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Adventure Travel in Peru

When To Go Climate Our Hotels in Peru Peru Travel Facts Air Travel Travelers' Health Passports & Visas Map of Peru Trekking in Peru Machu Picchu Inti Raymi Festival Why Go with WT? Mystical Inca citadels, breathtaking snowcapped mountains, and a vibrant traditional culture are only a few reasons why Peru has been a prime adventure destination for Wilderness Travel for 30 years. Join us to trek the Inca Trail, experience Machu Picchu, trek the Cordillera Huayhuash, visit Lake Titicaca, or enjoy an in-depth cultural journey into the world of the Incas. All our Peru journeys feature an overnight at the Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge, the only hotel right at the ruin, for a chance to experience this bewitching sanctuary without the crowds and to behold a golden sunrise over the temples.

see other trips in Latin America :
Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico  

When to Go

Peru's main season is May to August, but trekking the Inca Trail can be enjoyed from April well into December. In the spring and fall months, there are fewer trekkers on the Inca Trail. May through August is the optimal season for high-altitude treks. The cultural and archaeological wonders of Peru can be enjoyed year-round. The major Inca festival called Inti Raymi is held in June in Cusco.

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Climate

Peru is one of South America's larger countries and is unique in its wide range of ecosystems, from vast high deserts to 22,000-foot snow-capped peaks to huge stretches of misty, tropical Amazon jungle.

Peru has three main climate zones: the coast, the jungle, and the mountains. There are two main climate seasons: a dry season from April to October, and a wet season from November to March. There is of course some rain during the dry season, but much less. In the mountains during the April to October season, the countryside is green and lush, the skies are often blue and sunny, and the mountain vistas are at their clearest and most magnificent.

In Cusco and the mountain zone, you'll encounter warm, sunny days with daytime temperatures ranging between 65 and 75 degrees. The sun is very strong at high altitude and it can often be warm enough to wear shorts and a t-shirt. However, it can also get extremely cold; if you're familiar with mountain weather, you know how suddenly it can get cold even in the daytime if the sun slips behind a cloud. Nighttime temperatures often drop to below freezing. Rain should not be a problem, but keep in mind that mountain weather is unpredictable and sudden storms can occur. The best preparation for the climate of the high Andes is to dress in layers.

Lima and Paracas lie in a coastal desert where rainfall is rare and temperatures are usually warm (70s and 80s). In Lima, days are overcast most of the year due to the Humboldt current which comes up from Antarctica and meets the warm, tropical El Nino current from the north to create the garua, or coastal fog/mist.

The climate in the Amazon Basin is generally warm and humid throughout the year but can also be unexpectedly cool (usually 60s) due to the breezes that blow down from the Andes.

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Our Hotels in Peru

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Peru Travel Facts

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Air Travel to Peru

The airlines listed below have direct flights from the US to Peru. Flying time from Miami to Lima is three hours. International Airport Codes: Cusco (CUZ), Lima (LIM)

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Travelers' Health

No inoculations are currently required for entry to Peru. Tetanus, typhoid, and yellow fever vaccines are sensible precautions. The hepatitis A vaccine is worthwhile if you travel regularly to developing countries. Travelers planning to visit the Amazon region must take antimalarial medication. Altitude is a concern for travelers; rest and drink fluids on your first day of arrival at high altitude (Cusco). Check the Centers for Disease Control for the latest updates: www.cdc.gov/travel/index.htm

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Passports & Visas

Travelers to Peru need a passport, valid for six months after your date of exit from the country. US citizens do not need a visa for Peru. If you are a citizen of any country other than the US, check with a consulate for entry requirements.

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Map of Peru

Please click on the map to view a larger version

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Trekking in Peru

Peru boasts mountain grandeur on a Himalayan scale and a vast network of Inca trails that bring you deep into magnificent mountain realms. In southern Peru, the Cordillera Vilcabamba is famed for the haunting Inca fortresses tucked among its rugged crags while the Cordillera Vilcanota, with sacred Mt. Ausangate as its crown jewel, offers a remote world of tumbling glaciers, turquoise lakes, and traditional highland villages. In northern Peru, the Cordillera Blanca is one of the greatest mountain ranges on earth, where 33 peaks top 19,600 feet and massive Huascaran (22,204'), Peru's highest, tops them all. The neighboring Cordillera Huayhuash is renowned for knife-edged 20,000-foot peaks and jewel-like lakes nestled in immense mountain cirques. We offer spectacular trekking journeys in all four of these ranges.

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Machu Picchu

On July 24, 1911, Hiram Bingham, a young American historian from Yale and leader of the Yale Peruvian Expedition, made one of the most astounding discoveries in archaeological history. Professor Bingham and his team had come to Peru in search of Vilcabamba, the Incas' last refuge from the Conquistadores. One day while his teammates stayed in camp by the Urubamba River, Bingham embarked on a solo excursion with a local farmer, following up on a rumor of stone walls said by other local men to exist on a remote ridgetop. Bingham and his companion reached the ridge by way of a dangerous river crossing and a grueling ascent of a jungled spur 1,500 feet above the Urubamba River: they were rewarded for their efforts by finding the most remarkable Inca citadel of them all, so successfully hidden among the granite canyons of the Cordillera Vilcabamba that the Spanish never knew of it. Bingham’s discovery ultimately inspired a whole new generation of archaeologists, not to mention countless treasure hunters. He returned to Peru on subsequent expeditions, sponsored by Yale University and the National Geographic Society, to undertake the difficult task of clearing the dense forest that had engulfed the sanctuary. Bingham later went on to discover more Inca ruins, including Vitcos and Vilcabamba, last strongholds of Manco Inca and his sons, and the major Inca highway that we now know as The Inca Trail.

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Inti Raymi Festival

Inti Raymi is the annual Inca Festival of the Sun, held in June, with colorful celebrations at the spectacular Inca fortress of Sacsayhuaman above the Inca capital of Cusco. Processions, music, dancers and many colorful costumes highlight this observation of the "return of the sun." South of the equator, this date follows the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, and according to Inca traditions the sun will return at the behest of the Inca high priest/emperors to make the days longer, and to make crucial planting and harvesting possible.

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Why Go With WT?

Wilderness Travel's 30 years of experience in Peru means you enjoy the finest and most experienced Trip Leaders, a wide array of camp amenities and delicious camp cuisine, plus the top hotels—the Monasterio in Cusco and the Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge at Machu Picchu. As one of our trip members recently reported, "we stayed at the best hotels, ate at the best restaurants, had an excellent camp staff and incredible food on the trail—you put a great deal of thought into the details and it showed."

On a typical trek day with Wilderness Travel, our camp staff brings a hot cup of tea or coffee and a basin of warm washing water to your tent. After a hot, nourishing breakfast (such as pancakes or oatmeal), you set off on the trail while the crew strikes camp. Porters or pack animals carry all your gear from camp to camp. On the trail, you can hike at your own comfortable pace because there's always a guide in the lead, usually the Trip Leader or the Camp Manager, as well as a "sweeper" who hikes behind the slowest hikers. After the morning walk of three or four hours, the group stops for leisurely and delicious picnic lunch prepared by the crew at a scenic spot on the trail. Lunch entrees include chicken salad, potato salad, guacamole salad, or macaroni salad, along with fruit, cheese, bread, and chocolate bars for extra energy. After lunch, the groups walk for another three hours or so until the next camp is reached, usually about 4 p.m. On arrival at camp, you can enjoy hot tea, coffee, or cocoa with a snack such as popcorn or cookies. Later, a dinner meal is served in a large tent with a dining table and chairs with backs. Dinner is usually hot soup with a substantial main course of meat and vegetables plus desert, and includes wine. All our camps have toilet tents for privacy. Our camp crews are highly trained and follow our strict environmental and hygiene standards—in fact Wilderness Travel sets the highest standards for health, safety, and environmental responsibility in trekking in Peru.

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