Need a Guide for Machu Picchu

[cruiseda1]

Will fly into Lima and want to spend 4 days in Lima and Machu Picchu. Anyone can recommend a guide or a travel agency? Many thanks.

[greatam]

Will fly into Lima and want to spend 4 days in Lima and Machu Picchu. Anyone can recommend a guide or a travel agency? Many thanks.

 

You obviously speak English very well, so no need for a guide or travel agency. Almost everyone who deals with tourists speaks enough English to get by. This is such an easy trip, you can book it all yourself. EVERY GOOD hotel in Cusco provides airport pickup service. EVERY GOOD hotel in both Lima and Cusco have tour guides they can provide you with.

 

Look through some of the MP posts in this forum for hotel suggestions.

 

For Lima, I highly recommend the San Antonio Abad hotel-first floor rooms only. An old mansion that was turned into a boarding house that was turned into a hotel. The service can't be beat, the price is right with airport pickup and a great breakfast and they can arrange any kind of sightseeing in Lima you want. http://www.hotelsanantonioabad.com/

 

You can book your own plane tickets to Cusco, your own hotels in Cusco/MP and your own train tickets to MP (PeruRail). The only thing you may want is a day trip guide to the Sacred Valley (those are as easy to find as Walmart in the USA) and MAYBE a guide in MP (although with a good guidebook in MP, you will see what you want and not get stuck in a tour group who moves like molasses or the wind and you miss stuff you may be interested in.)

 

Be VERY careful if you insist on booking with a travel agency. A lot of the packaged tours (except the upscale/luxury ones) put you up in hotels that are almost backpacker hostels. Quite a few hotels in Cusco DO NOT have heat (even though they now have natural gas, a lot of hotels didn't connect). The BETTER hotels did, but the other ones didn't.

 

I am currently in Santiago, leaving tomorrow for Lima and Cusco for work. If you need me to check anything SPECIFIC out for you, please advise.

[marazul]

We used a brother and sister team, Juan and Mariella Lazo. Both university educated with degrees in history, tourism, etc. Juan guides with top tavel groups such as OAT. Mariella is also a professional guide and the owner of a charming B&B on the Urubamba river. She was also one of the original owners of the top-rated Pachapapa restaurant in Cusco.

Juan: http://www.juanlazo.com juanlazo61@hotmail.com

Mariella: marielalazo@hotmail.com http://www.arcoirisdelpuente.com

When you ask for a price quote, ask them to include all admission tickets (including the bus for Machu Picchu) so there are no delays waiting in line. Their price will also include a minivan and driver.

[Imelda & Mario]

Here is my write up of our trip to MP - we did a 1 day trek which I highly recommend. When you contact which ever tour agency you decide on, just tell them exactly what you want them to include. (for example, I made my own hotel arrangements - in Cusco we stayed at Casa San Blas and in Aguas Calientes at the Sumaq)

 

We had signed up for the 1 day trek using a company in the US that a friend had used several years earlier. All they did was sub-contract it out, so the folks that actually ran the tour was Andean Adventures Peru (http://www.andeanadventuresperu.com). They contacted me a couple of days prior to the tour with logistics information, and then our guide (Roberto Gonzales) came to the hotel the night before. We stored our luggage at Casa San Blas and packed the necessities for our trek and stay in Aguas Calientes in a backpack. Our trip started just after 4am when Roberto and the driver picked us up. It was an hour drive to the train station, where we got our things together, got the lunches stored and boarded the train at 6am. It was a 90 minute ride to get to the 104KM where we got off the train in the middle of nowhere. Most of the passengers stayed on the train to Aguas Calientes. The trek itself took 6 hours and involved a lot of stairs up and down. There were two ruins that we stopped at. The first was Chachabamba which was within the first hour of the trip. The second was Winay Wayna which was spectacular. We could see it from a long way off, nestled into the side of the mountain. As we got closer, it got larger and more breathtaking. We made it there in time for an early lunch. I think that was about the half way point. The second half of the hike was more level, but still had stairs up and then back down. We arrived at the camp area for those doing the 4 day trek and had an opportunity to use some basic banos. The inca’s must have a weird sense of humor because they threw in a very long steep set of stairs as the last hurdle before the Sun Gate. We arrived at the Sun Gate right at 1:30 and a beautiful view of Machu Picchu. After a rest, we hiked down to Machu Picchu (about 45 minutes). Roberto then gave us a guided tour of the site. At about 4:30 we were exhausted and said we were ready to go, so we headed to the entrance to check out and take the bus into Aguas Calientes. The bus ride takes about 20 minutes down the mountain via 10 or so switchbacks.