Tours to Machu Picchu from Lima – Peru Machu Picchu Tour

After breakfast at the hotel, at 0900 AM, we will be picking you up from your hotel for the full day tour. We will begin with a drive to the historic center of Lima city. It also houses many notable buildings, including the Presidential Palace.

The Plaza de Armas or the Main Square of Lima is a UNESCO’s world heritage site. There are small shops on both sides of the arcade. In the middle of the Plaza there is a beautiful bronze fountain that was perched in 1560.

The cathedral, which is right across the street here, boasts fine woodwork snuggling the silver covered altars.

After immersing in the stunning architecture of the Cathedral, we will give you a tour of the San Francisco Monastery. It is popular for the Sevillan paneled ceilings and tiled works. 

Once you have got an introduction to the history of the city, we will be visiting Larco Herrera Museum. This 18th century colonial museum is home to the world’s largest ceramic collections. Over 55,000 pre Columbian clay pots are housed here.

Most of the collections belong to the Moche Dynasty, they ruled the northern coast of the country between 200 and 700 AD.

The Moches are widely known for their “Erotic pottery” . The Larco Museum houses an erotic hall where the sexual customs of different Peruvian cultures are on display.

After this tour, we will be driving you back to your hotel. 

After breakfast in the morning, we will be transferring you to the airport in Lima. Here you will be boarding an hour’s flight to Cusco City.Traveling to Cusco by plane is quite an experience on its own. Keep your eyes glued to the window as the aircraft commences its descent to Cusco, you will be rewarded with stunning views of the Andes and highland farms.

Our team will welcome you to our hub, Cusco. We will be driving you to an Alpaca farm where you will see the way these Andean animals are bred by locals. 

We will then visit an Andean Textile Industry where you will witness how locals extract wool from Alpacas, dye them and knit them to produce sweaters and more.

After this experience, we will be driving you to a viewpoint from where you will have the opportunity to witness the stunning beauty of the valley.

We will then drive you to a local restaurant for a traditional Andean lunch. Most restaurant owners in the Sacred Valley also own farmlands. So you can expect a farm fresh meal to be served. 

After lunch, we will be driving you to Pisac. It is known for the local market where craftsmen and women from neighboring villages gather to sell their products. 

After relishing an Andean breakfast, we will be picking you up from your hotel and driving you to a renowned stone mansion. Our local expert will explain to you the prominence of stone work to Incas and how it descended to the lives of the people living here today. 

Once you have had your fill of this, we will drive you to Chinchero. To Incas, this was the birthplace of Rainbow. Chinchero is popular for Andean Textile. Local women here will demonstrate their skills on extracting wool from Alpacas and Llamas, dyeing and knitting them. 

It is a process practiced for thousands of years. 

After witnessing this, we will be driving you to Moray. Home to the renowned circular farming terraces, Moray is an unmissable place in Cusco. Not just because of its alluring beauty but also because it played a significant role in the lives of the Incas. 

The Incas used Moray as an agricultural laboratory. Due to several depressions, the terrace has a different temperature at each level. This helped the Incas to determine the best weather condition needed to grow any crop.

Thanks to their advancement in farming, Peru now produces over 800 varieties of Potatoes. 

For lunch, we will be stopping at a beautiful tourist home overlooking the archaeological site. 

After lunch, we will be driving back to your hotel. 

Early in the morning, after breakfast, we will drive you to the train station in Ollantaytambo. Here you will be boarding a train to Machu Picchu. Trains on this route are operated by Inca Rail or Peru Rail. 

The three hour’s train ride offers staggering views of the snow capped peaks as it would snake through the highland villages and farmlands.

You will witness a change in weather as we get closer to Aguas Calientes as it is located in the tropical region.

Once in Aguas Calientes, we will transfer you to your hotel in the city. After checking in, we will take a 30 minute bus ride, up the hill to the entrance of Machu Picchu citadel. 

Before entering the citadel, we will serve you a buffet lunch at one of the best and prestigious restaurants in Machu Picchu.

After lunch, we will enter the citadel for a detailed tour of the Inca sites here.

We will begin with a brief introduction of the prominence of the citadel to the Incas. We will then visit the prime sites of Machu Picchu like the remains of the main plaza, farm lands, Inca temples and more. 

After the tour you will have some time to relax and soak in the views of the Inca citadel.

Once you have enjoyed it, we will take the bus back to Machu Picchu town and will transfer you back to your hotel for the night. 

Early in the morning, if desired, you can visit Machu Picchu once again.

However, we recommend visiting early in the morning to witness the golden rays of the rising sun beaming on the Inca walls as the blanket of clouds would unveil the Inca citadel. 

You can also hike to Machu Picchu Mountain or Huayna Picchu peak to get a panoramic view of the citadel. Please note that the hike up to Huayna Picchu is quite challenging.

Also, just like hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, you will need a permit to hike to Huayna Picchu which is sold out months in advance. So please let us know at the time of booking the tour, if you wish to hike Huayna Picchu.

Alternatively, you can hike to the Sungate. This is the point of entrance to those hiking the renowned Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. You will get a panoramic view of the citadel from the Sungate.

Once you have had your fill of the Inca citadel, we will take the bus back down to Machu Picchu town. We will be serving lunch at one of the finest restaurants in Aguas Calientes.

After lunch, you will have some free time to saunter the cobble stoned streets of Aguas Calientes. You can also visit the hot springs here. 

You will have the evening free to yourself. We will meet for dinner at an agreed time.

After breakfast at your hotel, you will be boarding the train back to Ollantaytambo. We will meet you at the train station and will give you an immersive tour of the archaeological complex of Ollantaytambo.

This is the former administrative capital of the Incas. The town nestles amidst two peaks, each home to the remains of Inca fortresses. We will be touring the main fortress which also houses the remains of an Inca temple. 

This site was sacred to the Incas. When the Spanish conquistadors intended to invade the town in 1537, this holy place turned into a deadly battleground.

On our drive to Cusco City, we will be stopping at a local restaurant for lunch. You will have a farm fresh meal here. 

We will be having a brief stop in Sacsayhuaman, a notable Inca site perched on a hilltop overlooking Cusco city. The fortress has walls perfectly cut to join them without using cements.

We will be accommodating you at a hotel right in the center of the city for the night. 

Cusco was the capital and most important city of the expansive and powerful Inca empire, with an infinitely rich history and culture to discover.

After breakfast, we will pick you up from your hotel to tour this historic Inca city. We will begin with a visit to the home of a local artist. He is popular for inheriting his family’s legacy of building intricate, wooden altars inside the Cathedral of Cusco. 

We will walk along the cobblestone streets of this striking city to visit the “Sun Temple”, better known today as the Qoricancha. This Incas temple of the sun which was demolished on Spanish conquest and the church of Santo Domingo was built on its remains.

We will then walk to the main square of the city, Plaza de Armas. Here we will visit the Cathedral of Cusco. Arguably, this is the most impressive cathedral in the whole of South America.

The collection of Cusquenian religious art will give you a new perspective on the complex religious beliefs of Peruvians. You will have some time to relax or lose yourself in the bustling city streets on your own this afternoon. 

This evening, you will meet our expert on Inca architecture who will answer any questions you might have about what you have seen during your time in Peru with us. Later, we will head to our farewell dinner in the Imperial city of the Incas. 

We will be accommodating you at a hotel right in the center of the city for the night.

After your breakfast at the hotel, we will be transferring you to Cusco Airport for your flight back to Lima.