in time. Follow the path that leads to an esplanade where a beautiful white church stands out against the background of the tall Andean mountains.

Overnight at your hotel in the Sacred Valley.

Your passport is required to enter the Machu Picchu site. You have the option to get a 'Machu Picchu' stamp in your passport if you wish.

Today might be THE day you have been expecting since you landed on Peruvian soil as you will finally discover the ancient citadel of Machu Picchu.

Transfer to Ollantaytambo train station (30 min).

Board the comfortable train that will take you to Aguas Calientes, the nearest town to Machu Picchu (1 hour 30 min).

In Aguas Calientes, walk from the train to the bus station (5 min) and hop on a bus to the entrance of the archaeological site.

Enjoy the impressive 20-minute drive up the hill to the Machu Picchu site at 7,972 feet (2430 m). Rediscovered in 1911 by the American archaeologist Hiram Bingham, Macchu Picchu is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Learn about every secret this ancient Inca citadel holds and grab every opportunity to take photographs (3 to 4 hours).

Take the bus back to Aguas Calientes (20 min) and board the train back to Ollantaytambo (1 hour 30 min).

Transfer to your hotel in Cusco (1 hour 30 min).

Overnight at your hotel in Cusco.

In the morning, you will meet your guide for a city tour of Cusco including the visit of the Plaza Mayor, the Cathedral and the Korikancha, the original Temple of the Sun.

Drive to the hills of Cusco to explore the archaeological sites of Sacsayhuaman.

Transfer back to your hotel or to the city centre (20 min).

Afternoon at leisure to explore the Spanish colonial city known to the Inca as the 'belly button of the world'.

Stroll around numerous plazas, shops selling incredible art and crafts or visit the great Pre-Columbian Museum MAP (not included).

Overnight at your hotel in Cusco.

In the morning, transfer to Cusco's airport for your flight back to Lima (1 hour 30 min).

Assistance in Lima for your international flight.