10-Day Peru Cultural Tour: Lima, Cusco & Lake Titicaca

Today’s Highlight: Touch down in Peru and settle into one of Lima’s most vibrant neighborhoods, ready for the adventure ahead.

Welcome to Peru. Upon arrival at Jorge Chávez International Airport, our team will be waiting to greet you and transfer you comfortably to your hotel in Miraflores or Barranco, two of Lima’s most lively and walkable districts. The rest of the day is yours to settle in, take a first stroll along the Pacific cliffs, and begin to feel the pulse of South America’s culinary capital.

Overnight in Lima

Optional: Add our Lima half-day city tour and explore the city’s beautiful neighborhoods, local markets and more.

Today’s Highlight: Discover why Lima has become one of the world’s great food cities, with a guided tour that blends colonial history and unforgettable flavors.

Start your morning with a guided city tour through Lima’s historic center, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Walk the grand Plaza Mayor, visit the ornate Cathedral, and explore the baroque architecture of the old colonial quarter.

In the afternoon, the city shifts into its true identity: the kitchen of South America. Your culinary tour takes you through local markets, past street food stalls, and into one of Lima’s celebrated restaurants, where Peruvian cuisine, from ceviche to causa to pisco sour, reveals its extraordinary depth.

Breakfast & Lunch included.

Overnight in Lima

Today’s Highlight: Trade the Pacific coast for the Andean highlands and ease into Inca culture with a stop at Pisac or Awanakancha.

An early flight brings you to Cusco (11,150 ft.). Rather than heading into the city straight away, we transfer you directly to the Sacred Valley, lower in altitude and perfect for acclimatization.
Along the way, stop at the colorful Pisac market and ruins, or visit Awanakancha, a working alpaca farm where you can meet the animals and watch master weavers at work before settling into your valley hotel.

Breakfast & Lunch included.

Overnight in Sacred Valley

Today’s Highlight: Ancient engineering, a surreal salt landscape, and an afternoon with an Andean family who still lives by the old ways.

Visit Moray, the Inca’s remarkable circular agricultural terraces, designed as an open-air laboratory using altitude to create different micro-climates. Continue to the Maras salt mines, where thousands of terraced pools have been harvesting mineral-rich spring water since pre-Inca times.

The afternoon takes you into a local Andean community to learn traditional weaving and farming techniques, before sitting down to a delicious lunch in the valley.

Breakfast & Lunch included.

Overnight in Sacred Valley

Today’s Highlight: The Inca’s best-preserved town, a feast cooked underground, and an evening train ride into the mountains.

Explore Ollantaytambo, the most intact example of Inca urban planning still standing, with dramatic fortress terraces and original stone streets.

Then experience a traditional Pachamanca feast: marinated meats and vegetables slow-cooked in an earth oven with hot volcanic stones, just as Andean communities have done for over 1,000 years.
In the late afternoon, board the scenic train to Aguas Calientes as the valley narrows and the mountains rise around you.

Breakfast & Lunch included.

Overnight in Aguas Calientes

Today’s Highlight: Machu Picchu at its most peaceful early entry, expert guiding, and the citadel before the crowds arrive.

Rise early for a reason. Arriving at Machu Picchu before the day-trippers transforms the experience, morning mist, golden light, and the ruins almost to yourself. Your licensed guide will connect the architecture, astronomy, and Inca history in a tour that makes the site feel alive.

After time to explore at your own pace, descend to Aguas Calientes and board the train back to Cusco for the night.

Breakfast & Lunch included.

Overnight in Cusco

Today’s Highlight: Two civilizations layered on top of each other and the extraordinary story of how they coexist.

Cusco is a living museum. Your guided tour takes in Koricancha the Inca Temple of the Sun, with its perfectly fitted stonework still visible beneath a Spanish colonial church, the vibrant Plaza de Armas, and the monumental ruins of Sacsayhuamán overlooking the city.
Between sites, Cusco’s streets offer excellent craft markets and some of Peru’s best coffee. The afternoon is free to explore on your own.

Breakfast & Lunch included.

Overnight in Cusco

Today’s Highlight: Cross the vast Altiplano and arrive at the world’s highest navigable lake as the sun sets over the water.

Travel from Cusco to Puno (12,565 ft.) by scenic train or private transfer, passing through the open grasslands and volcanic peaks of the high Altiplano one of the most otherworldly stretches of landscape in South America.

Arrive in Puno in the late afternoon, check into your hotel overlooking the lake, and prepare for a remarkable day on the water tomorrow.

Breakfast included.

Overnight in Puno

Today’s Highlight: Walk on islands made of reeds, meet the families who built them, and climb to a hilltop view over an impossibly blue lake.

Board a boat for the Uros Islands entirely man-made floating platforms constructed from totora reeds, where the Uros people have maintained their unique way of life for generations. Spend time with local families, learn how the islands are built and maintained, then continue to Taquile Island.

This UNESCO-recognized community has preserved its textile traditions so completely that their weaving techniques are listed as Intangible Cultural Heritage. Hike to the hilltop plaza for panoramic lake views and enjoy a traditional lunch before heading back to Puno.

Breakfast & Lunch included.

Overnight in Puno