Peru
Fly over the mysterious Nazca Lines, discover the Ballestas Islands and explore Lake Titicaca, the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu
Empire of the Sun Tour - 13 Night Itinerary
Explore the Ballestas Islands & fly over the Nazca lines before flying to Lake Titicaca discovering the ancient Incas in the Sacred Valley, Cusco, Machu Picchu. Enjoy a day through scenic Andean landscapes from Lake Titicaca to Cusco.
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Travel Highlights
- Enjoy a guided tour of Lima visiting the Larco Herrera Museum with its famous collection of pre-Inca gold
- Explore the west coast desert region including a flight over the mysterious Nazca Lines
- Take a boat trip to the Ballestas Islands and explore Paracas National Park
- Visit Lake Titicaca, home to small communities preserving their ancient traditions
- Take a once-in-a-lifetime journey across the Andean Altiplano from Lake Titicaca to Cusco
- Discover the hilltop Inca ruins and see rural Peruvian life in the Sacred Valley
- Be guided around the historic streets of Cusco, former Inca capital
- Marvel at Machu Picchu, the lost citadel of the Incas, hidden in lush cloud forest
Tour Route
- Lima - 2 Nights
- Flight over the Nazca Lines - 1 Night
- Ballestas Islands and return to Lima - 1 Night
- Lake Titicaca - 2 Nights
- Sacred Valley of the Incas - 3 Nights
- Machu Picchu - 1 Night
- Cusco - 3 Nights
This itinerary can be tailored to your preferences by our specialist advisors, who can provide a guaranteed price based on your choice of departure date, route, duration, flights, cabin, hotels, transport and excursions.
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Tour Itinerary
Lima
2 NightsDay 1 - Fly to Lima
Day 2 - Arrive and guided tour
Day 3 - Optional tours and excursions
- Full Description
- Accommodation
Fly to Lima
Depart the UK on an overnight flight to Lima.
Friday, 05 June 2026
Arrive in Lima and guided tour
Arrive in Lima in the morning and transfer to your chosen hotel for a 2-night stay including breakfast.
In the afternoon, your guide will showcase the historic old centre of Lima, with its fascinating colonial history and architecture. The tour also includes a visit to the Larco Herrera Museum where you can admire the famous collection of pre-Inca gold.
Saturday, 06 June 2026
Optional Tours and excursions
Today is free for you to enjoy exploring Lima at your leisure or opt for a guided tour to the Pachacamac ruins, a sacred and ceremonial site dating back to the beginnings of Christianity - or perhaps a culinary tour of Lima by night.
Marvin Abato
Allpa
This small contemporary hotel is located in the heart of Miraflores, with plenty of access to local conveniences such as restaurants and shops. The rooms are comfortable, spacious and modern although simple in character, and all with modern amenities such as WiFi, air conditioning and private facilities. The hotel has a bar and restaurant serving…
Casa Andina Select Miraflores
The 4* Casa Andina Select Miraflores Hotel is located near the Kennedy Park and a few minutes away from the main shopping centres and restaurants of Miraflores. It’s a hotel that combines a contemporary Andean design.
The air-conditioned superior rooms are well-appointed with private bathroom, hair dryer, coffee making facilities, safe, iron and other facilities.…
Hotel "B"
A superbly renovated family house in the bohemian area Barranco, Arts Hotel "B" is a fusion of high-ceiling historical elegance and modern cultural sophistication. The rooms are spacious and elegant with modern amenties, some with balconies overlooking the boulevard or the square. The restaurant offers excellent modern Peruvian cuisine, providing the highest levels of service.
Accommodation…
Flight over the Nazca Lines
1 NightDay 4 - Flight over the Nazca Lines
- Full Description
Flight over the Nazca Lines
Travel by road to Paracas and onto your hotel for a 1-night stay on a bed and breakfast basis. Transfer to Pisco Airport for your flight over the Nazca Lines in the afternoon.
These are an incredibly precise collection of figures and lines, as yet unexplained but may represent an astronomical calendar. The images include that of a monkey, hummingbird, whale and astronaut. It is an extra-ordinary experience you will never forget. Lunch is included today.
Ballestas Islands and return to Lima
1 NightDay 5 - Explore Paracas, the Ballestas Islands & return to Lima
- Full Description
Boat trip to the Ballestas Islands & return to Lima
This morning we transfer to the port and enjoy a boat trip to the Ballestas Islands, a series of protected rocky islets home to many species of birds and wildlife including sea lions, Humboldt penguins, boobies, cormorants, seals, pelicans and dolphins. It is quite a magical trip.
Continue to Paracas National Park and admire the dramatic coastline, birds and wildlife.
Later, return by road to Lima and check into a hotel near the airport ready for your journey tomorrow to Lake Titicaca.
Lake Titicaca
2 NightsDay 6 - Fly to Lake Titicaca
Day 7 - Boat excursion exploring Lake Titicaca
- Full Description
- Accommodation
Fly to Lake Titicaca
Transfer to the airport and fly to Puno. On arrival, our guide will transfer you to your chosen hotel for a 2-night stay including breakfast. The rest of the day is at leisure.
Wednesday, 10 June 2026
Boat excursion exploring Lake Titicaca
We explore the lake by boat visiting the Uros & Taquile Islands. The Uros natives set-up their home 500 years ago on islands of floating totora reeds which grow abundantly in the shallow waters of the lake. This traditional method is still used to create their boats, houses and islands.
Afterwards we visit the beautiful and timeless island of Taquile, renowned for its fine weaving and vibrantly coloured clothes.
Manuel Quispe
Tierra Viva
Located on Jirón Grau, in the historic centre of Puno, only one block away from the Cathedral and easy access to the main square. It is also close to Lima Street, which is the most commercial and cosmopolitan street in the city where you can enjoy the best restaurants, popular art shops, and artistic bars.
…
Casa Andina Premium
The Casa Andina Premium, Puno is a few minutes’ walk outside of Puno city centre, including Lima Street which is very popular amongst tourists and locals alike.
The hotel lobby boasts a stone fireplace, ideal for warming up after being out in cold weather. It has 53 rooms, all with TV, FREE Wi-Fi, telephone, en-suite bathroom…
Titilaka Lodge
Experience Lake Titicaca on a secluded private peninsula staying in a luxury lodge on the lake shore.
Titilaka Lodge features sumptuous lake view suites, intimate fireside dining, wraparound terraces, and a heated outdoor pool. A serene setting, surrounded by incomparably blue waters, graced with dramatic dawns and spectacular sunsets.
The lodge is all-inclusive, with 18…
Sacred Valley of the Incas
3 NightsDay 8 - Inka Express Bus Journey to the Sacred Valley of the Incas
Day 9 - At leisure in the Sacred Valley
Day 10 - Tour the Sacred Valley of the Incas
- Full Description
- Accommodation
Inka Express Bus Journey to the Sacred Valley of the Incas
Today we travel by bus for approximately 10 hours visiting the most important attractions of the route “Ruta del Sol“. En route you will be inspired by the impressive Altiplano landscape, dry and barren scenery with wide views, lots of vicuñas and local communities.
Our first stop is the stepped pyramid elaborated by the villagers of Pukara, 106 kms to the north of Cusco, over 3,500 years old. It is impressive and enigmatic. We cross La Raya pass at an altitude of 4319 m. From here we descend through a marvellous valley cultivated with lots of crops such as corn and potatoes.
Before arriving to Cusco visit Andahuaylillas, whose famous colonial church is known as the “Sixtine Chapel of the Americas” because of its beautiful painted ceiling and other art treasures. We also visit Raqchi, a great temple complex and our first encounter with Inca Ruins.
Inca walls, colourful costumes, churches built on top of palaces, citadels lost in the Andean heights, legendary roads, all the beauty of a glorious past that enfolds the visitor who arrives in Cusco, the sacred city of the Incas and archaeological capital of the Americas.
On arrival in Cusco we will transfer to our hotel in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, where we stay for three nights.
Friday, 12 June 2026
At leisure in the Sacred Valley
Today you have the flexibility to pursue your own interests or take an optional excursion.
Saturday, 13 June 2026
Tour the Sacred Valley of the Incas
Starting early in the morning we visit the colourful Chinchero market which offers a fabulous insight into the local indigenous people and well-known for their woven handcrafts, and visit a workshop to meet local artisans.
From here we drive to the Moray Ruins, an ancient Inca open-air crop laboratory before visiting the pre-Inca salt mines of Maras, located on a wide-open hill above the Urubamba Valley. We visit a beautiful Spanish hacienda and the fortress of Ollantaytamba, intricately designed with geometrically straight streets and Inca drainage system.
From here we travel to the colonial town of Pisac, built on the ruins of an Inca citadel and located at the entrance of the Urubamba Valley, before taking a short drive up the mountain to a vantage point with spectacular views of the surrounding landscape.
Fernando Chara
Pakaritampu
The Pakaritampu Hotel is located in Ollantaytambo in the heart of the Sacred Valley; ideally situated for exploring the Sacred Valley, starting the Inca Trail, and taking the train to Aguas Calientes. The hotel has large gardens hosting a variety of local plants and flowers and is a series of four separate buildings, built according…
Casa Andina Premium
Casa Andina Premium Sacred Valley is located in the heart of the Sacred Valley of the Incas, just 10 km from Ollantaytambo train station. The hotel is surrounded by beautiful gardens and offers an Andean spa and a Gym, restaurant, bar, room service, telescope to view the night sky and business centre with internet access. From…
Sol Y Luna, Relais & Chateaux
Located in Huicho in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, the Sol y Luna has a stunning setting between the snow-capped mountain ranges of the Cordillera del Vilcanota and the Cordillera del Vilcabamba.
The hotel is a series of adobe bungalows, each with private facilities and a terrace, decorated in a rustic style and set…
Machu Picchu
1 NightDay 11 - Guided tour of Machu Picchu
- Full Description
- Accommodation
Guided tour of Machu Picchu
Today we travel by train to Machu Picchu, on the "Vistadome" which offers a spectacular journey through breathtaking natural scenery and landscapes. We will set off early to catch the trail from Ollantaytambo Railway station, to board the train that runs from the Sacred Valley to the Aguas Calientes village located at the foot of Machu Picchu. We then travel by road up the mountain before reaching Machu Picchu, located on a majestic mountain plateau straddling the mountains edge and with steep terraces sloping downwards, it is not surprising this city was lost for 400 years. We have lunch at the Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge before taking a guided tour of the site to explore these stunning ruins.
El Mapi
A smart and contemporary hotel, located in the heart of Machu Picchu town (Aguas Calientes); the perfect spot to start enjoying a once in lifetime experience to the Citadel of Machu Picchu: the Lost City of the Incas. El Mapi hotel is located just a few steps from the main square and the train station,…
Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo
Conveniently located next to the train station in Aguas Calientes, all cabanas have spacious rooms with en-suete bathrooms and are set amongst dense vegetation with gardens spread through the grounds, linked by winding paths. there is a restaurant & bar, a spa, walks and an orchid trail, that combined with the lush vegetation of the…
Sanctuary Lodge, Belmond Hotels
Set in its own gardens and the only hotel in such close proximity to the magical ruins, the Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge offers twenty-nine well-appointed rooms and two suites. Also located just outside the gates to the Lost city of the Incas, this beautiful hotel is the only one to command views of the site.…
Cusco
3 NightsDay 12 - Explore Machu Picchu and travel to Cusco
Day 13 - Guided tour of Cusco & nearby ruins
Day 14 - At leisure in Cusco
Day 15 - Return flight to the UK
Day 16 - Arrive in the UK
- Full Description
- Accommodation
Explore Machu Picchu and travel to Cusco
Enjoy the morning at leisure to further explore the site. You have the flexibility of persuing your own interests. You may wish to climb Huayna Picchu, offering fantastic views of the valley and a different perspective of Machu Picchu. Alternatively, a gentler climb is the Inca Trail to the Intipunku also known as "the Gate of the Sun". In the afternoon, we take the Vistadome train back to Ollantaytambo Station from where we continue our journey back to Cusco, and transfer to our hotel where we stay for 3 nights.
Tuesday, 16 June 2026
Guided tour of Cusco & nearby ruins
Beginning in the main square of Cusco we visit the cathedral, built by the Spanish on Inca foundations and with an unusually variation of the Last Supper. From the city centre we travel into the mountains above Cusco to visit the archeological sites of Sacsayhuaman and Qenko. The mighty fortress and complex of Sacsayhuaman was built with massive stones, some weighing over 100 tons and placed together like a jigsaw.
On the return journey we stop at a fantastic vantage point with a superb view of the city and surrounding mountains.
Wednesday, 17 June 2026
At leisure in Cusco
A full day at leisure in Cusco to explore the city, relax, take an optional extra excursion, or simply enjoy the surroundings and atmosphere of this magnificent city.
Thursday, 18 June 2026
Return flight to the UK
Afternoon flight to Lima, connecting with the British Airways return overnight flight home.
Friday, 19 June 2026
Arrive in the UK
Tierra Viva Centro
Located just 4 blocks away from the main square in the historical centre of Cusco, the Terra Viva Hotel has a lovely enclosed colonial terrace to relax.
There are 43 rooms all overlooking the terrace, each with private bathroom and a safe.
Public areas include the breakfast dining area and internet centre.
The rates include…
Casa Andina Premium
This beautifully renovated 18th-century manor house, just 4 blocks from Cusco’s main square – Plaza de Armas, is complete with authentic colonial character. It offers the intimacy of a boutique hotel but the comforts and services of a much larger property.
The hotel has 93 air-conditioned rooms offering private bathroom, safe, minibar, safe, TV, kettle and…
Casa Cartagena Boutique Hotel & Spa
With an excellent central location, Casa Cartagena Boutique Hotel & Spa is one of the most luxurious hotels in Cusco. Enjoy unique beauty of its ancient walls which combine Inca stones with colonial architecture.
The hotel has only sixteen ample and homely suites which combine to perfection modern and ancient, luxurious and historical. The exclusive…
Price Guidelines
| Season | Low Season | High Season | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Travel Dates | March - June & September - November | July - August & December - February | ||||
| Room Arrangement | Tourist | First | Deluxe | Tourist | First | Deluxe |
| Multiple Travellers - Twin Rooms | £5,242 | £5,686 | £6,966 | £5,742 | £6,186 | £7,464 |
Prices are a guideline per person, for travel within the next year and booking early and are subject to availability. Please see below what is included and request a detailed quotation with a guaranteed price for your specific departure date and for Special Events, Summer, Christmas, New Year's Eve & Easter.
What's Included
- 16 Days / 13 Nights
- International flights (2 overnight)
- Domestic flights
- Special flight over the Nazca Lines
- Boat trip to the Ballestas Islands
- Excursions with English-speaking guides
- Accommodation and breakfast
- Transfers to and from accommodation
- Transport and meals as show
- Exclusive list of restaurant suggestions
Complete a form or call our specialist advisors to start planning your trip. Please provide as much information as possible, and we will aim to respond to your enquiry the same or next working day.
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