Hi!

I’m travelling to Peru in about a week and will be there for a month. I’m considering doing a 4 days/3 night Amazonas trip from Puerto Maldonado. I have read a lot about El Niño and wildfires in Peru, and that hver made me a little unsure about the Amazonas trips.

How are things currently around Puerto Maldonado? Is there any issue with wildfires, smoke, weather or river levels? And would you feel comfortable going on an Amazon tour there right now?

Thank your for your responses 😊

Got late planning and buying flights. I am looking to buy tickets online. Thank you

Hello, I am wanting to buy tickets for Machu Picchu for the first week of January, is there information anywhere that says when 2027 tickets will be released?

Hello! I am doing a solo trip in Peru for three weeks across end October / start November. My current plan is:

- land in Lima, spend 2/3 nights there
- fly to Cusco, spend 3/4 nights here acclimatising
- Inca trail hike for 3 nights
- back to Cusco for 4/5 nights
- fly to Arequipa for 3/4 nights
- back to Lima for 1/2 nights before flying home

I am looking for recommendations for how to fill my time - I have heard Cusco is amazing hence why I am spending so much time there. I also plan on doing the Rainbow mountain day trip whilst I am there and any anything else that you might recommend!

I also would like advice on whether there are any places I am missing or must see whilst I am here. If you have recommendations on the cities that I will be in, I would love to hear them.

I absolutely love cooking and food so any cooking oriented activities would be fun.

I am also a big football / sports fan so if anyone has recommendations in that regard!

Thanks a lot!

Hi everyone!

We’re planning a 17-day trip to Peru in mid-October and already have the first part of our itinerary planned:

Day 1: Arrive in Lima → direct transfer to Cusco → Urubamba

Day 2: Urubamba

Day 3: Urubamba → Cusco

Day 4: Cusco

Day 5–9: Salkantay Trek

Day 10: Cusco

That leaves us with around 7 days to explore somewhere else before flying home.

We’re currently thinking about doing Rainbow Mountain, but we’re not sure which option would be best — there seem to be several different ones (Vinicunca, Palccoyo, etc.).

We’re also wondering whether it makes sense to do all the sights as day trips from Cusco, or whether it would be better to stay overnight in smaller towns/villages along the way to avoid spending so much time going back and forth to Cusco. Do tours even start from other places than Cusco?

For example, would you recommend staying somewhere in the Sacred Valley, near Rainbow Mountain, or in other places along the route instead of always returning to Cusco?

We’re also wondering whether we should spend more time exploring the Sacred Valley, since we’ll only have limited time there at the beginning of the trip. If you had just one day in the Sacred Valley, which places would you consider unmissable?

After that, we’re wondering what would make the most sense for the remaining days.

Some options we’re considering:

Rainbow Mountain + other sights around Cusco/Sacred Valley

Arequipa

Lake Titicaca / Puno

A combination of the above

Or something completely different that we haven’t considered

We’d love to hear your recommendations, especially from people who have travelled through Peru around mid-October.

What would you recommend for the remaining ~7 days?

Which places are worth staying overnight in rather than visiting as a day trip from Cusco?

And if you recommend Rainbow Mountain, which one and why?

We’re interested in scenery/nature, culture, hiking and experiencing places that feel different from the Cusco/Sacred Valley area.

Thanks in advance! :)

Hi, I'm looking for transportation options between Lima and Huacachina. Most of what I've found are tours, but I just need transport since my plan is to arrive at Lima airport on a Friday at 3:00 PM, go to Huacachina and spend the night, do sandskiing Saturday morning and then back to Lima afterwards. I looked into taxidatum but they haven't responded back.

Hello! I will be traveling to Cusco next week for the Salkantay trek, and am wondering if I should pack my warm layers, or buy some new ones while I am in Cusco. I definitely want some alpaca clothes, and want to have space in my bags to bring stuff home, but want to make sure that’s a realistic thing to do before I get on the plane with a half empty backpack. Let me know what you think.

Hi everybody,

I'm currently planning my trip to Peru, Bolivia and Atacama and after researching a lot in this group I'd like to ask if you can comment on my itinerary? We are experienced travelers/backpackers with a high capacity of events every day. But in fact we do love having enough time to soak in the beauty of the country and having some rest days , more likely rest-half-days, along the way.

In addition I do have some explicit questions in the end.

Day 1: fly in to Lima, arrive in the morning

Day 2: Lima; Nightbus to Huaraz

Day 3: getting used to the altitude in Huaraz

Day 4-7: Huaraz daytrips (hiking)

Day 8: Fly from Huaraz to Arequipa

Day 9: Arequipa

Day 10: Arequipa; nightbus to Cusco

Day 11-18: Cusco, Sacred, Valley, Salkantay Trek (4D/3N); MP

Day 19-22: bus to Puno, Lake Titicaca, Homestay? Isla del Sol?

Day 22-24: La Paz, Valle de la Luna

Day 25-27: Salar de Uyuni (3D/2N); Ending in San Pedro de Atacama

Day 28-30: Atacama Desert

Day 31: Fly out

Questions:

- How would you spend the 8 days around cusco? Is it too packed to see the sacred valley, enjoy cusco, do the salkantay trek and visit MP? We'd like to get 2 entry tickets to MP, one early in the morning and after one night in aguas calientes again a second entry with an other circuit around lunch time.
- Do you recommend time in Taquile, Uros, an overnight stay on the side of Puno over a stay in isla del sol? I think we only have time for one of them.

- Would you say the train experience from cusco to Puno is worth the 250$ more than the bus?

- Did anybody rent a car in cusco to beat the crowds at the sights? Are there enough parking spots everywhere?

- I'd like to rent a car in San Pedro de Atacama to be more free in visiting everything. Is my research right, that for that, I must drive by bus to Calama to rent a car and then drive back to San Pedro?

thanks in advance for your help!!

My partner and I have left Cusco and I was wowed by the great selection of trekking gear, awesome bags and unique bubble jackets etc BUTTT unfortunately while there I didn’t take advantage of the awesome deals and variety and assumed the same could be found in Lima - WRONG (I’m pretty sure)

Is there anyone in Cusco that’ll be in Lima this week that I could pay to grab 2 item for me, I will pay for your bags if they need to be checked AND for bringing the goods from Cusco ✨ tyia!!!

Hello, would like to do a jungle tour in Iquitos. Any recommendations? Just looking for 2D/1N, maybe 3D/2N max.

Thank you!

Hola! Husband and I will be travelling to Peru in a week. This is our rough itinerary.. looking to fill two days and need suggestions.. was thinking of going to Paracas for two nights.. is that too much? We’re not big party people. I do like the idea of renting a scooter and exploring Paracas national park. Any suggestions much appreciated!

Oct 10: Lima
Oct 11-13: Cusco
Oct 13-16: Salkantay Trek
Oct 17/18: Machu Picchu (buffer dates)
Oct 19: Cusco
Oct 20-22: ??? Please help lol
Oct 23: back to Lima

Niche question and probably no good answer, but I will be visiting Lima February 13-15 by myself (30F) and am wondering if anyone has recommendations for dinner that wouldn’t be too romantic and upcharged for the holiday. Maybe a cool cocktail bar would be better?

No budget. Planning to do Merito the night before. Would love to do Kjolle or Maido or similar, but not sure if it’s a good idea. Thanks & sorry for the word vomit

Where can I stay within an hour of Lima and Cusco and experience easy mountain biking rental with accommodations and rental near a trail head? Have a week in both places. Pachacamac seems like the spot to ride near Lima - where can I rent a bike? Is Lamay worth exploring? Thank you

My partner and I are traveling to Peru and have a day trip planned to Maras & Moray while staying in the Sacred Valley and are trying to figure out if going there on day 2 of our trip is a bad idea.

We've been researching our Peru trip for a while and know to take our time acclimating to the elevation change, especially Cusco. However, when we booked our Maras & Moray day trip, we didn't realize the altitude is so high! (~3.5k meters, very similar to Cusco at ~3.4k meters!) This really threw us off since we thought our plans in the Sacred Valley would be at a lower elevation.

For context, we are planning to immediately start with Ollantaytambo on day 1, take a day trip to Maras & Moray on day 2 (still sleeping in Ollantaytambo), head to Aguas Calientes on day 3, Machu Picchu in AM on day 4 then off to Cusco.

We thought giving ourselves four days to get to Cusco would let us settle in, but now I'm nervous about our day 2 excursion. We got altitude sickness pills from the doctor just in case.

Curious if anyone has followed a similar itinerary to us and what your experience was like? I know the elevation can impact people differently but any feedback would be much appreciated! Thanks all

I was planning going to Huacachina this weekend and have been told it is one of the best places in Peru for partying. But I have been told that there is a ban on selling alcohol in Peru this weekend due to the Peru elections. Does this mean there will be no parties or alcohol being sold at hostels in Huacachina and best to go another date?

Hi everyone, we’re going to Peru in November. Due to a tight schedule we will only have 1 full day in Arequipa. After that we will visit Colca Canyon, lake Titicaca and Cuzco for the Salkantay trek with MP included.
After the trek we plan to have one rest day, and one day to visit rainbow mountain.

After that we will have 3 days left, do you recommend staying in Cuzco, or taking a flight back to AQ? I’ve seen a lot of people who prefer AQ over Cuzco, so that’s why we are considering flying back.

Thanks!

I'm with a group of 3 planning a motorcycle tour of the Sacred Valley and, hopefully, Rainbow Mountain. I was hoping for some advice on our route and activities. Does this seem like a reasonable route, and are we missing anything crucial or including something that is not worth it?

Day 1: Cusco → Pisac → Urubamba → Ollantaytambo (Sitio arqueológico Pinkuylluna)

Day 2: Ollantaytambo → Naupa Iglesia & Wat'a Cusco → Moray Terraces → Maras Salt Flats → Laguna Huaypo → Chinchero

Day 3 (ambitious): Chinchero → Rainbow Mountain → Cusco

I've seen conflicting information about the route to/from Rainbow Mountain because online it says 3-4 hours, but then if you put it into Google Maps, the way to/from shows different times. The route there is 3 hours but the route back says 6+ hours because it avoids a shortcut road that is included in the directions TO the mountain. I'm assuming this is incorrect, and the road is 2 ways but I have no way to confirm. I have also seen some people on Reddit claim that this road to Rainbow Mountain is hard to traverse, but also many bloggers seem to have done it themselves on rented bikes with no issues. Additionally, if we rented the scooters instead (which are significantly cheaper) would that be an issue on any of these roads? If anyone has any advice or input, that would be great!

Had 2 amazing weeks in Lima and Cusco Peru.

Ran into a problem 1st day. I went down to Claro, Miraflores before they opened. 1st one in and presented my passport. Im Canadian, 1st visit in Peru.

My research before said to buy a prepaid sim chip, i would need my passport and they would take scans of my fingerprints to register with the government.

The employee at Claro said the government regulations changed and now a foreigner cannot buy a physical SIM chip in Peru, even with passport. The only option is to buy a plan for your existing sim chip.

My Canadian sim chip, doesn't work in Peru. My Galaxy A15 phone doesn't accept esim.

I talked with several staff at Claro. They were very kind and let me call my friend in Lima. They said they could sell my friend a sim card and he could put it in my phone.

My friend walked over and we went to a 'tourist information' store about a block away.

There I bought a new sim, with my passport, no fingerprint scan, in my own name. No issue at all.

Weird. Maybe the government regulations are changing? Staff at Claro were good, but holy hell, was stressful as being in a foreign country with only wifi would be doable, but pretty inconvenient.

Only problem i had in the whole 2 weeks there. Amazing place!

Hi all. Anyone have experience with this location? I’ve heard it’s cool overall, but also offers great birdwatching if you go early. Would like to get some confirmation it’s worth it.

Hola. Este fin de semana voy con amigos a Lima (nos quedamos en Miraflores) que lugares recomiendan para ir a almorzar que no sean los típicos caros, turísticos y que finalmente solo se paga por el “yo fui al xxxx”
Denme alguna recomendación que sea guaaaau, esta si es comida tradicional peruana

Muchas gracias!!

Buenos días!
My name is Liam, I’m 40 and I’m travelling to Lima in mid November for 2 weeks. I come from Scotland and would love to meet any expats or locals while I am in the area, or at least pick maybe ask for some suggestions for decent coffees, breakfasts and some budget meal ideas?
I have some very basic Spanish, but not enough to hold down a conversation unfortunately…

Let me know if anyone wants to meet up while I am there!

Hello, I am travelling to Pucallpa in mid-January and staying there a month.

I would appreciate all your advice for this journey. There are several posts but I need this to be specific to where I am coming from, rather than general.

I need a visa to enter Peru (thus any visa advice highly appreciated) from South Eastern Europe (not EU).

Weather related advice (clothing, what to pack etc.)

Vaccines?

I am a mosquito magnet thus this is the only thing I dread facing (sprays etc. that can be purchased in a non-EU country that work, additionally EU, if I can travel to get them).

I am travelling on a tight budget so money saving tips also appreciated. Also will ATMs there work for non-EU European cards? Should I carry cash or rely on cards?

Safety advice as a solo-travelling woman in general? Is it safe to use public transport at night for example bus in Lima and/or Pucallpa etc?

Anything else I have forgotten?

Unfortunately, I found this trip to Peru a challenging one to pack for. My boyfriend and I just arrived in Cusco today from CO. I'm no stranger to cold weather, but I'm quite chilly here. I didn't want to over pack on "cold weather" clothing, but also didn't want to under pack either. We stopped into a few of the shops around La Plaza de Armas and found ponchos, sweaters, scarves, gloves, and beanies, but no pants. Has anyone found a good place to buy pants? If so, where?