Peru April 2018

duffman13

Looking for some recommendations for Peru early next year. Thinking of going in March or April as the weather looks reasonably decent and it fits in well with work. I'll only have 2 weeks max and am looking for some highlights to prioritise

Macchu Pichu is the main reason I'm going, always wanted to do the Inca trail, does any one have any suggestions or does and donts. Any other highlights I should pencil in? I love archaeological/historical attractions and nature so would be prioritising these. If I go solo is there a very good backpacking scene at that time of year?


I've always travelled solo and independent in the past however due to my time constraints I'm considering a tour (contiki style) but I dunno if it would suit me or give me the flexibility I would want. I've never done one of these tours before so if anyone has any feedback on them is appreciate that too.

solerina

The real inca trail must be pre booked often months in advance, you cannot book it by yourself as it must be done in person in Peru. I went with G Adventures on a two week trip called Peru Panorama, I normally DIY but it suited me to book on a tour as we were short on time. The trip was amazing and I would recommend them highly !!

5p9arw38djv2b4

It might be a little early for the Inca trail in the of the weather, this year the trail was washed out (bad floods, including collapse of some buildings) in April. I've done the trail in May 16, and I would not do it earlier in the year than that due to seasonal rains. I've 2 friends who went this year - one march, one april, both had major weather issues.

Depending on your budget the original Inca trail is ace, amazing experience, but not cheap. You can do 4/5 day hikes through other Inca trails to Matchu P also, these are cheaper. We booked with Llama Path, very highly rated on Tripadvisor and they were excellent, unreal food, super guides. I have since recommended them to other people who also had great experiences. We booked to climb Huayna Picchu, the mountain looking over on M.P. - they only let 200 a day do it, if you can this is unreal.

Peru is great. Food is spectacular, and it has so much to offer - we were travelling in SA for a few months and had a month here, not nearly enoughif you like hiking go to Huaraz, north of Lima, there are incredible almost deserted hiking trips here in the mountains. Best hikes we have ever done (and that includes trips in Patagonia and Nepal). The hikes are also V cheap here. The Santa Cruz trek was brilliant.

We decided to use Peru Hop for buses as we wanted to be able to stop off. It's Irish owned and we got to places that we never thought about (like the sand dunes and desert). Itwas really quick for the areas we wanted to see too, no hassle travel and they can book your accommodation for you as you go. Might suit you if you usually travel independently, it was great to meet people and they dropped off at our accommodation even when we booked places that were far away. It was quite like using Stray in New Zealand.

Do the flights over the Nazca lines!

Spend time in Arequipa, what a city. Go to the convent.

Do the 3 day trek at the Colca Canyon.

Sundance_Kid

I'd recommend Llama Path also for the Inca Trail, did the 4D/3N trail with them. They were excellent, also had a good group of people which helped.

Arequipa is good too, we were there before the Inca Trail and did the Colca Canyon Trek. Did a 2D/1N trek there, booked it through the hostel. Was really good and tough, set us up nicely for more walking on the Inca Trail and helped get used to the altitude.
You can do the Colca Canyon over 3D/2N if you wish.

Pawwed Rig

Cuzco and surrounding country side has plenty to see and do.