Peru: Machu Picchu & the Amazon

Arrive in Lima, where you are met and transferred to your hotel.

Set out for a guided visit to a market to learn about the products used locally for Peruvian cuisine. Continue by bike, stopping along the way for juice and a Peruvian lunch at a local restaurant. After lunch, return to the hotel by bike or car, enjoying time to freshen up and rest. This afternoon, embark on a colonial city tour, starting in the historical center of Lima, visiting Casa de Aliaga and Santo Domingo Convent. Stop at a chocolate shop for a brief explanation on the importance of chocolate and coffee production in the Amazon region. Tonight, gather for a welcome dinner at a top-flight local restaurant.

Fly to Cusco, arriving in time for lunch. Head out for the Sacred Valley, stopping en route at a center devoted to caring for South American camelids, such as llamas, guanacos and alpacas. Arrive at your hotel and enjoy an afternoon at leisure to acclimatize. This evening, dine at your hotel’s restaurant.

Begin your day with a refreshing light trek — escorted by llamas — on a trail that overlooks a lake, and then proceed to a village in the Sacred Valley to meet with members of the local community. Stop for a delicious picnic lunch before enjoying an afternoon at leisure capped off by a Scenic Sundowner. Tonight, dine at your hotel.

Start the day by exploring Ollantaytambo, a fortress of massive stone terraces that hug the mountain slopes and the site of the Incas’ greatest victory over the invading Spanish. Then, journey by Inca Rail First-Class Train deep into the Andes toward Machu Picchu gazing out at the spectacular Peruvian countryside. Upon arrival, transfer up to Machu Picchu and check into the only hotel on site, situated just steps from the Incan citadel. This afternoon, explore the ruins with your expert guide and, as you wander amid the age-old stone walls, picture life as it might have been in this majestic citadel. Alternatively (for an additional cost), you may opt to hike the Inca Trail en route. Depart early, forgoing the visit to Ollantaytambo, boarding a many-windowed Vistadome Train for the same scenic ride, but with a twist: disembark at KM 104 and set out with a guide on a hike that culminates at the Sun Gate (Inti Punku), looking out over the vast UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Rise with the sun to walk through Machu Picchu in the early morning mist before the crowds arrive, an experience some consider the spiritual highlight of the journey. Overlooking the Urubamba River, Machu Picchu was built in the 15th century at the height of the Inca Empire. Although this “Lost City” was revealed to the rest of the world by American historian Hiram Bingham in 1911, its location was long known to locals. Its original purpose, however, remains a matter of some conjecture, as the Incas left no written records. Enjoy lunch before returning to Ollantaytambo by Vistadome Train. Continue to Cusco.

Discover Cusco on a city tour that includes the remnants of Korikancha, once a major Incan religious center, as well as the Cathedral on the Plaza de Armas and the Santo Domingo Temple. Listen as a local expert explains how the historic clashes between the Incas and the Spanish played a role in forming today’s Peruvian culture. Later, visit the well-preserved ruins of Sacsayhuaman, an imposing fortress compiled from colossal stones. Later, enjoy time at leisure to rest or shop. This evening, dine at an elegant Cusco restaurant, where the chef gathers local ingredients for use in innovative recipes that honor Peru’s culinary traditions.

Experience Cusco your way, enjoying one of these Design Your Day activities. Visit the San Blas Neighborhood, a unique, bohemian enclave where you visit the workshops of artisans. Stroll San Pedro Market and Visit the Inca Museum, first tasting local fruits and cheese and glimpsing daily life, and then looking back into Peru’s rich history. Explore with an Expert Photographer who helps you refine your skills and capture Cusco as a local sees it, including its narrow streets and beautiful houses. Later this afternoon, depart for Lima. Enjoy dinner at the hotel before you retire early to rest up for the next leg of the adventure.

Today, fly to Iquitos. Upon arrival, journey overland into the Peruvian countryside en route to remote Nauta, a village set on the banks of the Marañón River, one of the Amazon’s three main tributaries. Begin your four-night river-cruise adventure, embarking elegant Pure Amazon, A&K’s all-new boutique riverboat offering an intimate and exclusive experience. Designed for sustainable exploration and authentic cultural immersion it features panoramic floor-to-ceiling windows for superb wildlife viewing and a staff-to-guest ratio of over 1:1, ensuring exceptional, personalized attention. Settle into your spacious suite before meeting the expert naturalist guides who accompany your expedition. This evening, gather for dinner featuring innovative Amazonian cuisine.

In this paradise for birders, where vibrantly colored macaws may be seen gliding overhead, start your day at dawn’s first light on an expert-led birding excursion. View any of the hundreds of amphibians, reptiles and mammals that call the Amazon home as well, including frogs, bats, iguanas and insects. Return to your ship for lunch and an exclusive midday lecture from one of the local experts travelling by your side. This evening, as the equatorial sun dips behind the treetops, you may opt to set out by skiff for a night safari, watching as your guide shines a light over the ink-black water to reveal the glowing yellow eyes of dozens of caimans and other nocturnal river dwellers.

Devote your day cruising along the Pacaya River aboard a skiff for up-close looks at shoreline flora and fauna, and be sure to scan the forest canopy for long-limbed spider monkeys or an endearingly slow-moving sloth.

A new day along the ever-changing river brings with it new possibilities. This may be the day you spot the Amazon’s fabled pink dolphins or go ashore to visit the residents of a local village to learn about daily life deep in the Amazon. Back on your vessel, enjoy lunch before heading out on another river foray or fish for piranha from a skiff, catching (and carefully releasing) this tenacious species. Later, gather for a chat with the your vessel’s expert guides who recount stories of life in the Amazon, followed by a farewell dinner on board.

Disembark Pure Amazon in Nauta and return to Iquitos to immerse yourself in everyday local life with a visit to a lively neighborhood market with freshly harvested bounty from the surrounding forest is on display as well as the Museum of Indigenous Amazonian Cultures. Fly to Lima, where you enjoy the use of a dayroom until privately transferring to the airport for your departing flight.