Itinerary
After you arrive in Lima, pass through immigration, retrieve your luggage and clear customs, exit the terminal where your driver will be waiting with our Blue & Gold ILE Tours sign. Private transfer to Miraflores hotel (1 hr) for hotel check in. Miraflores is an upscale neighborhood overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Larcomar Oceanside Mall is south on Ave Larco a few blocks and Kennedy Park is north a few blocks from your hotel. Please Be Careful Crossing ALL Streets. Look every way. Traffic, stop light intersections, buses, taxis and bike lanes with bicycles, motos, scooters and silent electric vehicles. Overnight Lima.
At the designated time you will be met in your hotel lobby and taken on a city tour of Lima. Visit Main Square and San Francisco Convent & catacombs which is a sprawling monastery complex containing cloisters, convent, temple, 2 churches, library, tomb of Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro & catacombs. Completed in 1674. This is a meandering, thoughtful tour to enjoy frescoes on hallway walls, sculptures and history. LOW CEILINGS! DARK CATACOMBS! WALK SLOWLY, DON'T BANG YOUR HEAD IN LOW DOORWAYS, ARCHWAYS & LOW CEILINGS.
Next visit Museo Larco. It is a privately owned museum housed in a lovely 18th century viceroyalty mansion with gardens built over a 7th-century pre-Columbian pyramid. It contains over 5000 years of history and pre-Columbian art in chronologically laid out galleries showcasing ancient culture, textiles, sacrifices, erotic pottery, ceremonial vessels, warfare, ancestry, gold, jewelry, art and sculpture from all Peru. Museo Larco offers a thorough and enjoyable, not boring, overview of 5000 years of history. There is a truly staggering collection with rooms of shelves and shelves of pottery depicting animals, birds, fish, plants, human faces, many with ailments, deformities, medical conditions for medical education that encompass much of the human condition. You will return to your hotel after the tour. Overnight Lima. (B)
Hotel greeting and private transfer to the LIM airport 3 hrs before your flight to Cusco (1hr) departs. Cusco airport greeting and private transfer to your downtown hotel (15 min). Rest, breath thoughtfully, eat lightly, do not exert yourself and drink the complimentary coca tea provided by your hotel your first day in Cusco to acclimate to the elevation (11,000 ft). Rest and you can take a walk in the evening. Eat only light soups this evening and you will be glad you did. Overnight Cusco. (B)
At 9AM, after breakfast, you will be greeted in your Cusco hotel and driven NE out of Cusco to Pisaq. First stop to feed the alpacas, llamas and vicunas. 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. Be at the Ollantaytambo train station 30 min before your train to Aguas Calientes departs. Calm 90 min train through the valley to Aguas Calientes where you will be met and escorted (walk) to your hotel. Guide will meet you in your hotel lobby at 7PM to discuss the plan to visit Machu PIcchu tomorrow morning. Overnight Aguas Calientes. (B,L)
After breakfast check out and store your back packs with your hotel. Your guide will meet you at 07:00 to take one of the continuously running buses up to Machu Picchu's entrance (20 min). Buses go up & down continuously and only stop at the top and bottom. Machu Picchu’s 3 three primary structures are the Intihuatana, the Temple of the Sun, and the Room of the Three Windows. When finished take one of the continuous running buses 20 min back down to Aguas Calientes, retrieve your backpacks from your hotel and be at the Aguas Calientes train station at least 30 minutes before your departing train / van to Cusco. In Cusco you will be taken to your hotel. Overnight Cusco. (B)
At the designated time you will be met in your hotel by your guide & driver and taken to enjoy a 3-4 hr tour of Cusco and surrounding important sites. Visit Koricancha, The Temple of the Sun near the center of Cusco. Koricancha is an architectural marvel since it was built with ashlar masonry, which is composed of similarly sized cuboid stones. Now Koricancha is the foundation of the Santa Domingo Church. Next drive north of Cusco for 15 minutes to the magnificent site of Sacsayhuaman. Its huge monolithic stones were perfectly cut and fit together without the use of mortar. Next drive to nearby Q’enqo – a small cave-like structure used in Inca ceremonies. 10 minutes further north stop at Puca Pucara, a small fortress and resting place. Finally, visit the fountains and canals at Tambomachay. All of these sites are near each other. After completion of the tour you will be returned to your hotel before sundown. Overnight Cusco. (B)
Hotel greeting and private transfer to the Cusco airport 2.5 hrs before your domestic return flight to Lima departs. Be sure to leave nothing behind in your Cusco hotel. You will not be met in LIM. SImply proceed to the car counters and the Taxi Directo sign. Ask for the shuttle to the Holiday Inn which is 4 min away. Once in the hotel, arrange for your return shuttle for the following morning at 06:45 with the front desk. Overnight Lima. (B)
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