Classic Food of Peru Tour
9 Nights/10 Days
AsktheTraveller local Partner
With over 60 years of Travel organising Experience
When it comes to Peru we like to think of ourselves as the real Experts.
From the companies origins as pioneers of travel up until the modern day, our focus is quite simple - it's all about people! We focus on our team so that they can focus fully on your holiday experience. Sure we have won lots of Awards, but the real reward for us, is making your holiday the best it can possibly be.
Hi, I'm Jacqueline
Trip highlights
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Lima
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Machu Picchu
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Cusco
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Discover the secrets of Peruvian cusine
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Sacred Valley
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Ollantaytambo
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Larco Museum
Day 1
Arrive (Peru)- transfer from Lima Airport
Welcome to Peru!
You will be met by our representative and transferred to your hotel in Lima. Our representative will assist you with check-in procedures and provide you with a detailed itinerary, vouchers covering all the services included in your tour and additional information on the organisation of your Peru trip.
You will also receive a contact information sheet with all the hotel details and a 24-hour emergency number.
Overnight in Lima :
Jose Antonio Lima Hotel
Bed & Breakfast
Day 2
Lima + Larco Museum
After breakfast today you shall embark on an extensive tour of Lima including both downtown and the modern area.
Transfer back to hotel to freshen up before heading towards the Huaca Pucllana restaurant for traditional peruvian fayre.
Overnight in Cusco :
Jose Antonio Lima Hotel - B&B
Plus Dinner
Details
Lima + Larco Museum
This special City tour will take you back in time where you will discover the history and traditions hidden in every corner of the capital of Peru.
Begin today’s experience with a visit to Surquillo District, south of the city centre, surrounded by upper class districts of Miraflores, San Borja and San Isidro. Here we will visit the big Surquillo Market bordering with Miraflores, where you can buy fresh fruits, veg, meat, fish and everything needed for a good meal; the surrounding small "tiendas" (shops) offer anything from household items to clothes.
Continue to Lima downtown, where we will take you back in time and show you 500 years of history of Lima. Discover the history and traditions hidden in every corner of Lima, once the most important Viceroyalty of the Spanish Empire receiving the title of “The City of Kings”. Stop at El Cordano bar, a Lima institution since 1905. This old-world dining hall with its swinging “saloon-style” doors has received practically every Peruvian president for the last 100 years as a customer. It is situated a block away from the Main Square in the heart of downtown Lima, just beside the Government Palace.
From here we will be able to appreciate some historical buildings on a pleasant walking tour, passing by the San Francisco Church and the Main Square. Your visit continues with The Archbishop's Palace of Lima, the residence of the Archbishop and the administrative headquarters of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lima. Pope Paul III designated this temple as the primary church headquarters of the city.
Then we walk through Jiron de la Union, a pedestrian street that for many years was one of the most important boulevards of the city, often described as the most aristocratic, where many of the most affluent citizens of the city would meet.
Finish Lima´s downtown visit with a delicious Pisco Sour at El Bolivar Hotel, declared Historical monument in 1972 with the elegance of the carpets, furniture, spider glasses and mirrors with a marked European style, which denotes the delicacy and distinction of that epoch.
Continue with a visit to the Larco Museum, for an excellent overview of Peru's ancient past as it holds the best private collection of pre-Columbian art in the country.
You will have the chance to tour through this old Hacienda House in the Pueblo Libre district, which was built upon a pre-Incan sacred site (huaca), housing the private collection of a great Peruvian scholar: Don Rafael Larco Hoyle.
Finally, head to the modern part of Lima, passing by Huaca Huallamarca and ending in Miraflores on a pleasant 10-minute walk at the Malecon with a great ocean view.
Afterwards, you’ll be driven to your hotel.
This evening, you’ll embark on a (shared) culinary tour of Lima. Begin at Cala, an upscale restaurant and lounge situated on the waterfront Learn the secrets of making the perfect Pisco Sour from a master bartender. Continue to the award-winning Amazonian restaurant, Amaz, where you’ll discover the art of creating cuisine from Peru’s freshest locally-sourced ingredients. Next, visit the prestigious Huaca Pucllana restaurant, located within an archaeological complex that dates to 500 A.D. and enjoy a selection of traditional Peruvian dishes. The final stop for the evening is in the Barranco district for an unforgettable dessert.
You’ll then be driven back to your hotel.
Overnight in Cusco :
Jose Antonio Lima Hotel - B&B
Plus Dinner
Day 3
Lima - Cusco - Sacred Valley
After breakfast you will be assisted to board your flight to Cusco. Upon arrival in Cusco our representative will assist you with your luggage and drive you to the hotel with stops along the way at the Awanacancha Textile Centre, Pisac market & Hacienda Sarapampa for a gourmet 3 course lunch.
Arrive at hotel after lunch - rest of day free
Overnight in Sacred Valley :
Casa Andina priavte Collection
Meals - breakfast & lunch
Details
Lima - Cusco - Sacred Valley
This morning, you’ll have a private transfer to the airport for your flight to Cusco.
Upon arrival, you’ll be met and transferred to your hotel in the Sacred Valley. En-route, you’ll visit the Awanacancha Textile Centre, Pisac Market & Hacienda Sarapampa including a private lunch
Awanacancha means “the palace of weaving” and as its name announces, it is all about textile production. Here you will learn about the dyeing techniques and instruments used for hundreds of years in the weaving of these famous textiles. Walk along a thatched roof path and watch and learn about the four different kinds of South American camelids: Huanaco, Llama, Alpaca and Vicuña. At the end of the path you will find weavers from over 12 communities from southern Peru who alternate exhibitions of threading, dying and weaving traditional Andean textiles, thus avoiding their identity loss.
Continuing through the Sacred Valley, head to the town of Pisac to visit the Pisac Market, which was the place of reunion for all artisans of the region to get together and exchange or buy and sell their products. Originally held only on Sundays, but due to the increase of tourism in the area during the XXth century it became increasingly popular to the point that now it is held daily. It is a favorite destination for visitors from all over the world who don’t want to miss the opportunity of enjoying the colorful ambience in this marketplace.
Further into the Sacred Valley, reach working Hacienda Sarapampa, a vivid expression of the culture of corn farming from its beginnings in ancient Peru until today.
In Hacienda Sarapampa, learn how corn influenced the Andeans and those who followed during colonial and recent times. Visit the Giant White Corn fields and learn more about this unique crop, the stages in the process of cultivating corn (fallow, sowing, hilling, harvest) and its importance in the economy of the Sacred Valley of the Incas and its farmers.
Then, enjoy a countryside three-course gourmet lunch in the property gardens.
After the tour you will arrive at your hotel.
Overnight in Sacred Valley :
Casa Andina priavte Collection
Meals - breakfast & lunch
Day 4
Sacred Valley
From the Farm to your Table Gastronomic experience (shared)
This morning’s experience creates the optimum conditions for you to see, smell, touch and taste ingredients from the root, cultivated using no pesticides or additives. One of the reasons for the growing success of Peruvian food worldwide is access to the fresh ingredients it's based on. Harvest, prepare and cook traditional Andean oven with the close guidance of a chef; enjoy the freshest, most delicious meal right next to the river, in front of an organic farm, with a fantastic view of snowy peaks.
This afternoon, free time to enjoy the hotel facilities and maybe indulge yourself with one of the soothing spa treatments in preparing for the next day’s experience!
Overnight in Sacred Valley:
Casa Andina Private Collection Valle Sagrado
Breakfast and Lunch today
Day 5
Sacred Valley
After breakfast you take a trip to visit a large collection of paintings from the Cusquenan School of Art.
View the natural Maras salt fields - BBQ lunch
After lunch - visit the Inca fortress and Citadel of Ollantaytambo.
Rest of day/Evening at leisure
Overnight in Sacred Valley:
Casa Andina Private Collection Valle Sagrado
Breakfast and Lunch
Details
Sacred Valley
Today set off in the direction of the Sacred Valley to the town of Chinchero, an authentic Andean village with lots of character, where we will find the colonial church that houses a large collection of paintings from the Cusqueñan School of Art.
Chinchero is well known for its continuing tradition as a commercial town and on Sundays the townsfolk gather in the main square to trade their products in a bartering system.
Next, continue your journey through the Sacred Valley of the Incas, to the salt fields of Maras and its seemingly never-ending terraces, where salt extracted from springs is stored.
It supplied salt to the southern highlands during the viceroyalty, so it was an important town. The use of Maras Salt dates back thousands of years and is inherited from generation to generation and managed communally.
It is produced naturally in about 5,000 pools of approximately 5 square meters each forming different levels of terraces, nourished by salty water from a creek that permeates the pools and then evaporated by the intense sun, forming thick crystals.
They are extracted once a month, as soon as they have reached a height of 10 cm. It is impressive to see the variety of colors created by the reflection of the sun’s rays in this field of salt deposits, and to learn about the Incas striking ability to generate resources.
Enjoy an outdoor countryside BBQ lunch at a beautiful riverside setting.
After lunch, visit the Inca fortress and citadel of Ollantaytambo. This site was built just as the Spaniards arrived and evidence of how it was constructed is still visible. This fortress was believed to be constructed to guard the entrance to this part of the valley and protect it from possible invasions of tribes from the jungle lowlands.
Ollantaytambo also features the vestiges of the town built by orders of Inca Pachacutec and thought to be not only a strategic military place to control the Sacred Valley of the Incas, but also for agricultural and religious purposes. The town of Ollantaytambo is referred to as a "Live Inca Town" because inhabitants still live per customs and traditions inherited from their ancestors. Take a journey in time through its straight streets with perfectly laid stones that feature a canal for water to run through the town.
After the tour, you will be transferred to your hotel.
Overnight in Sacred Valley:
Casa Andina Private Collection
Breakfast and Lunch
Day 6
Sacred Valley - Machu Picchu
Transfer to the train to take you to Aguas Calientes. Then 20 minute bus to the citadel of Machu Picchu - rest of morning exploration.
Buffet lunch - Tinkuy Restaurant at Belmond Sanctuary Lodge.
Afternoon return back to Aguas Calientes town.
Overnight in Aguas Calientes
El Mapi
Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner
Details
Sacred Valley - Machu Picchu
Morning transfer to the train station for an amazing train journey to the famous Inca Citadel of Machu Picchu, the great mountain-top city abandoned by the Inca Empire, reclaimed by the jungle and lost to humanity until its rediscovery in 1911.
Along the way you will enjoy the changing landscape as you travel from Andean highlands to the beginnings of the jungle (“eyebrow of the jungle”), before finally arriving at the town of Aguas Calientes.
From here, board the bus that will take you on a 20 minute ride up to the citadel of Machu Picchu, or Lost City of the Incas, which sits upon the summit bearing the same name, and is one of the most representative and recognized examples of Incan architecture. A guided tour of the Citadel includes the Main Plaza, the Circular Tower, the Sacred Sun Dial, the Royal Quarters, the Temple of the Three Windows and various burial grounds.
The legendary 'Lost City' is without a doubt one of the world's most impressive archaeological sites. Built by the Incas on the summit of "Machu Picchu" (old peak), overlooking the deep canyon of the Urubamba river in a semi-tropical area 120 Kms (75 miles) from the city of Cusco.
It sits on a mountain site of extraordinary beauty, in the middle of a tropical mountain forest; Machu Picchu was probably the most amazing urban creation of the Inca Empire at its height, with its giant walls, terraces and ramps, which appear as though they have been cut naturally in the continuous rock escarpments.
Machu Picchu is also one of the Inca's best kept secrets, since they did not leave written records and Spanish chronicles make no mention of the citadel, it remains a mystery.
Buffet lunch at Tinkuy Restaurant at Belmond Sanctuary Lodge. In the afternoon return to Aguas Calientes town.
Overnight in Aguas Calientes
El Mapi
Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner
Day 7
Machu Picchu - Cusco
This morning at leisure. Excellent opportunity to wake up early and enjoy a beautiful sunrise as well as stroll around the Town of Aguas Calientes and visit its Hot Springs Thermal waters.
Then, you will have time to perform some of the following activities (not included in the overall price): visit the Citadel of Machu Picchu for a second time, or for more active and adventurous people, we suggest to climb up the Huayna Picchu from where you can appreciate the immensity of Machu Picchu, even more amazing being so high and distant (no guide services included this day).
Later in the morning, return by bus & train combination, and upon arrival at the Ollantaytambo Train station you will be met by our representative and private driver for your transfer back to Cusco.
On the way, savor an exquisite Tasting lunch at local restaurant.
After lunch, continue the journey back to Cusco and your hotel.
Overnight in Cusco :
Jose Antonio Cusco
Breakfast/Lunch
Day 8
Cusco
Morning at leisure
Afternoon walking tour of Cusco.
We end the tour with a Pisco demonstration and tasting.
Evening : Dinner at Kion Restaurant
Overnight in Cusco :
Jose Antonio Cusco
Breakfast & Dinner
Details
Cusco
Morning at leisure for activities on your own.
This afternoon, you will go on a walking city tour of the Imperial City of Cusco, including the Santo Domingo Church built upon the foundations of the Inca temple Koricancha, which was dedicated to Sun worship. You will also visit the Main Plaza, which has been the scene of great historical events in Cusco; and the Cathedral, constructed of great slabs of red granite in the renaissance style, and thus contrasting with the baroque style silverwork which decorates the interior.
Continue with a visit to the district of San Blas, with its winding streets, the whitewashed houses, the blue balconies hung with geranium-filled flowerpots, the uneven line of the tiled rooftops and the endless stairways.
In the neighborhood live the folk artists of Cusco, who for centuries have used their hands to tell the tale of their longings and frustrations working in stone and woodcarving, sculpture, doll-making, silverware, weaving and textile arts, gold-leaf, mask-making, and an array of ceramics in utilitarian, architectural, sculptural, monumental, grotesque and many other styles.
Then visit the Pre-Columbian Art Museum, the only museum in Peru dedicated to rebound the arts of ancient Peruvian cultures; the collection of 450 master pieces’ date from 1250 B.C. to 1532 A.D.
End this tour with a Pisco Demonstration and Tasting at MAP Café Restaurant, located inside the MAP Museum compound.
After the excursion, you will be transferred to your hotel.
Evening: Dinner at Kion Restaurant
Enjoy a delicious Peruvian-Cantonese dinner at Kion Restaurant.
Overnight in Cusco :
Jose Antonio Cusco
Breakfast & Dinner
Day 9
Cusco / Lima
Breakfast at leisure
PM: Transfer Hotel / Cusco Airport (private)
At the appropriate time, our representative will meet you at the hotel lobby and transfer you to Cusco Airport to board your next flight. Our representative will assist you with check-in procedures and all departure formalities.
Transfer Lima Airport / Hotel (private)
Upon arrival into Lima International Airport, you will be met by our representative and private driver and will be transferred to your hotel. Our representative will assist you with check-in procedures.
Overnight in Lima :
Jose Antonio Lima
Breakfast
Day 10
Lima and last day transfer to airport
After breakfast your driver will be available to transfer you to the airport.
Departure - We recommend that you arrive at the airport 3 hours prior to your departure flight (or 2 hours if travelling business class). It is recommended that you check in online for your departure flight so that you can avoid long queues at the airport check in counters. On line check in is available for most airlines 24 hours before your flight. Your hotel will be able to help you with this if necessary. We wish you a pleasant journey back home or to your next destination.
International flights home
Trip details
Price from £2330 Per person based on twin share basis, subject to exchange rates.
With all international and domestic flights prices from approx
£3130 per person
Price includes
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Transfers as outlined
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Accomodation as shown
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Meals as shown
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Private services of english speaking guide
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Tickets for entrance to sites mentioned
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Roundtrip train tickets for Machu Picchu (Vistadome train)
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ATOL protection (When taking international flights)
Additional Extra's
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International and internal local Flights or taxes.
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Additional unscheduled excursions
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Meals not mentioned in the trip information
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Additional meals & drinks (soft & Alcoholic)
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Immunisations
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Visa's
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Personal travel insurance
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local gratuaties & Tips