6 Day Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca Tour Package

Your Peru adventure begins the moment you land.

A private driver meets you at Cusco's Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport and takes you straight to your hotel in the heart of the city. No waiting around. No figuring out taxis. Just a smooth, easy transfer into one of the most remarkable cities in the world.

Cusco is the ancient capital of the Inca Empire. It sits at around 3,400 meters above sea level, and you will feel that altitude as soon as you step off the plane. The air is thinner here. Your body needs time to catch up.

This afternoon is yours. Take it slow. Walk down to the Plaza de Armas if you feel up to it, and let the city sink in. The stone walls, the baroque churches built on top of Inca foundations, the narrow cobblestone lanes, it all tells a story that goes back centuries. But there is no rush today.

Drink plenty of water. Rest well. Tomorrow is a big day.

Overnight: Casa Andina Standard Cusco or similar Meals: No meals included today

This is where the journey truly begins.

Your local guide and private vehicle pick you up from your hotel in Cusco and head out into the Sacred Valley. The landscape opens up almost immediately. The Andes rise on both sides. The Urubamba River winds through the valley floor below. This is the valley of the Incas, and it looks exactly like you imagine it would.

Chinchero 

Your first stop is the highland village of Chinchero. Sitting at over 3,700 meters above sea level, this is one of the most traditional communities in the Cusco region. Local women in hand-woven clothing demonstrate the ancient art of textile weaving — a tradition that has been passed down through generations for hundreds of years. The colours, the techniques, the stories behind each pattern — your local guide brings all of it to life.

The colonial church here was built directly on top of an Inca palace. Stand on the main square and look down across the terraces and the valley. It is a view that does not get old.

Moray and the Maras Salt Mines 

From Chinchero you head deeper into the valley toward two of the most visually striking archaeological sites in all of Peru.

Moray comes first. These enormous circular terraces descend deep into the earth like a natural amphitheatre. Archaeologists believe the Incas used them as an agricultural laboratory, with each level creating a different microclimate for growing crops. Standing at the top and looking down, you understand immediately why this place leaves people speechless.

A short drive brings you to the Maras Salt Mines. Thousands of individual salt pans cascade down the hillside, fed by a natural saltwater spring that the Incas — and the communities before them — figured out how to harvest long before anyone else thought to look. It is a pre Inca engineering story that is still very much alive today. Local families still work these same pans.

Lunch 

A traditional Peruvian lunch is included at a local restaurant in the Sacred Valley. Fresh ingredients, regional flavours, and a setting that reminds you exactly where you are.

Ollantaytambo

After lunch, you arrive at Ollantaytambo — one of the most important archaeological sites in the entire Sacred Valley. The Inca fortress rises steeply above the town, its massive stone terraces climbing toward the sky. This is one of the few places where the Incas actually defeated the Spanish in battle, and standing beneath those walls, it is easy to see why.

Below the fortress, the town itself is remarkable. The streets of Ollantaytambo follow the exact same grid the Incas laid out centuries ago. People still live in homes built on Inca foundations. It is a living, breathing piece of history.

Your local guide walks you through it all, connecting the stones to the stories they hold.

Train to Aguas Calientes 

From Ollantaytambo station, you board the train to Aguas Calientes. As the train descends from the highlands into the cloud forest, the landscape transforms completely. The mountains close in. The vegetation thickens. The air gets warmer and wetter. It feels like entering another world entirely.

You arrive in Aguas Calientes in the early evening. The town sits in a narrow gorge at the base of the mountain that holds Machu Picchu. Check in, have dinner on your own, and get to bed early.

Tomorrow morning starts before the sun comes up.

Overnight: Casa Andina Standard Aguas Calientes or similar Meals: Breakfast at hotel | Lunch included during Sacred Valley tour

This is the day everything builds toward.

You are at the bus stop before sunrise. The buses begin running early, and you want to be among the first through the gates. The ride to Machu Picchu winds up the mountain through thick cloud forest, switchback by switchback, until the citadel emerges from the mist above you.

Machu Picchu 

Nothing prepares you for the first sight of Machu Picchu. The lost city of the Incas stretches across the ridge just as it has for over five hundred years. The mountains drop away on three sides. Clouds drift through the ruins. The scale of it — the precision of the stonework, the terraces, the temples, the pathways — is almost impossible to take in all at once.

Your local guide leads you on a comprehensive walking tour of the archaeological site. You visit the agricultural terraces, the residential sector, the Temple of the Sun, the Intihuatana stone, and the iconic viewpoint that puts the full scale of the citadel into perspective. Every question you have ever had about this place gets answered here.

The sacred valley Machu Picchu sits within is visible all around you. On a clear morning, the view is extraordinary.

You have free time after the guided tour to explore at your own pace, find your own corners of the citadel, and take the photographs you have been imagining.

Return Bus to Aguas Calientes

You board the bus back down to Aguas Calientes. Take some time to walk along the river, browse the market, or have lunch in town before heading to the train station.

Train and Transfer back to Cusco 

The train departs Aguas Calientes and heads back to Ollantaytambo. A private vehicle meets you at the station and drives you back to Cusco, arriving in the early evening.

Tonight you are back in the city where this all began. Dinner is yours to explore. Cusco has some of the best restaurants in South America, and the area around the Plaza de Armas has no shortage of great options.

Overnight: Casa Andina Standard Cusco or similar Meals: Breakfast at hotel

Today is a road journey. And it is a beautiful one.

Your driver and guide pick you up from your hotel and head south out of Cusco. The route follows the altiplano, climbing steadily as the city falls away behind you. Over the course of the day, you stop at four remarkable places that most travellers rushing between Cusco and Puno never see.

Andahuaylillas Church 

About 40 kilometres from Cusco, the small village of Andahuaylillas holds one of the most extraordinary churches in the Americas. Step through the modest doorway and you find yourself inside an explosion of colour — painted walls, ornate carvings, and a golden altar that fills the entire end of the nave. It has been called the Sistine Chapel of the Americas, and it earns that name.

Raqchi Temple

Raqchi is one of the largest Inca structures ever built. The Temple of Wiracocha, the Inca creator god, still stands here in remarkable condition. The central wall stretches over 90 metres long and reaches a height that would have been breathtaking even by modern standards. Around it, the remains of dozens of storage warehouses and residential buildings show just how important this site once was.

Your local guide explains how Raqchi functioned not just as a religious centre but as a major hub along the Inca road network that connected the entire empire.

La Raya Pass 

This is the high point of the journey, literally. La Raya sits at over 4,300 metres above sea level. Snow-capped peaks rise on all sides. The altiplano stretches out in every direction. It is cold, windswept, and absolutely stunning.

Take a moment here. Breathe the thin air. Look at where you are. There is a small market of local artisans at the pass, and the views make it one of the most memorable stops of the entire trip.

Pucara

The small town of Pucara is famous for two things — the colourful ceramic bulls that sit on rooftops across Peru as symbols of good luck, and a history that stretches back to pre Inca times. The local museum holds a remarkable collection of Pucara ceramics and stone sculptures that give a real sense of the civilizations that existed in this region long before the Incas rose to power.

Arrival in Puno

By late afternoon you arrive in Puno, the gateway to Lake Titicaca. The city sits right on the shores of the lake, at an altitude of around 3,830 metres above sea level. Check in to your hotel, take a walk along the waterfront, and look out over a lake so vast it looks like an ocean.

Dinner tonight is on your own. The main square in Puno has plenty of good restaurant options.

Overnight: Casa Andina Standard Puno or similar Meals: Breakfast at hotel

Today you will go out on the water.

A short drive from your hotel brings you to the dock, where your boat and local guide are waiting. As you pull away from the shore, the scale of Lake Titicaca begins to make sense. This lake sits at 3,810 metres above sea level — one of the highest navigable lakes in the world. The light here is different. The sky seems closer. The water is an incredible shade of deep blue.

The Floating Islands 

About 45 minutes from Puno, the Floating Islands of the Uros people rise from the water. These islands are entirely man-made, built layer by layer from totora reeds that grow in the shallows of the lake. The Uros have lived on the water for generations, constructing their homes, their boats, and the very ground beneath their feet from the same plant.

Your local guide introduces you to one of the island communities. You hear about daily life on the lake, how the islands are maintained and expanded over time, and what it means to call this floating world home. It is one of the most genuinely remarkable things you will see anywhere on this journey.

Taquile Island 

From the Floating Islands, your boat continues across the lake to Taquile Island. The crossing takes around two hours, and the scenery along the way is extraordinary.

Taquile is a different world altogether. The island's traditions are pre Inca in origin and have been preserved with extraordinary care. The men of Taquile are among the finest weavers in Peru, a skill that has earned the island UNESCO recognition. The cooperative system here means that everything produced on the island belongs to the whole community.

Your local guide walks you through the island's terraced hillsides to the main plaza, explaining the customs, the social structure, and the significance of what the textiles communicate, from a person's marital status to their role in the community.

Lunch

Lunch is included on Taquile Island. Fresh trout from the lake, served with local produce and the kind of view from the dining terrace that makes you want to stay all afternoon.

Return to Puno 

Your boat brings you back across the shores of Lake Titicaca to Puno in the mid-afternoon. You arrive back at the dock with plenty of time to rest, explore the city, or pick up a few last souvenirs before your final morning in Peru.

Overnight: Casa Andina Standard Puno or similar Meals: Breakfast at hotel | Lunch included on Taquile Island

After breakfast at the hotel, a private vehicle picks you up for the transfer to Juliaca Airport, located approximately 45 minutes from Puno. Your driver keeps a close eye on your flight time to make sure you arrive with plenty of time to check in.

On the drive, the lake is still there beside you. One last look at those extraordinary shores of Lake Titicaca before the road curves away and the airport comes into view.

It has been six days. It has felt like much longer. And somehow, not long enough.

Meals: Breakfast at hotel