The Amazon and Machu Picchu

Your Kuoda host will take you to the airport early in the morning for your flight to Puerto Maldonado. Once you touch down there, the Inkaterra team will be waiting for you and transport you by boat to the Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica lodge in Tambopata for an Amazon luxury travel experience. A delicious lunch companied by chilled juices will be served when you arrive at the lodge.

Get settled in before a guided jungle walk along the Reserva Amazonica natural area, where you will find Shihuahuaco trees that can slowly grow to the heights of 50 meters (164 feet) and a truck diameter of 1 meter (3.3 feet) over the course of 700 years. Learn about the strangler fig trees, or matapalos (literally “killer stick) and spot exotic jungle birds and insects.

As the sun set, take a ride on the Twilight River excursion – a guided boat ride downriver from the Inkaterra lodge. Here you will have the opportunity to witness the transformation of the Amazon jungle from a diurnal to a nocturnal world. You will enter a world inhabited with animals, amphibians, reptiles, and insects that have adapted to the life in the darkness.

Tonight, fall asleep to a symphony of jungle sounds!

Early this morning after breakfast, visit Lake Sandoval. Glide in a wooden canoe, across a beautiful mirror-like oxbow lake, which is home to the endangered river otter, as well as red howler monkeys, red-bellied macaws, anacondas, sick-neck turtles, and more!

Walk off lunch by exploring Inkaterra Canopy Walkway. The center consists of eight observation platforms, located 30 meters up in the jungle canopy and linked by suspension bridges. Be on a look-out for toucans, woodpeckers, trogons, monkeys and the three-toed sloth. After your descent from the Canopy, stroll along the Anaconda Walk and observe various species of amphibians, birds, mammals, and abundant flora and trees of this seasonal flooded marshland.

It is an early wake up again today, as you hop back in the boat to explore the Gamitana creek. For one and half hour, you will explore the rainforest along the banks of a winding dark-water creek that is home to piranha, caiman, turtles, and birds. Afterwards, visit Gamitana Model Farm and learn about an Amazon model farm and get the chance to make your own plaintain flour used to make bread for breakfast at the lodge.

After lunch, it is a 35 minute boat ride upstream to the Hacienda Concepcion – an extraordinary botanical garden with over 200 different species of the rainforest plants. Return to the lodge, this evening, experience the Rainforest by Night through the Inkaterra Ecological Reserve. During this two hour exploration, venture into the forest and spot creatures that only come out to play at night.

After breaktast this morning, bid the Amazon rainforest goodbye as your boat takes you back to Puerto Maldonado.  You will have time to visit the city’s Butterfly Farm, before the Inkaterra Team brings you to the airport for your flight to Cusco.

From Cusco, a guide will accompany you to the stunning Sacred Valley, whose bucolic farming and weaving towns – a few thousand feet lower in elevation than Cusco – are ideal for acclimatizing. On the way out there, stop at Awanakancha Living Museum. At this “living museum,” you’ll come face-to-face with some of South America’s most endearing inhabitants, including alpacas, llamas, vicuñas and guanacos, as well as learning about traditional weaving.

Today, your customized tour of Peru will take you into the Sacred Valley to the time-warp town of Ollantaytambo, where original Inca town planning – including the street canals – remains in place. Climb up past the fertile agricultural terraces, where locals tend to crops such as corn, potato and quinoa. Soon, you’ll reach the remains of the Inca Temple of the Sun, whose elevated position provides stellar valley views. A guide will show you around the rest of the ruins pointing out the storehouses where the Incas would have kept their crops as well as the quarries from where the giant stones were procured for the construction of this very complex.

Return to the valley to the small town of Pisac where you will visit the village and its vibrant artisan market. Here, stalls are stacked with all kinds of interesting items, from curious vegetables and plant-based dyes to artful textiles and ceramics. After shopping in the market, make your way up to the ruins which sit on a ridge overlooking the town. Admire the stonework and gaze over the terraces where the Incas themselves developed many of the thousands of potato species which Peru now famously produces.

Upon completion of your tour, we will bring you back to your hotel for an evening spent at leisure.

Prepare for a climactic day! In the morning, we will board the train in Ollantaytambo for our journey to Machu Picchu. Watch the cloud jungle pass by through the large glass windows! Upon arrival to Aguas Calientes, we’ll tuck in to an early lunch in order to refuel before ascending to Peru’s lost citadel.

After a bus ride to the gates of this wonder of the world, you will pass through the main gates with your private guide to finally emerge at the top of the world – Machu Picchu. The incredible Inca stone construction will be spread below, alternately hidden and revealed by clouds. Your expert guide will give you a private tour of the ancient city.

Upon conclusion of your tour, return for an evening in Aguas Calientes. Enjoy an excellent dinner on-site at your hotel and fall into bed, lulled to sleep by the sound of the cloud forest around you.

Today you have the option to hike two different trails – Huayna Picchu or Machu Picchu Mountain, so it’s completely up to you on how you would like to culminate your Machu Picchu luxury tour. Feeling adventurous? Consider hiking the steep slope of neighboring Huayna Picchu, which offers unrivalled views over Machu Picchu. Please note that only a limited amount of hikers are allowed to climb Huayna Picchu each day and tickets will need to be purchased in advance along with your Machu Picchu entrance.

In the afternoon, reconvene in Aguas Calientes and board the return train to Ollantaytambo. Your Kuoda host will meet you at the station and bring you to your hotel for a well-deserved good night’s rest.

It’s time to get acquainted with Cusco, a gorgeous city that wins the heart of most every traveler that passes through it. Get to know the real Cusco during a private tour. After breakfast, meet your guide and wander among the archaeological remains of Sacsayhuaman, where the Incas staged a great battle against the conquistadors. Return to the city and roam the atmospheric streets of the bohemian neighborhood of San Blas, which is known for its free-spirited scene. Explore Qoricancha and the Santo Domingo monastery (a colonial structure built on top of the ancient Inca temple of the sun); see where the locals make their grocery runs at the open-air San Pedro market and pass the famous 12-angled stone, whose image appears on the bottle of the local Cusqueña beer.

At the end of the tour, your guide will suggest places to visit for lunch

Going home is the worst part of any private Peru vacation, but at Kuoda, we’ll do our best to make it as smooth and hassle-free as possible. First, we’ll bring you to Cusco airport for your return flight to Lima. In Lima, a Kuoda host will meet you and take you to the seaside bohemian district of Barranco. See the streets of Barranco come alive as you visit a number of local art galleries and shops that support local artisans. Finally, enjoy a first-class gourmet meal featuring world-renowned Peruvian flavors in a restaurant of your choosing before returning to the airport for your journey home! Buen viaje!

Like the sound of this Amazon and Machu Picchu private tour? Get in touch with Kuoda and we’ll start crafting your very own customized private travel experience to Peru!