Machu Picchu Tour

After our recent cruise on Sirena from Miami to Lima DW and I did a 5-day tour of Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley. Since I learned of the tour company from the Oceania blogs I thought I'd share this wonderful trip will the O family:

Executive summary:

My wife and I arranged a 5-day, post-cruise tour of MachuPicchu and the Sacred Valley with Kuoda Travel based in Cusco, Peru (www.kuodatravel.com). The choice of Kuoda was based on a combinationof on-line reviews and, most importantly, the recommendation of Oceaniacruisers who had used them before. In a nut shell, Kuoda fulfilled our wishlist of things to see & do as well as the style of touring that we like.The details of this trip were so well covered we always felt at ease.

The logistics of the entire 5-days were arranged impeccably!Each and every step of the way was covered down to the finest detail and therewas only one very minor delay (it did not affect our tour). In fact, at the endof the tour we had a – what could have been – a severe problem with PeruvianImmigration. Kuoda provided a manager tohelp us solve that problem leading us through the bureaucracy every step of theway.

We would not hesitateto use Kuoda again (we are in the nascent stage of planning a trip to theAmazon and the Galapagos Islands) and would strongly recommend them to anyone who travels to SouthAmerica. They may be a bit more expensive than others but the added cost iswell worth the comfortable feeling that you have knowing that you and wellprotected in all phases of a wonderful trip. As Mery, the owner, describes it“…Luxury is not defined by expense or excess. Luxury is about helping you tohave the experience you crave and taking care of the nitty-gritty logistics soall you need to concern yourself with is enjoying your trip”. That wasabsolutely fulfilled on our trip!

A huge THANK YOU goes out to the entire Kuoda team. But a special thanks goes out to those withwhom we had direct contact:

Jesus Ramos, Alex Baca, JasonAyerbe and our guides and drivers: Ophelia & Eberth (sp??), Lillian,and Manuel. (Sorry, but I’ve forgotten some names)

Details:

We started our conversation with Jesus Ramos (see “Meet ourTeam” on their website): https://www.kuodatravel.com/about-us/meet-our-team/)

22 months before our cruise. Jesus was always prompt and complete with his responses, requests andquestions. After responding to hisrequest for information about what we were looking for and how we liked totour, he gave us two quotes differentiated by the quality of the accommodations(3 & 4 star hotels). With minortweaking to the itinerary we accepted the 4-star quote. Full information aboutall of the aspects of the tour (suggested clothing; packing for the final legto Machu Picchu and even suggested tipping of the guide and driver) came to uswith plenty of time to ask questions for clarification. Jesus made some suggestions for restaurantsand even guided us on key phrases in Spanish. A few days before the trip started we got an email with contactinformation for two of the staff that would be available 24-hours a day as wellas the name of our guide for the Lima legs (outbound and inbound) and the maintour, Cusco, Machu Picchu and back to Cusco.

Arrangements were made to meet us on the pier in Lima’s portof Callao at 7AM to be taken directly to the airport for our flight to Cusco. Manuel,our guide, had our flight reservations and tickets and escorted us into theairport, guided us to the correct check in desk and stayed with us all the wayup to the security gate. A nice touch by Miguel was diverting us from a verylong check-in line to a priority desk and then convincing the airline’sreservationist to allow us to check in there. Saved a long wait in line! Manuelgave us complete instructions on where to go beyond the security check and whatto look for inside. He also gave us arunning commentary about Lima on the way to the airport. (An aside: I applaudthe security at the airport! There werethree security check points: Driving onto the airport property (U.S. should dothis!!), the normal body/bag security check and a final bag check beforeboarding the plane.)

Upon arrival in Cusco, we were met by Ophelia holding a signwith our names on it. From then onOphelia was our guide, advisor - andsoon became our friend. Ophelia’samazing breadth of knowledge (she has a Masters in Ecology) spanned all of thedisciplines of history, nature, civics, government with all of that wrapped in awarm smile and a great sense of humor. Ophelia was with us for the next 4 ½ dayssharing all of her vast knowledge, answering question and allowing us a peakinto her family life. Her love of country was evident and she exuded a desirefor Peru’s improvement.

Naturally the entire 5-days was well planned with alllogistics taken care of down to the minutest detail. The day we arrived inCusco, those plans were jumbled into chaos as drivers in the city were to puton a work stoppage strike basically shutting down the city roads for at leastthe next day. Lynda and I never felt aripple of concern from either Ophelia or any of the Kuoda team. The schedule was rearranged quickly with are-issue of all travel arrangements – bus and train tickets. We did not miss one site or event of ouritinerary! Fantastic work!

Ophelia was in control of every possible situation. At one point we found that there was a fairlyserious problem with our immigration into Peru which could have delayed ourexit. Ophelia immediately notified theoffice and steps were taken to rectify (more later).

Whenever we stopped in a market or store to buy souvenirs,art (we are collectors of local art), etc. Ophelia was our “agent” and was thekey to our getting some very nice bargains. We said goodbye to Ophelia after a wonderful tour of Cusco and both ofus were sad to see her leave.

If you do decide to tour with Kuoda, you will do best byrequesting Ophelia as a guide. (A couple we had met on the cruise was alsousing Kuoda and we often crossed paths during the tour. At one point they said to us, “Your guide isgreat!”)

Our driver during this time was Eberth (sp?). While the language barrier prevented most directcommunications, we found that he had a wonderful sense of humor, always had asmile and was a fantastic driver (Peruvian traffic is nutsy!!)

Eberth met us the final morning in Cusco to drive us to theairport. He was joined by Jason who madesure we made it safely onto the airplane to fly us back to Lima.

In Lima we were met by Lillian and our driver who finishedour Kuoda tour leading us through immigration and then escorting us to ourhotel in Miraflores. This is where Kuodashowed that they ARE determined to ensure that all goes well with your time inPeru – they stayed with us during the entire process of correcting our passportproblem even though it was not caused by them.

Here’s what happened:

Our cruise ship’s first stop in Peru was the port ofSalaverry. Since this is a small city, the immigration department handtransposed our passport information into their database. Unfortunately, they mixed up our names(instead of Keith & Lynda we became Christine & Alexander). It wasn’tuntil the second hotel that the mistake was noticed. While it seemed to us a careless yetinconsequential mistake, Ophelia and the hotel staff understood that there wasa mix up in the immigration department’s database. That meant that we would not have be allowedto leave the country without rectification of the error. Ophelia notified the home office and thewheels were set in motion. The onlyplace to resolve the error was in Lima upon our return from Cusco. Our plane, originally due to leave Cusco at10:30 was delayed 1 ½ hours and we finally made it to Lima about 1:15. Gathering our bags, Lillian whisked us to theairport immigration office only to find that our problem could only be takencare of at the main office in town. Ourdriver raced to the office and we arrived about 90 minutes before closing. Asour flight was leaving the next day at 7:30 AM we needed to get this errorcorrected NOW. Lillian led us through typical bureaucracy using her bestSpanish to get us through this malaise in time. Finally, less than 30 minutes before closing time, we were notified thatthe problem had been solved. Lynda and Ibreathed a lot easier on the final leg of our journey heading to our hotel forthe night.

Remember, this was not a fault of Kuoda and they had noobligation to help solve it. But therewas NO hesitation in accepting the responsibility to help us solve a problemthat would have taken us at least another day (and much additional cost!)

THANK YOU KUODA AND LILLIAN!

Onelast thing – on the way to the airport we received a call from Mery Calderón,the founder and president of Kuoda Travel. Mery apologized for not being able to meet us in person and wanted tosay hello and ensure that we had a great time

Thanks for your great review of Kuoda. We have a tour booked with them that we booked around a year and a half ago. We originally were going to do the tour in conjunction with a cruise on the Silversea Muse, and then Silversea cancelled the cruise itinerary we had booked (original itinerary was Lima to Ft. Lauderdale), and we were going to do the Peru part before the cruise.

When Silversea cancelled the cruise we ended up booking an Antarctica expedition cruise with them which we just returned from. It was amazing by the way! I have posted my review on the Silversea board.

We still had a desire to go to Machu Picchu so instead of combining Machu Picchu with a cruise we ended up booking a land tour to Machu Picchu by itself. We are scheduled to go at the end of May for 10 nights. We have also been dealing with Jesus and he has been very informative.

Kuoda also has great reviews on Trip Advisor by the way. They have custom designed our tour to include The Sacred Valley, Moray, Maras, Ollantaytambo, Cusco, Lima, and of course Machu Picchu. We opted to stay at all Belmond Hotels.

Another Cruise Critic member (WesW) who posts a lot on Silversea and Regent recently returned from a Machu Picchu tour booked with Kuoda and he had a similar excellent experience.

The fact is you dont need a guide to machu picchu unless you want to spend lots of $$$ and get less than you could on your own.

How: From Lima take the short flight to to Cusco,

At the Cusco airport take a cab to the bottom of the valley 35 min ride to Ollentambo

There there is a every 2 hour commuter train to Agua Calente at the foot of Machu Picchu, but not at 10000 ft but 5800 ft!

The short train ride is the best landscape than the train from Cuscoit runs frequently.

Lots of good hotels in Agua Calente and walk over to the Machu Pichu ticket office and get a morning ticket on the bus, the first one, Those arriving from Cusco won't get there till late morning... However you will already be there beating the crowds by hours.

Machu Pichu provides guides with the bus ride, you do not need a 3rd party to buy a ticket and get you a guide which is already provided ( unless you like to pay double )

The trains from Cusco only let visitors stay a few hours before they begin the long ride back to Cusco.. But you can spend the whole day before and after the throngs

Day 3 return to the airport via the commuter train and taxi and fly back to Lima

This schedule is 3 days long You can make it 4 by staying at Sanctuary Lodge in Agua Calente

The commercial tours will give you a shorter visit to Machu Picchu, force you to spend 2 nights in Cusco at 10,000 + feet and many suffer from AMS , and force you to take the 1 daily train to and from Cusco to Agua Calente 5 nights is spending waster days in Cusco for no reason when you could see more do more, learn more in 3

This do it your self tour includes guides at Machu picchu

3 days rather than 5 and at a altitude some 5000 ft lower than Cusco

LETS you to spend several days in the sacred valley rather than sprawling touristy expensive Cusco

Allows you to see the best bits of the train ride without enduring a long boring section.

Allows you to beat the crowds before and after the crowds. and is half the cost to have your hand held needlessly in short being escorted from one guide to another you could get on your own

Think before you spend be in charge and have a much better experience

.

We used Kuoda in 2016 and had an amazing experience - one that we will never forget. It was just the four of us with our wonderful guides. We weren't crammed into a tour bus with other strangers. We had told them what we wanted to do and they made suggestions and the plan came together before we left the states. The guide we had from Cusco on lived there, was raised there and shared her passion of her heritage with us. Katerina walked us through Machu Picchu and explained the buildings and their uses. She explained how everything was built by hand. How the dirt for terraces was brought from lower elevations one basket load at a time so the crops grown at the higher elevation would have a more fertile soil. We climbed above Machu Picchu and sat while she explained how the city and it's society worked. Were we rushed? Not in the least. When we boarded the train back to Cusco (our choice not the tour company's) the train broke down - twice. Katerina was on the phone with not only the office but with our driver to make sure he was waiting for us no matter what time we arrived (10:30pm!). We were so happy to see Samuel's smiling face waiting for us to take us back safely in the dark to our wonderful hotel. We explored Cusco with Katerina and on our own. I celebrated my birthday in Cusco and learned that you get your birthday cake for breakfast! It was delicious! The restaurant they recommended for my birthday dinner was outstanding! On our last day in Cusco Mery Calderon (owner/founder) came to the hotel to say good-bye and thanked us for choosing Kuoda. She gifted each of us with a lovely handmade Peruvian mug to take home. When we returned to Lima again and another wonderful guide (and our hysterical driver Jorge) a museum trip, a awesome water/light show park that is only open in the evenings and more food! On the day we had to board the Marina they drove us directly to the ship. During our time in Cusco/Sacred Valley/Machu Picchu/Lima we learned so much, tasted amazing food, fed llamas, watched amazing women weave family patterns into beautiful textiles - I could go on an on. Yes, you can do Peru on your own - but I am so glad we didn't!

In January we did a tour of Cusco, Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu before our Lima to Papeete Oceania cruise. I was aware that we could do all the arrangements ourselves, but when I found Journeyou Travel we decided to let them do all the work just for a little extra over doing it yourself price.

Just for my husband and I they arranged 7 days tour. We booked our own hotel in Lima using points before and after the tour. All other reservations - air and train tickets, hotels, transfers and guides, were done by Journeyou. Hotels in Cusco and Sacred Valley (our choice) were wonderful first class accommodation. All transfers were on time waiting for us. We used guides for Machu Picchu and Sacred Valley, and spent two days exploring amazing city of Cusco on our own.

We were very satisfied with the service, and were able to do everything we wanted without the stress of doing all arrangements ourselves.

We just used Kuoda for Machu Picchu. Ditto all positive comments. I can’t say enough good things about every aspect of our trip.

Another vote for Kuodo from us. We used them in 2015 before our Lima-NYC cruise on Marina.

Dan, you have argued forcefully more than once about doing it yourself, and of course you can! Usually we'd be with you. But for this kind of trip -- in our case, 6 days with 6 people -- it was worth the $$ to pay someone to do the work for us. And they did a wonderful job.

One day we had a lunch picnic with food our guide had prepared for us! He brought the table and chairs and we sat in a beautiful valley right by a river ... just perfect. He'd asked us if box lunches would be okay and we said, "Sure", he came up with a home cooked meal.

Mura

It looks like it's a resounding "HOORAH for Kuoda Travel". Whether doing a tour on your own or paying for someone else to help is up to you and highly dependent on where and when and for how long. (After all Dan, one could save more money by walking to Machu Picchu). In fact, I've calculated how much money we would have spent had we needed to re-adjust our flight home and our cost would have been a lot higher with a DIY tour and a DIY visit to the Peruvian Immigration Office!

And three days instead of more!!?? I read a number of posts and talked to those who had done it in three days with their advice is NOT ENOUGH TIME!

The expertise was itself worth every shekel!

(Driving home in her Cadillac one night, an elderly woman's car breaks down in the middle of no where. A tow truck appears and a grizzled old man steps out, lifts the hood of the car and grunts a few times. He then goes back to his truck, grabs a 16 lb sledgehammer, jumps up on the Caddy and takes a big whack at the engine.

"Start 'er up lady!" he rasps.

With that the engine starts purring like a kitten.

"How much?" the old lady asks.

"a hun'red fifty"

"That's outrageous!, the woman screams. "It only took you 1 minute to fix it! I want a detailed invoice!"

The man grumbles as he writes one out and hands it to her.

On the invoice it reads:

1 whack - $3.00

Knowing where to whack - $147.00)

Keith

Glad you enjoyed Machu Picchu. Does Diane know about Lynda?

Rob and Lil