Custom private tour Cusco, Machu Picchu. What not to miss

[trk_koa]

We are taking an Azamara cruise out of Buenos Aires in January and have booked air to Lima a week prior to embarking in BA. We had thought about taking the land tour through the cruise line and might still do that. We are still early enough to add it.

 

We decided to at least investigate a custom private tour and see what we can cobble together to see everything we want to see. We have about five days to do it. (We want to get to BA the day before embarkation so will need a day to fly.)

 

We already know we want the Hiram Bingham train to Machu Picchu. DH is very interested in seeing the Nazca Lines. 
 

What would your Peru “must see” list include ?

[roberts2005]

In 2016 I arranged a tour through Belmond Hotels. I was very oleased

[Born2go]

My sisters and I spent 2 weeks in Peru. If you have only 5 days, you don’t really have time to do Machu Picchu AND the Nazca Lines. (Or really, not much but flying from Lima to Cusco, sightseeing there, touring the Sacred Valley, sightseeing Ollantaytambo,MP)

Besides the awesomeness of Machu Picchu, hands down the Uros floating islands in Lake Titicaca was our favorite.
Bear in mind the altitude of Cusco! If either of you are prone to altitude sickness, limit your time there. MP and the Sacred Valley are lower in altitude.
if you have your heart set on the Hiram Bingham train, I would go through Belmond hotels for a tour and include a stay at the Sanctuary Hotel (a Belmond Hotel) at Machu Picchu. It would be amazing but quite expensive. We had lunch right outside MP gates at the grill and I paid $30 for a hamburger. It is all about location!

[trk_koa]

Thank you. We decided that trying to do both the Nazca lines and MP was too hard to fit in. We opted for the cruise line tour.
 

I contacted several tour companies. They either don’t do the HB train at all or were almost as expensive as the cruise line tour but didn’t included the flight to BA. So the simplest thing was to add on the tour and have everything included as one package price. 

[Born2go]

I think you have made a wise decision. MP is time consuming to get to.

[kathynorth]

We were on a Celebrity cruise and added on the MP/Peru land tour. We had explored booking with other companies since we saw so many on these boards doing that, but although expensive we thought staying with the cruiseline would simplify all the transfers. We had never visited SA and thought this made sense for us. Well, our trip was top shelf the entire way and we were pleased with our decision. 

Edited November 20, 2022 by kathynorth

[roberts2005]

A lot depends on a person’s age, and budget.   We arranged our own flights post cruise from Lima.  Then we had Belmont hotels arrange the rest of the itinerary.   The highlight, was staying at the Sanctuary Lodge at Manchu Pichu.   I was able to enter the park at sunrise.

[PhD-iva]

I am recently back from Peru and enjoyed a three day private tour with a wonderful tour guide. I posted a review of my tour and I include the link here. Ernesto is a wonderful Tourguide and is very experienced with cruises to Machu Picchu and to other parts of Peru and to lima. His prices are very reasonable. It is a wonderful experience. I suggest you contact him. 

 

[PhD-iva]

So sorry, I posted the wrong link. Please use this link to read my review of a wonderful tour guide for lima and for Perú.

 

[trk_koa]

Thank you. I’ll keep his information for next time. We have already committed to our tour.