Cusco Charm Experience

Upon arrival at Cusco Airport, we will transfer you comfortably to your chosen hotel. A guide will accompany you, providing helpful information about the city’s attractions and assisting you throughout the transfer. Please ensure your domestic flight from Lima arrives no later than 10:30 am, as arrivals after noon are too late for the planned schedule. Once settled, you may choose to rest and recover from your journey or explore the city at your leisure to get your first impression of life in Peru. Alternatively, you can join our optional Half-Day South Valley Tour, departing at 1 pm. This private tour visits key sites between Cusco and Puno, including the archaeological site of Tipón with its remarkable Inca irrigation system, the well-preserved pre-Inca city of Pikillaqta, and the Church of Andahuaylillas, known as the ‘Sistine Chapel of America’, featuring an original Wari pipe organ. The tour lasts approximately four and a half hours and includes pick-up and drop-off, a bilingual guide, and admission fees. You will spend your first night in Cusco.

After breakfast, your guide will meet you in the hotel lobby at around 1 pm to begin a four-hour tour of Cusco, the former capital of the Inca Empire. We start with a visit to the Santo Domingo Convent, a grand Renaissance-Baroque complex built atop the Inca Coricancha temple. This temple was once one of the most important sites dedicated to sun worship, with its foundations still visible beneath the convent. Ancient accounts describe it as being covered in gold leaf and adorned with golden representations of nature. Next, we visit the Cathedral, the most prominent building on the Main Square. From there, we travel to the hills overlooking Cusco to explore the fortress of Sacsayhuamán, known for its massive stone walls and panoramic views of the city. Nearby, we visit the ruins of Qenqo, a temple and amphitheatre believed to have been used for agricultural rituals. Finally, we stop at Puka Pukara, or ‘Red Fortress’ in Quechua, an Inca military complex featuring dwellings, baths, aqueducts, walls and towers that remain well preserved. We return to your hotel at approximately 5.30 pm for an overnight stay in Cusco.

After an early breakfast, we will collect you from your hotel at around 4.30 am – the exact time will be confirmed the day before. You will be transferred to Ollantaytambo train station for a scenic one-and-a-half-hour journey to Aguas Calientes, also known as Machu Picchu Pueblo. Upon arrival, we will take a 25-minute bus ride up to Machu Picchu, the renowned Inca citadel believed to have been built around 1450 as a royal retreat for Emperor Pachacútec. Abandoned just over a century later, its stone structures were reclaimed by the jungle until its rediscovery in 1911. During a 2.5-hour guided tour, we will explore the site’s most significant monuments and learn about its history. After the tour, you will return by bus to Aguas Calientes for lunch at your leisure. In the late afternoon, we will board the train back to Ollantaytambo and transfer you to your hotel in Cusco for an overnight stay.

After breakfast, we will transfer you to Cusco’s Alejandro Velasco Astete Airport for your flight to Lima. This marks the end of your journey through Peru, and we trust the rich culture and history you’ve experienced here will remain with you long after you leave.