Is this a good fare for Peru?

camz09

Hi, I've been on the look out for flights to Peru and saw there's one for 3 weeks in May 2019 for around €603 return. I have no idea if this is a good deal or not, or should I keep looking? Help!

Quazzie

camz09 wrote: »

Hi, I've been on the look out for flights to Peru and saw there's one for 3 weeks in May 2019 for around €603 return. I have no idea if this is a good deal or not, or should I keep looking? Help!

Skyscanner can't even match that so I'd say that's a very good price. How many stops is it, and what are the flight durations?

camz09

Quazzie wrote: »

Skyscanner can't even match that so I'd say that's a very good price. How many stops is it, and what are the flight durations?

It's 1 stop at Newark, 3h layover, about 18 hours total flight. It's with United-Lufthansa.

Got the tip from Jack's Flight Club btw, who I discovered from boards ages ago.

Quazzie

camz09 wrote: »

It's 1 stop at Newark, 3h layover, about 18 hours total flight. It's with United-Lufthansa.

Got the tip from Jack's Flight Club btw, who I discovered from boards ages ago.

That's currently on Skyscanner at 650+. Looks like 603 is a good price so

woodchuck

It sounds like a very good price! We've paid about double that for return flights, booked ~4 months in advance.

camz09

woodchuck wrote: »

It sounds like a very good price! We've paid about double that for return flights, booked ~4 months in advance.

Oh wow. Thanks guys, might just bite into it. Any tips on Peru? This is quite spontaneous, although it's a few aways ahead and plenty of time for research. Think 3 weeks is a good enough amount of time, or?

woodchuck

camz09 wrote: »

Oh wow. Thanks guys, might just bite into it. Any tips on Peru? This is quite spontaneous, although it's a few aways ahead and plenty of time for research. Think 3 weeks is a good enough amount of time, or?

I haven't actually been yet, but we pretty much have everything booked now We're going for 3 weeks too. We did a LOT of research before pinning down our itinerary though. There is so much to choose from and we want to go at a reasonable pace too, so we had to make some tough decisions. Honestly, if I'd know in advance how much time/effort we'd need to put into the planning, I would've seriously considered going through a travel agent instead! I'm hoping all our research will pay off though

I don't have my excel sheet to hand (not even joking :pac:), but I'll post our itinerary later In particularly we've a few nights booked in the Amazon, which I'm hoping will be as amazing as it sounds!

In the meantime, here's a thread I started looking for advice earlier in the year
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=106211451

Fred Swanson

Anything sub 700 is a great deal.

woodchuck

We'll be starting in Lima - 1 day to relax and explore a bit, followed by a day trip to Paracas. Paracas isn't meant to be amazing, but I am an animal lover and wanted to make the most of Lima since we have to start and end our trip there!

Then we'll fly to Arequipa and spend 3 nights there. From Arequipa, we'll do a 2 day tour of Colca Canyon, staying overnight in Yanque. We've booked through Killawasi lodge, which got great reviews on tripadvisor and they organise transport to/from Arequipa. We'll spend one more night in Arequipa before flying to...

Cusco! We'll be spending 3 nights there, then we plan to get a collectivo to Ollantaytambo. We'll get to see the sights in the afternoon and the next morning get the train to Aguas Calientes. We've booked tickets to enter Machu Picchu that afternoon and the following morning. Then we'll travel back to Cusco and stay another couple of nights there to catch our breath.

Then we're flying to Puerto Maldonado and doing a 4 day 3 night trip in the Amazon jungle of Tambopata! We booked this through Chuncholodge - great reviews, they book your flights for you and have been very helpful by email so far. Then we fly back to Lima and home from there.

Other things we considered, but had to cut:
- Inca trail. I like the idea, but it (i) it eats into a few days of the itinerary and (ii)... I just don't think I'd be cut out for it physically! I'm happy enough to get there by train :P
- Nazca lines. I liked the idea of this, but it was just too far out of way for our itinerary.
- Lake Titicaca. I've heard very mixed things. I think it's the sort of place if you just stay overnight in Puno and go out to the floating islands for a few hours, it's not that great and very touristy. But it's meant to be amazing if you have the time to go out to the further islands and do a home stay - unfortunately we just didn't feel we'd have time for this.

If you want any more information (maybe later in the year once I've actually been there :P) just let me know!

Fred Swanson

How many days in total was your trip?

woodchuck

We haven't actually been yet But in total it will be 20 nights.

Fred Swanson

I was hoping to do a 7 to 10 day trip when the airfares are favourable.

woodchuck

Fred Swanson wrote: »

I was hoping to do a 7 to 10 day trip when the airfares are favourable.

We were initially planning on going for 2 weeks, but luckily we're able to push it out to 3 weeks. I can genuinely see how people would spend 2 or 3 months there! I know people who have done (fairly intense) 10 day trips though. It's definitely doable, it just depends how much you want to do and what pace you want to go at. Even though we didn't book with a travel agent, it could be worth dropping into one just to have a chat and get an idea of the itineraries they offer. If they have a 10 day trip, you might be able to organise something similar yourself at a cheaper rate.

We've just tried to build in some breathing space into the 3 weeks so that we're not constantly on the go. For example we could definitely spend fewer nights in Arequipa, Cusco and Lima to trim the fat. We're spending another 2 nights and 1 full day in Lima at the end, but that's because we know we'll be knackered from all the 4am starts in the jungle and don't want to hop straight on a long flight home! We also could've tried to shoehorn in Nazca and Puno/Titicaca, but it was just starting to sound like too much for us.

I'd recommend checking out Peruhop:
https://www.peruhop.com/passes/
It's a bus company that was started by a couple of Irish lads and I've heard great things about it. We were seriously considering this for a while, but decided flights were better for what we wanted to do (but we have booked our day trip to Paracas with them!).

camz09

Hi, just want to update I've officially booked my Peru trip in April-May next year, and just realised I'll be spending 20 nights there, too!

Your itinerary was so helpful to give me an idea... I think I'll be doing something similar, although not doing the Amazon area myself but similarly skipping Nazca and Puno/Lake Titicaca. I might try and squeeze in the north (Huaraz/Laguna 69) when I get back to Lima from Cusco. Hopefully I've acclimatised enough and/or not knackered from the Ollantaytambo/Sacred Valley/Cusco/MP leg of my trip :P

The only thing I'm having trouble about is skipping Ica/Huacachina (really want to check out the oasis for photography purposes, I'm not even into sandboarding tbh) but it seems to be less of a must-do than Arequipa and the Colca Canyon area. I think it will eat a few days trying to travel by bus and staying a few nights from Lima-Ica-Huacachina-Arequipa, so might actually just fly directly to Arequipa like you.

Safe travels, and hopefully you can come back with a review of your trip

Muahahaha

Try not to miss Huacachina if you can, the sand dunes there are stunning. Sandboarding is a waste of time, sand isnt slippy enough to get you properly moving so it is nothing like snowboarding. But a ride in a dune buggy is highly recommended and if photography is your thing then lots of opportunities.

woodchuck

camz09 wrote: »

Safe travels, and hopefully you can come back with a review of your trip

I'm back

I have to say, our time in the jungle was definitely the highlight of the trip. We booked the following tour directly with this lodge:
https://chuncholodge.com/tours/tambopata-expedition-4days/

Just something you might want to consider if you're still working on your itinerary! I'd be happy to answer any questions about it