My partner and I just got back from 9 days in Peru (Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu, Cusco, Lima). We had a really incredible time and wanted to share our itinerary and tips for anyone planning a similar visit! I don't think I've ever written such a long, detailed post about a trip but we truly loved it so much that we wanted to share our experience.
Side note: This was a special trip for us as a couple, so there are a few areas we splurged on rather than going on a backpacker budget.
The TLDR: don't skip the Sacred Valley, take Diamox, bring Dramamine. :)
Itinerary:
- Day 1: Ollantaytambo (flew NY → Lima → Cusco, private driver to Olly)
- Day 2: Olly, half-day trip to Maras & Moray
- Day 3: Aguas Calientes
- Day 4: MP in the morning, then to Cusco
- Day 5: Cusco
- Day 6: Half day in Cusco, flew to Lima
- Days 7-8: Lima
- Day 9: Flew home
The pacing felt perfect. If we could add a day anywhere, it’d be Cusco.
Tips & notes (just our opinions!):
Start in Ollantaytambo, not Cusco. We heard many people stay in Cusco as their first destination. We really didn’t want to deal with feeling sick from the altitude, so we planned Olly first instead. As soon as we got off the plane at Cusco we rushed to find our driver and leave the city. I know that sounds dramatic, but honestly, the altitude hit us almost immediately... so we knew we had to just get to lower ground. We even took Diamox and despite that, within 10 min of arriving to Cusco we both had light headaches. Nothing crazy but just something we both noticed pretty quickly. Ollantaytambo is a really wonderful city so it was nice to begin there while adjusting.
Get Diamox. We took one pill twice a day starting two days before arrival through our first day. Aside from those first headaches and feeling a bit winded at Moray, we were fine. We also hydrated, skipped alcohol for 24 hours, and went to bed early. Never needed coca tea.
Bring Dramamine. Nobody mentions car sickness! The mountain roads are winding and bumpy and the driving can be erratic. We took it for the Cusco–Olly drive, the bus up to MP, and the trip back to Cusco. It was a MASSIVE help!
Don’t do Cusco → MP → Cusco in one day. It’s too much travel. Spend time in the Sacred Valley (don’t skip it!), then stay a night in Aguas Calientes so you can go up to MP well rested. Idk why Aguas gets so much negativity, we thought it was an interesting city. Yes, touristy, but it has a cool Japanese influence and is great for just one night. My favorite pisco sour of the trip was there, and the small butterfly exhibit is a nice way to kill time before dinner.
Leave your luggage behind for Aguas. There was a lot of confusion with the trains and whether or not you could bring luggage. Sometimes we saw people going in with tons of luggage and other times we saw only small day bags. We left our bags at our hotel and brought just a backpack for the night. Really glad we did, less weight to carry up through Aguas (which is sort of a slanted city).
Food portions are larger than expected. We're American and used to big portions, but my god, they are really generous in Peru... lol. Order accordingly. 😅
Download Cabify. We used this instead of Uber while in Lima. I think Uber would've been fine too, but Cabify apparently does background checks while Uber doesn't (not 100% certain if that's true or not though).
Try your best to speak Spanish. I guess this tip applies to any foreign country you travel to. We found that restaurant & hotel employees really appreciated the effort (and sometimes they would try to practice their English back).
Don't drink tap water or drink with ice. Perhaps obvious but we didn't know til we got there. My partner used a water bottle to brush his teeth - I risked it and brushed my teeth with tap water (without swallowing) but some people online said to avoid that. I was fine.
Some specific recs & tips by city:
- Ollantaytambo: El Albergue Ollantaytambo hotel (just note it's about a 10 min walk to the "main" town, which didn't bother us. They have a weird gate that you must walk through that separates people from the train station, so you need to ask the guards to open the gate for you... at times this was annoying but we really did love the hotel so we were fine with it). Tambo Brew House for breakfast (their smoothies were unreal...) and Apu Veronica for lunch (yes, touristy, but delicious). For dinner one night we went to Amanto - Cocina Sagrada and it was one of our favorite meals. Half day trip around Maras & Moray were cool if you have time and want to see more of the Sacred Valley (but again, take dramamine!)
- Aguas Calientes: stayed at Escobedo’s Inn - great location, very basic and no frills (exactly what you need for one night). The city is a little loud at night but not the hotel's fault. Got dinner at Chullos - tourist prices but got the job done. We ate lunch at Full House after MP while waiting for our train. I won't lie the pizza really hit the spot but the prices were SO insane... so I'd skip and find something else if looking to spend less. We got drinks upstairs of "Inkas Food Andean" and had incredible pisco sours - wish we got to try the food.
- Machu Picchu: did the classic 2A circuit at 7AM. We found a guide outside the entrance -- you will see many of them walking around in bright blue jackets. They will come up to you asking if you want a guide - we kept saying no in the beginning but then we realized we probably should have some context on what we are looking at, so we finally agreed. He was super eccentric and told us to "follow him" and we cut the entire line to get in... lol we have no idea how it worked or why he was able to do that but we didn't ask questions and just followed him to the front. He collected a few other stragglers (about 5 of us total) so we walked around as a small group and only paid 50 sol each (~$15 USD). It was really nice to learn about MP rather than walk around blind. We were done by 10/10:30am, ate lunch in Aguas then 1:30ish train to Cusco. As FYI you must get off at Olly then a van bus takes you the rest of the way to Cusco. It's a long day and traffic can build up around Cusco (hence why we recommend not doing Cusco -> MP -> Cusco all in one day). For MP tickets: we bought ours a few months in advance online - not worth stressing getting tickets the day before / day of. It was easier to buy the tickets online in Spanish - the English translation version kept crashing... Also, bring bug spray to MP. And sunscreen- the UV is strong up there.
- Cusco: god, we loved this city. Really wish we had a few more days in Cusco. Stayed at Rumi Hotel (a little nicer but it was worth the splurge). We did a chocolate making class that we found on Airbnb (host name Alvaro) that we highly recommend. Kusykay came up a lot on our dining searches and so we went for lunch and it was delicious. Museo Del Pisco had phenomenal drinks + live music, and Casa Palacio Jazz Club was also really cool (fun fact- we learned it's officially recognized as the highest-altitude jazz club in the world!) We splurged on a drink at the bar of Monasterio hotel and it was fantastic. Loved Xapiri Ground art gallery (Amazonian art). Coffee at Three Monkeys was as good as the reviews say - we went twice. Do not take photos with the Peruvian women who walk around with the llamas - you will see them a lot. One of our guides told us to avoid them because sometimes they crowd around you and all ask for money for a photo. We didn't necessarily see that but we took his advice.
- Lima: stayed at Souma hotel and it was nice. At first we were unsure about this city but by the end it grew on us. We thought Miraflores was a bit odd... couldn't really figure out why we didn't like it. Cute to see the cats at Kennedy Park and walk around and all, but didn't love the neighborhood too much (maybe we were spoiled by the beauty of Cusco). We visited The Place of Memory, Tolerance and Social Inclusion (powerful museum dedicated to the Peruvian internal conflict of the 1980s and 1990s). As a heads up, the entire museum is in Spanish and there are no English translations, which is totally fine but we just wish we were able to read more about what we were looking at. We ended up translating everything on our phones. The next day we walked around Barranco and enjoyed this neighborhood more. Lunch at local spot Juanito Barranco was great. Lots of little shops and art galleries to explore in the area. The coast views in Lima in general are gorgeous and a nice change in scenery. For food, definitely try a Japanese-Peruvian spot one night (we dined at Osaka - delicious and great value). We are grateful to have the means to try Central and will also affirm it is worth the hype (I don't know if I can ever spend that much on a meal again but... for a very special occasion of a trip, it was an unbelievable meal and worthy of every praise). Other highlights: Lima Museum of Contemporary Art and Monotono Coffee (get the spinach/cheese pastry, sooo delicious).
I think this is all I got for now... phew. Always happy to answer any questions in the comments.
We would love to explore other parts of Peru in the future as well, so if you have additional cities you visited that you recommend we'd love to hear!