My husband and I celebrated our 30th anniversary with a trip to Peru. I am the type to usually do all the legwork for our trips, and we have only traveled with a tour company once before. Wanting to be taken care of and not stress over the many transport details, tickets, hiring local guides etc., I decided to stalk the Trip Advisor forum and started looking at local travel companies. One that stood out above the rest was Kuoda. Review after review raved about the personalized service and wonderful guides, so I knew that was the company we would go with.

We are so happy that we did! Our trip was amazing from start to finish. Thomas was our trip planner, and he really listened to what we were interested in (nature/animals, archaeology, photography, food, being outdoors instead of in museums). He emailed back promptly with two very different itineraries, and we tweaked one of them to suit our desires. We chose Lima, the Amazon jungle, Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu, and Cusco. Every hotel met our expectations, and the pace of the itinerary was perfect.

In addition, little did we know that Thomas had scheduled two private lunches (one with a paso horse show on a hacienda), and let many of the hotels know we were on an anniversary trip which resulted in surprises in our rooms (bottle of wine, dessert tray, anniversary cake in the jungle, champagne in the Sacred Valley etc.). We felt very spoiled, and it was so much fun to celebrate at each new place! Another surprise was having tickets to hike Wayna Picchu. I had decided early on to forgo hiking as I have a knee injury I’ve been nursing so did not request a hiking ticket. Two days before our Machu Picchu date, our guide informed us that Kuoda always purchases the extra option to hike the mountain just in case their clients decide to hike. We totally embraced the opportunity and the views/experience were simply unforgettable!

I also can’t give enough praise to our guide Edward and driver Mr. Alfredo. Edward clearly loved sharing his country with us, and was a wonderful teacher. Being an educator myself, I thought it was humorous how he always would query us and make us think about the Quechua culture and why particular theories were shot down and the significance of why people did things a certain way. We learned so much, and it is evident how passionate Edward is about his country and culture. He was a perfect match for us; patient, jovial, and professional.

Every flight, boat ride, car transfer, and train ride was flawless. There were host/drivers to check us into our hotels and to check us into our flights. Lisa was our host in Cusco, and she met us just to walk us two blocks to our cooking class. Kuoda really has personal service down to a tee.

The cherry on the top was meeting Mery. The fact that she makes the time to meet/check in with travelers shows how much she values her clients and wants them to truly have a memorable vacation. She is genuinely kind and caring 🙂

Thank you, Kuoda, for an incredible trip! We are grateful for all the nice individuals who took care of us during our visit.

Ken and Tami
California