From

$748

Ica & Cusco 9 days / 8 nights

HIGHLIGHTS : Lima Pachacamac Ica Islas Ballestas Huacachina Cusco Sacred Valley Aguas Calientes Machupicchu Maras – Moray Vinincunca Raimbow Mountain.

Overview

  • Day 1 : Arrive in Lima.
  • Day 2 : City tour & Pachacamac.
  • Day 3 : Lima – Ica / Islas Ballestas + Huacachina.
  • Day 4 : Lima - Cusco / PM City tour.
  • Day 5 : Sacred Valley of the Incas – Aguas Calientes.
  • Day 6 : Machupicchu – Cusco.
  • Day 7 : Maras – Moray.
  • Day 8 : Rainbow Mountain.
  • Day 9 : Cusco - Lima

Itinerary

Day 1

Arrive in Lima.

Arrive in Lima. Upon arrival at the Lima airport you will be met and transferred to your hotel. The rest of the morning will be at your leisure.


Include: Transport airport – hotel, chosen hotel.

Day 2

City tour & Pachacamac.

City tour & Pachacamac. In the morning you will be picked up from your hotel to start a full day tour. You will start the tour taking you through Lima in its 3 historical periods: Pre-hispanic, Colonial and Modern. We will first show you a panoramic view of “La Huaca Pucllana”, and then you will visit the impressive historical downtown of Lima: Its palaces, mansions, churches and squares, ending with a visit to the residential district of San Isidro and an unforgettable view of the Pacific Ocean from the district of Miraflores. This tour includes the admission to the BCR* Museum and the Complejo Monumental San Francisco and its Catacombs. After lunch, you will visit the Sanctuary of God Pachacamac. An archaeological site located 31 kilometers from Lima it is made up of pyramids and temples which date back to 200 - 300 BC. Wander through the grounds and marvel at the Sun God shrine and the Palace of the Chosen Women. *BCR - Museum of the Central Reserve Bank, closed to the public Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Monday closed all day.


Include: Transport, professional tour guide, entrance fees to all sites visited, lunch, chosen hotel.

Day 3

Lima – Ica / Islas Ballestas + Huacachina.

Lima – Ica / Islas Ballestas + Huacachina. Very early in the morning (03:00 am) pick up from your hotel and transfer to the bus station to board your bus to the city of Paracas. Upon arrival one of our representatives will be waiting for you to start the tour to the Ballestas Islands. Ballestas Islands is an important sanctuary for marine life and made possible by the Humboldt Current. Here you’ll see and hear raucous sea lions, fur seals, Humboldt Penguins, guano birds, and possibly even Green Sea Turtles and dolphins. On the way to the islands, you’ll also see the Candelabro, a nearly 595-foot (181-meter) long, candlestick-shaped symbol etched into the side of a hill that can be seen from the sea. Some experts believe it may have served as a navigational guide for ancient sailors and was based on the constellation of the Southern Cross. Others believe that it was somehow related to the Nazca Lines. Still others believe it to have been inspired by a local cactus with hallucinogenic properties! During the tour, you can get up close and personal with marine birds and sea lions. Some of the unique bird species you might see include the Humboldt Penguin and the Peruvian Booby which only live along the Humboldt Current, as well as the Guanay Cormorant and the Red-legged Cormorant. Depending on the season, you’ll see sea lions playing with their young or simply frolicking on the rocks. After your boat excursion, (approx. 10:00am) we will back to Pisco pier where our transport will be waiting to take us to the city of Ica Upon arrival one of our representatives will be waiting to start the city tour in Ica. We will begin the tour with a visit to the main square located in the center of the city, the oldest area of ​​the capital of this department, in this place we can appreciate the cathedral and its surroundings; later we will visit a wine cellar (industrial & artisanal) where our national drink, the Peruvian Pisco, is made. In this place our local guide will take us on a tour of the winery's facilities and explain about the old method of making Pisco and wine. After the tour you can taste the different varieties of pisco and wine produced by this winery, and if you wish you can also buy bottles of Pisco. Finally, we will go to the Huacachina Oasis, which is located just 5 km from the city center. In this beautiful lagoon visitors can enjoy the tranquility of the place and walk around in search of good photos. The huge dunes that surround the lagoon allow visitors to practice one of the most fascinating sports in the area, board on sand, popularly called sandboarding and the tour in the buggies or tubular. Return to the city of Ica where you will take the bus back to Lima. Upon arrival at the Lima bus station, one of our representatives will be waiting to transport you to the selected hotel.


Include: Transfer hotel – bus station – hotel, bus ticket Lima – Paracas, professional tour guide, entrance fees to all sites visited, transfer Paracas – Ica, bus ticket Ica - Lima, chosen hotel.

Day 4

Lima - Cusco / PM City tour.

Lima - Cusco / PM City tour. In the morning you will be collected from your hotel and transferred to the airport for your flight to Cusco. Upon arrival at the Cusco airport you will be met and transferred to your hotel. The rest of the morning will be at your leisure. In the afternoon enjoy a half day tour of Cusco, visiting the Cathedral on the Plaza de Armas and the legendary Qoricancha, the most important religious center in the Inca time, a temple devoted to worshiping the Sun deity. Your tour includes also the visit to some nearby archaeological sites such as the impressive fortress of Sacsayhuaman; the religious site of Q’enqo; the ancient site of Puca Pucara and finally the water temple of Tambomachay.


Include: Transport, professional tour guide, entrance fees to all sites visited, chosen hotel.

Day 5

Sacred Valley of the Incas – Aguas Calientes.

Sacred Valley of the Incas – Aguas Calientes. Today you will enjoy a full day tour to explore the Sacred Valley of the Incas. This fertile river valley was home to many important sites for the Incas, both strategic and religious. The first stop is the village of Pisaq, with its famous market. In the market comes alive with locals from nearby hillside villages in traditional dress selling local fruit and vegetables as well as handicrafts. There is free time to wander the colorful market stalls before to visit the spectacular Pisaq Ruins – a hilltop Inca citadel and fortress with impressive agricultural terracing. Afterwards, you will enjoy a delicious buffet lunch in a local restaurant in Urubamba. Following, you will visit Ollantaytambo, an Incan military, religious, administrative and agricultural center located at the top of a mountain. Unlike other small towns, this one has maintained its original Incan design, featuring stone buildings and narrow streets. In the late afternoon, you will board the train to Aguas Calientes. Upon arrival in the train station, you will be met and transferred to your hotel.


Include: Transport, professional tour guide, entrance fees to all sites visited, buffet lunch, train ticket Ollantaytambo – Aguas Calientes (Expedition or Voyager), chosen hotel.

Day 6

Machupicchu – Cusco.

Machupicchu – Cusco. This day early in the morning you will ride up a 30-minute bus to the secluded citadel, which is surrounded by a cloud forest inhabited by orchids and hummingbirds. In Machupicchu you will enjoy a guided visit to the greatest ruin in the world, the lost city of Machu Picchu. This is one of the architectural and engineering marvels of the ancient world, in a mountain setting of staggering immensity. The Spaniards never found it; the Incas left no records about it, so Machu Picchu remains a great enigma, a city lost for centuries in the cloud forest. Afterwards the guided tour, you will have free time for the many spectacular walks including following the path to the Inca bridge, the Sun Gate or even climb to Huaynapicchu mountain. In the late afternoon, you will board the train to return to Cusco. Upon arrival in the train station, you will be met and transferred to your hotel.


Include: Bus ticket Aguas Calientes – Machupicchu – Aguas Calientes, entrance ticket to Machupicchu, professional tour guide, train ticket Aguas Calientes – Ollantaytambo (Expedition or Voyager), transport Ollantaytambo – Cusco, chosen hotel.

Important: The train considered in the program is tourist class: Expedition (Peru Rail) or Voyager (Inca Rail). If you prefer a first class train (vistadome), please make an inquiry for the additional cost.

Day 7

Maras – Moray.

Maras – Moray. In the morning (08:00am) you will be picked up from your hotel to start a half day tour, you will head out on the road that crosses the Sacred Valley of the Incas to reach the important Moray archeological site (3176m/10419ft), where enormous circular and Pre-Incan semi-circular agricultural terraces were constructed to be used as a botanical laboratory for experimenting on plant domestication and foreign crop acclimatization. The area is so large that at least 3000 plant varieties, including potatoes and corn, could have been grown. Next, Maras is located about 4 km from Moray, and is the site of pre-Inca Salineras (salt ponds). Each terraced pond is polygonal in shape; salty water emerges from an underground spring, flows into the ponds, and evaporates with the sun. The Maras’ salt mines are still active today and maintained cooperatively by the Maras community. The white salt ponds contrast with the green hills and mountains that surround the mines and the views of the Sacred Valley from here are amazing. The tour will end in the early afternoon at your Cusco’s down town.


Include: Transport, professional tour guide, entrance fees to all sites visited, chosen hotel.

Day 8

Rainbow Mountain.

Rainbow Mountain. Very early in the morning (approx. 4:15 am) we will pass by your hotel in our private transport, then we will leave the city of Cusco towards the south valley, after traveling approximately 2 hours we will arrive at the Cusipata sector (Paucarpata), where we will enjoy a delicious breakfast (scrambled eggs, cheese, ham, fruit salad, hot drinks etc). After breakfast we will continue for approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes more until we reach the checkpoint, it is there that we will begin our walk. Previously, our guide will give us the instructions and recommendations of the route to finally begin. The walk will take approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes until you reach Vinincunca or The Rainbow Mountain (5,020 m / 16,466 ft.). On the way we will observe a large number of llamas and alpacas that are in the care of shepherds dressed in beautiful colorful costumes. Similarly along the way we can see snowy peaks that are part of the slope of the Andes Mountains, among which the Apu Ausangate (sacred mountain) stands out one of the highest mountains in southern Peru; almost upon reaching the top we will observe the change of landscape, at which point we can appreciate the mountain range of Vinincunca or Rainbow Mountain, reaching this point between 10:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Here our guide will explain us in detail aspects about the orography, ecosystem and color of the mountain, we will also have time for the most beautiful photos of the mountain of 7 colors, after a little free time we will take the way back to Llaqto, where our vehicle will be waiting. We will continue the return to the Cusipata sector where we will have our delicious buffet lunch. Finally, we will take the return route to the City of Cusco arriving at approximately 05:00 pm.


Include: Transport, professional tour guide, entrance fees to all sites visited, breakfast, lunch, chosen hotel.

Day 9

Cusco - Lima

You will be collected from your hotel and transferred to the airport for your flight to Lima or your next destination.


Include: Transport hotel – airport.

End of our services.

PRICES

PRICE PER PERSON - ONLY TOURS: US$ 748.00*

(*) In this option, the price includes only TOURS, the client books the hotels on his/her own.

 

PRICE PER PERSON TOURS + HOTELS **

(**) In this option, prices include TOURS + HOTELS, the price depends of hotel’s category and type of chosen room.

RATES 2020

LIMA//CUSCO//MACHUPICCHU

*

SINGLE

DOUBLE

TRIPLE

JOSE LUIS HS//ANDEAN HOME HS//SOL DE LOS ANDES HS

2

$1,058.00

$930.00

$902.00

MIRAMAR//AMARU HS//MANTU BOUTIQUE

3

$1,234.00

$1,042.00

$995.00

MIRAMAR//ARCANGEL//FLOWERS HOUSE

2

$1,305.00

$1,087.00

$1,026.00

CARMENL//SAN AGUSTIN INTERNACIONAL//WAMAN HOTEL

3

$1,408.00

$1,109.00

$1,048.00

TIERRA VIVA//ANDENES AL CIELO//LA CABAÑA

3

$1,579.00

$1,215.00

$1,172.00

TIERRA VIVA//TIERRA VIVA//TIERRA VIVA

3

$1,605.00

$1,222.00

$1,211.00

PRICES PER PERSON IN US DOLLARS

 

  • Single: A room with one individual bed (01 person)
  • Double:  A room with two individual beds or one matrimonial bed (02 people)
  • Triple: A room with three individual beds (03 people)

Example: If you choose the option with JOSE LUIS HS//ANDEAN HOME HS//SOL DE LOS ANDES HS:

• If you are 1 person, the type of accommodation would be a single or individual room, in which case the price would be US$1058.00 for tours and hotel.

• If you are 2 people, the type of accommodation would be a double or matrimonial room, in which case the price per person would be US$930.00, the total price for the 2 people would be US$1860.00 for tours and hotel.

• If you are 3 people, the type of accommodation would be a triple room, in which case the price per person would be US$902.00, the total price for the 3 people would be US$2706.00 for tours and hotel.

PRICE INFORMATION

  • Prices based on two people at least. There is an additional cost for single travelers. Please make an inquiry about it.
  • Prices based in group service. If you prefer a private service, please make an inquiry about it
  • Discounts will be applied for students who have their current student card (2020), under 18 y.o and for passengers belonging to the Andean Community of Nations (Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia). Please make an inquiry to access discounts.

IMPORTANT

  • Entrance ticket to Machupicchu: The entrance ticket to Machupicchu considered in the program, is for the citadel only, not include the entrance to the mountains like Huaynapicchu or Montaña. Please make an inquiry for the additional cost of each of them.
  • Hotels: Should there be no availability at the booking time at the chosen hotel, another option of similar category and cost will be provided.
  • Trains: Train tickets are subject to availability. Should there be no spaces at the booking time on the scheduled train and route, available options will be provided with the new prices and schedules.

NOT INCLUDED

  • International and domestic air tickets (*).
  • Airport taxes or visa fees.
  • Excess baggage charges.
  • Additional nights during the trip due to flight cancellations
  • Alcoholic beverages or bottled water.
  • Meals not specified in the program.
  • Snacks.
  • Insurance of any kind.
  • Laundry.
  • Phone calls, radio calls or messages.
  • Other items of personal nature.
  • Tips
  • Extra expenses originated in itinerary changes or others due to force majeure or other circumstances beyond PERU ANDEAN EXPLORER’S control.

(*) Before buying your domestic air tickets, please let us know your schedules to avoid changes in your itinerary.

OPTIONAL SERVICES

  • Entrance ticket to Machupicchu + Huaynapicchu: US$ 20.00 per person.
  • Entrance ticket to Machupicchu + Montaña: US$ 20.00 per person.
  • Dinner show buffet in Cusco (Don Antonio): US$ 25.00 per person.
  • Upgrade to vistadome train: US$60.00 per person.
  • Buffet lunch in Aguas Calientes (Totos House): US$ 28.00 per person.
  • Buffet lunch in Machupicchu (Sanctuary Lodge): US$ 40.00 per person.

FLIGHT TICKETS 

  • International flights from/to your country and domestic flights. Please contact us to check our fares.

 WHAT WE RECOMMEND THAT YOU BRING

  • Clothing: long trousers, shorts (Machupicchu visit), long and short-sleeved T-shirts or shirts, cotton socks, warm clothes for Cusco, especially at night.
  • Rain gear or poncho (you can buy a basic one in Cusco), especially if visiting in the months November to April
  • Comfortable footwear, trekking boots recommended
  • Camera, films (ASA 50, 100 and 200 recommended)
  • Hat or cap to protect you from the sun, cold and rain
  • Sun block (high factor)
  • Sunglasses
  • After-sun cream or hydrating cream for face and body
  • Insect repellent - minimum recommended 20% DEET - no malaria risk has been reported
  • Personal toiletries and medications
  • Non-disposable canteen (Nalgene type) or water bottle to carry water on outings
  • Cash in soles and/or US$ for extras (souvenirs, beverages, etc)
  • Original passport and passport photocopies*

(*) According to the Peruvian government policies, the passport must be valid at least up to 6 months after the end date of the tours. Otherwise you could not board your international flight. Please check the expiration date of your passport before buying your international national flight tickets.

Ica & Cusco 9 days / 8 nights

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