Ten days is the length I suggest when you want Lima, the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu, and Lake Titicaca without pretending you can also do the Amazon. It matches the Complete Peru shape on the homepage: from 10 days, price on request, internal flights where the route needs them.
What follows is one way I shape those days. It is not a departure date, and it is not a package with a code. If your children, your honeymoon, or a shorter vacation argue for less, I will cut the lake before I will compress the altitude. The reasoning is in how many days you need in Peru.
Why the order is the point
Lima is at sea level. Use it first, including the day you land. The Sacred Valley towns where you sleep sit lower than Cusco, which is about 3,400 meters. Machu Picchu itself is about 2,430 meters. Lake Titicaca, at 3,812 meters, comes last. Reverse that and the first memory of the trip is a headache.
A ten-day rhythm
Day 1
Lima, arrival
Private transfer from Jorge Chávez. Miraflores, an early night. Nothing that has to be "achieved."
Day 2
Lima, properly
Huaca Pucllana, Barranco or the historic center, and one meal that was reserved ahead. A well-known dining room if that is the table you want and it is still open. A quieter room if it is not.
Day 3
Fly to Cusco, sleep in the valley
The flight is short. The drive down into the Sacred Valley is the point. A light afternoon. No ruin that requires a climb.
Day 4
Sacred Valley
Pisac's terraces, and either the market (Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday) or Chinchero's weavers. Maras and Moray can take the place of one of those, not all of them. The night is still in the valley.
Day 5
Ollantaytambo and the train
Morning at the living Inca town, then PeruRail or Inca Rail to Aguas Calientes. Night by the river so the citadel morning is not a race from Cusco.
Day 6
Machu Picchu
Your guide, the circuit and time we reserved, the bus up from town. Afternoon train back toward the valley or Cusco, unless you want a second night in Aguas Calientes. This day is the private Machu Picchu tour.
Day 7
Cusco, or a slow day
The city if you have the energy. A quiet hotel day if you do not. Altitude is still real at 3,400 meters. I will not fill this day to justify the invoice.
Day 8
Cusco to Puno
The road takes about 10 hours. We stop on the altiplano when you want the day to be part of the trip, and we drive it straight when you do not. PeruRail's scenic train covers the same journey on selected days and also takes most of the day. It is not a faster option. Both routes cross a pass higher than Cusco.
Day 9
The lake
Uros, then Taquile if the night in Puno was kind. An overnight on Amantani means dropping something else. In ten days, that something is usually this comfortable lodge night, so we choose on purpose.
Day 10
Fly out of Juliaca
About 45 minutes from Puno to Juliaca, then a flight, usually through Lima. If your international connection is the same day, we protect the layover. If it is tight, the honest fix is an extra night in Lima, which is why ten days is a starting length.
What I change without being asked twice
- A honeymoon often drops the long road to Puno and keeps another night in the valley.
- A family often shortens Day 4 and refuses a dawn train.
- Anyone who only came for the citadel should not be talked into the lake. Five or six days, done well, beat a rushed ten.
- The Amazon does not fit. That is the Grand Expedition, from 15 days, described with the other shapes on luxury private tours in Peru.
June through August: the Machu Picchu entry has to be requested early, or the day above moves. I would rather shift Day 6 than hand you a ticket for a circuit you will resent.
This page is in English. The Spanish overview of a trip built the same way is viaje de lujo a Perú a medida. Write me in either language. Price on request. WhatsApp is +51 982 521 128. I'm Francisco, APOTUR AP030-11, in Lima.
Send me your dates. I'll tell you if ten days is the right length.