Machu Picchu & the Tambopata Amazon
Lima and the Larco Museum first, then the high country: Cusco at 11,150 ft, the terraces at Moray and the salt pans of Maras, Huayna Picchu above the citadel. Then the trip drops off the Andes altogether, east to Puerto Maldonado and upriver by boat, for two nights in the Tambopata rainforest at a lodge the Ese'eja community owns and runs.
The trip
Day by day
Day 1 · Lima
Arrive in Lima
A late-afternoon landing and a straight run into Miraflores, the district Lima built along the cliff edge above the Pacific. The clifftop is a chain of parks the length of the neighborhood, with paragliders working the updraft off the face. The evening is open on purpose: two nights at sea level make Cusco, two miles higher, much easier.
Overnight in Lima
Day 2 · Lima
Lima City Exploration, Larco Museum, and Water Circuit
A guided day through Lima's historic center, laid out by Pizarro in 1535 and run as the capital of Spanish South America for the next two hundred years. Then the Larco Museum and its five thousand years of Peruvian gold, ceramics and textiles. The evening is the Magic Water Circuit, where the fountains in the old city park run to music after dark.
Meals: Breakfast
Overnight in Lima
Day 3 · Lima to Cusco
Cusco City Tour and Sacsayhuaman Ruins Discovery
Cusco sits at 11,150 feet, so the first few hours are yours to settle in and the sightseeing waits until afternoon. It starts at Qoricancha, where the Spanish built a church straight onto the Temple of the Sun, then climbs to Sacsayhuaman, the fortress above the old capital, with the whole city open below. Last is the little lookout fort at Puka Pukara, out where the road turns down toward the Sacred Valley.
Meals: Breakfast
Overnight in Cusco
Day 4 · Cusco
Sacred Valley: Chinchero, Moray and Maras
The valley runs lower and warmer than Cusco, which is why it comes early in the trip. The day starts in Chinchero, where the weaving is still done and dyed by hand in the market square, then drops to Moray, rings of terraces the Inca used to test crops at a different climate on every level. It ends at Maras, thousands of salt pans stepping down one hillside, white against the red earth.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Overnight in Cusco
Day 5 · Cusco to Machu Picchu
Guided visit to Machu Picchu
The train follows the Urubamba down into the gorge, where the mountains close in and the cloud forest starts. The bus climbs the switchbacks above the town, and the whole site is suddenly in front of you: temples, plazas and terraces cut into the ridge between two peaks. Machu Picchu was built as a country estate for a single emperor and stood empty within a century of his death. The night is spent at the foot of the mountain, because tomorrow starts with a climb high above the ruins.
Meals: Breakfast
Overnight in Machu Picchu Town
Day 6 · Machu Picchu to Cusco
Huayna Picchu or Machu Picchu Mountain hike
A self-guided climb, on whichever of the two peaks your dates allow. Huayna Picchu is the peak standing behind the ruins in every photograph of them: a steep hour of Inca stairs to 8,920 ft, looking straight down on the city. Machu Picchu Mountain is the longer, steadier climb to 10,111 ft, with the whole valley below. The afternoon is the train back to Cusco, running up the valley beside the river most of the way.
Meals: Breakfast
Overnight in Cusco
Day 7 · Cusco to Tambopata
Flight to the Amazon Basin
The road out of Puerto Maldonado runs as far as the river, and the rest of the way in is by boat, upstream, to a lodge the Ese'eja community of Infierno built and runs on its own land. Rooms open on one side straight into the forest, with no glass between you and it. The afternoon is the canopy tower, 130 feet of staircase to a platform above the treetops, and you come back down in the dark, slowly, for the frogs.
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Overnight: Posada Amazonas
Day 8 · Tambopata
Giant otters at Tres Chimbadas, then the medicinal trail
Tres Chimbadas is an oxbow lake, a bend the Tambopata cut off and left as still water, and you cross it early on a paddled catamaran. A family of giant river otters fishes it, and about six visitors in ten see them. The afternoon is Centro Ñape, where the community grows the plants it still treats people with, and a walk to the kapok tree standing above the canopy behind the lodge.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight: Posada Amazonas
Day 9 · Tambopata to Lima
Parrot clay lick, then downriver
An early run to the clay lick, where parrots and parakeets come down to a seam of river clay for the sodium the forest leaves them short of, watched from a blind close enough to hear them. Then the boat down with the current and the road into Puerto Maldonado for the flight out.
Meals: Breakfast
End of the adventure. Until the next one, bon voyage!
On the ground
Where you stay
- Lima (2 nights)
- Cusco (3 nights)
- Machu Picchu Town (1 night)
- Tambopata · Posada Amazonas (2 nights)
4-star and 5-star hotel upgrades available on request.
The package
What's included
- 8 nights accommodation
- Meals: 8 breakfasts, 2 lunches and 2 dinners
- All ground transfers
- Guided tours and excursions
- Entrance tickets and permits
Pricing
What moves the price
Season, hotel standard, and train class move the price most. Peak dates (Inti Raymi, Fiestas Patrias, Christmas and New Year) carry supplements.
Prices shown are for 2026. Inquire to check rates for future years.
Next step
Check my dates
Tell us your dates and who is travelling, and a trip specialist replies personally to confirm your dates and put the plan in writing.
- 1.A specialist checks your dates against the current access rules and what is still open: entry, train seats, and rooms.
- 2.You receive a written proposal with confirmed availability, your price, and payment timing.
- 3.A deposit reserves the trip and confirms your entry.