Visiting Peru?

December 2, 2013 12:15 PM

My wife and I would love to plan a trip to Peru in 2014, but I'm reticent to try and do it on my own because I know nothing. Can you recommend a site or a travel agent (oh yes) or anything that can help us nail this down? I really want it to be a good trip and my ignorance makes that problematic.
posted by xmutex to Travel & Transportation around Peru (5 answers total)

If you don't want to go the route of researching top destinations on TripAdvisor (link is to a sample tour company in Cusco, but there are a ton of others listed), then you could try contacting this company that does packages to Peru. Although the listing on Budget Travel is for a specific 3 day package, I have heard that typically these companies are willing to give you an estimate on a deal that is not the listed one (i.e. a different gateway for the airline, different number of days on the trip).
posted by treehorn+bunny at 1:10 PM on December 2, 2013

If you are planning to do the Inca trail, sites like this that list the availability by date are helpful.
I was in Peru this past august. we made our reservations for the Inca trail in february. I use Tripadvisor and Hipmunk for most travel details, but there are different strokes for different folks as far as ease of use, useful info etc among the various travel sites.

What do you want in order for it to be a good trip? The food is fabulous, the scenery is awesome, there are tons of things to do, but travel from place to place is slow or expensive, altitude acclimatization has to be accounted for, and so does the fact that Peru is a very popular destination for certain types of travelers.

As a starting point -- look at Arequipa, a nice city that gives you access to Colcha Canyon and then onto Puno, to visit lake Titicaca. from there it is common to travel to Cusco the center of all things Inca.
Or you can head to the Nazca lines from Lima, or go north to beaches.
posted by OHenryPacey at 3:39 PM on December 2, 2013

When I was in Peru in 2006 I went on a 5 day trek to macchu picchu with Apus Peru, a trekking company. I'm on my phone now so no links, but I can get you their webpage when I get home. They were super amazing and really socially conscious, which was a big plus to myself and my traveling companion. They offer a ton of different treks or even day hikes and they might be able to help you figure out what would suit you best.
posted by ruhroh at 5:39 PM on December 2, 2013

The Archaeological Conservancy, a U.S. non-profit, does amazing tours in Central America including to Peru. They are a U.S. non-profit focused on preserving archaeology and their tours are focused on archaeology and led by tenured academic archaeologists, so if that's not really your thing they may not be a good fit.

They don't have a 2014 tour up yet on their website, but if you email them I'm sure they can let you know if they'll have one coming up.

Here is a blurb about their previous itineraries in Peru.
posted by forkisbetter at 8:57 AM on December 4, 2013

Their tour itinerary for Peru is now up.

http://www.archaeologicalconservancy.org/Peru.html
posted by forkisbetter at 9:09 AM on December 13, 2013