Planning a trip to Peru/Bolivia

sporina · 10-12-2012 10:49pm #1

I wanna go to South America. Ideally I would like to go for a few months but as that is not gonna happen in the near future, I am gonna go for a few weeks - just to get a taste for it. So all I have is about 3 weeks in total.

I will go with a tour as I would not have the courage or time to do it alone. I have not done too much reading into it but I guess I would like to do Machu Picchu and defo some high mountain lakes - Lake Titicaca perhaps.

Anyway I am looking into trail finders and Intrepid at the moment. Any thoughts? I assume the private tours are really expensive? I guess a small tour would be. I would love to go a little off the beaten path but I guess in a group that will not happen.

Anyway any suggestions on itinerary/tour companies etc welcome.
PS I ma going in August.
Thanks in advance.

phatkev · 11-12-2012 4:28pm

If your heading to peru i assume you would be landing in Lima from there you could head down to Cusco the starting/ending point for Machu Picchu, from Cusco you head to Puno which is a town situated on lake titicaca or you could make the short journey over the Bolivian broader to copacabana and view the lake from there you could also visit isla del sol if you enjoy a hike. from there you could make your way back up to Lima via Arequipa and Ica. i done a similar route but had a lot longer than 3 weeks. i didn't go through any tour operators so i cant comment, but i did do it on my own and you meet plenty of people going the same way as you, also learn some spanish before you go

rain on · 11-12-2012 5:19pm

I did a La Paz to Lima tour with G Adventures there recently, it took 3 weeks exactly and I think it was about a grand and a half plus flights. It was class, we went to Lake Titicaca, Machu Picchu, the Inca Trail, Cusco, Arequipa, Nasca and a few other places. It was incredibly well organised, and doing a tour really took all the administrative hassle out of getting around. Our guide was super sound as well. I booked my next G Adventures trip within a few weeks of returning.. I'm starting to sound like a G Adventures rep now but I really couldn't have had a better time.

This is the tour I did: http://www.gadventures.com/trips/andean-discovery/JML/2013/
I think they also do the same one in reverse, starting in Lima and ending up in La Paz.

dory · 11-12-2012 5:44pm

sporina wrote: »

Anyway I am looking into trail finders and Intrepid at the moment. Any thoughts? I assume the private tours are really expensive? I guess a small tour would be. I would love to go a little off the beaten path but I guess in a group that will not happen.

There's such a linear route that there isn't an "off" the beaten track really. These tour groups go to the best places, which is why they're so touristy. I spent some time in South America going in the opposite direction to the guide book and ended up spending a lot of time looking at trees, while the tours were climbing mountains and looking at ruins. G Adventures seems to the one most spoken about down those parts.

sporina · 11-12-2012 9:06pm

dory wrote: »

There's such a linear route that there isn't an "off" the beaten track really. These tour groups go to the best places, which is why they're so touristy. I spent some time in South America going in the opposite direction to the guide book and ended up spending a lot of time looking at trees, while the tours were climbing mountains and looking at ruins. G Adventures seems to the one most spoken about down those parts.

baaaaaaaa that made me laugh so much..

sporina · 11-12-2012 9:46pm

thanks for the replies.

yes it would seem that G adventures is very popular. they have an agent in cork. i must go and have a chat with them. thanks.

but if anyone has any info on Intrepid or Trainfinders I would be much appreciative..

solerina · 12-12-2012 8:34pm

I also did Peru with G adventures ( i booked through Trailfinders in Cork)...it was amazing and I would totally recommend them !!

sporina · 12-12-2012 9:06pm

solerina wrote: »

I also did Peru with G adventures ( i booked through Trailfinders in Cork)...it was amazing and I would totally recommend them !!

oh ok so trailfinders are an agent for G adventures in cork?

dory · 13-12-2012 10:13am

sporina wrote: »

oh ok so trailfinders are an agent for G adventures in cork?

Yea, Trailfinders are like a travel agency that would book you a tour with someone like Intrepid or G. I'd go with G as there are good things being said about them, unless Intrepid is way cheaper.

solerina · 13-12-2012 6:42pm

sporina wrote: »

oh ok so trailfinders are an agent for G adventures in cork?

Yes, I booked my flights and the 2 week Gap trip with trailfinders...the person I dealth with at the time had been to Peru herself with Gap and everything she told me was accurate and the trip exceeded my expectations !!! I would go again tomorrow if I could...I loved every bit of it !

sporina · 13-12-2012 9:02pm

thanks - yeah I heard that Sayit on grand parade in cork use Intrepid.. I guess I will just go to both places and see what they say. Compare packages etc.

sarkozy · 14-12-2012 3:01am

If you're not comfortable doing the independent travel thing, fine, go with a tour, possibly one of the recommended ones here. But independent is totally doable, though you need smarts for Bolivia, much less so for Peru.

Timewise, I did Buenos Aires to Lima in 4 weeks, so Peru and Bolivia in three is comfortable. If you end up killing time in and around La Paz, I'd highly recommend a relaxing break in Coroico. A safe and utterly spectacular mountain pass up higher than La Paz then down 2000m to the sub-tropical low-lands. Kinda like paradise. It's easy to get a good standard shared taxi (4 passengers) there and back. The trip takes 90 minutes.

ellie2 · 16-12-2012 7:41pm

I did gap Lima to la Paz in 3 weeks 2 years ago. Loved it got to see places I wouldn't have thought of going independently. Arequipa is amazing make sure to go to the convent. Nazca lines class and definitely worth doing even though I was sick as a dog. Peru more than exceeded my expectations. Just 2 things about the tour our guide wasn't great.. Always pressuring us to tip and bringing us to pricy restaurants. That said we had a great group ranging from early 20s to 40 and overall loved it. Enjoy

sporina · 18-12-2012 9:56pm

has anyone used Tucan travel?

fichillie · 24-12-2012 7:47pm

I've used them in Asia and found them to be really good. I did a G adventures tour myself for Peru/Bolivia (Inca Empire? I think) and it was great. When I left the group in La Paz I went and did the salt flats by myself, which I highly recommend!

Daisies · 30-12-2012 8:16am

I did a trip in South America with G adventures. I booked through Trailfinders and they deal with Intrepid etc also. I asked the travel agent why G adventures and he said that for different continents there are better tour operators and in South America, G adventures was the best

sporina · 06-01-2013 7:15pm

Daisies wrote: »

I did a trip in South America with G adventures. I booked through Trailfinders and they deal with Intrepid etc also. I asked the travel agent why G adventures and he said that for different continents there are better tour operators and in South America, G adventures was the best

hmm I went to Sayit at the weekend and they recommended Intrepid for south america. And Tucan specialize in South America? So I wonder how it works - is Trailfinders more inclined to use G adventures and Sayit more inclined to use Intrepid?

PS Traifinders only had the tucan and g adv brochures - not intrepid and Sayit only had the Intrepid and Tucan brochures and not G adv - coincidence or??

rosenallis · 09-01-2013 11:55am

We did 21 days in Peru & Bolivia last summer and worked out great for us.

Itenerary Below

Flew to La Paz- Stayed 1 night and overnight bus to Salt Flats
3 day tour, then overnight back to La Paz
Flew to Rerrenabaque and did 3 day jungle tour in http://www.tripadvisor.ie/Hotel_Review-g303188-d2250789-Reviews-Madidi_Jungle_Ecolodge-Rurrenabaque_Beni_Department.html
Back to La Paz for a night and then death road for a day.
We then bussed it to Cusco (no flight at the time)
Inca trail for 5 days and chill out in Cusco for 2

The things which i would have liked to have done was Arequipa. We skipped Puna, Cocacobana,

La Paz is grand, would spend minimal time there if i was you.Lima i would only use to fly in or out of. We drove through Puno & Cococobana and didnt find them in any way impressive.

Now we were lucky with a couple of things. We flew straight into altitude, which we didnt realise at the time couple of been a severe problem. We have tablets (cant remember the name but were great) and we didnt really feel any affects apart from short of breath. We were also lucly no travel/ bus delays along the way which we heard was common enough.

Salt Flats were nice, but accompanying Bolivian Natioanl park is amazing like being on mars! Be aware of loads of driving though.

Jungle was great, did loads of walks and saw loads of animals/ insects.

Inca trail, i would book as far in advance as you could we date. We booked 1st week of Feb for a mid july walk and was booked out a week later. I was reccomend highly Llamapath. Macchu Picchu is a bit of letdown if you do the Inca trail as you see far more impressive sites on the way and its full of non-inca trail tourists!

We booked through go-hop.ie Found them a lot more cheap than Trailfinders

Planning a trip to Peru/Bolivia

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