Package Extended

Affordable Andes to Rainforest

  • 11 days / 10 nigths
  • Arequipa, Colca Valley, Cusco, Aguas Calientes, Refugio Amazonas Lodge

You will be transferred to Ollantaytambo, an Inca vestige that was a military, religious and agricultural center. Here, the fortress located in the highest part of the mountain, protected the valley from the invaders. The view of the town from the top is overwhelming, narrow streets and water channels are still used by the ...

  • Arrival to Arequipa. Pick up and transfer to your comfortable Hotel. 
  • Free morning at leisure
  • In the afternoon, start your guided tour to Arequipa City, known as the White City for its beautiful colonial buildings made of ‘sillar’, a white volcanic stone. This city lies at the feet of the mighty volcanos of Mount Chachani, Mount Misti, and the snow covered peak of Mount Pichu Pichu. The downtown of the city features Mixed Baroque churches and mansions from the Colonial Period like the Monastery of Santa Catalina, a Spanish city in miniature with stone streets, beautiful patios, and plazas 
  • Overnight: In Arequipa City
  • Breakfast at Hotel
  • Guided excursion to Colca Valley, one of the most extraordinary destinations in Peru. We will ascend the hillside of Volcan Chachani, having a spectacular view of Volcan Misti and Pichu Pichu. As well you will have the opportunity to witness and take pictures of one of the most graceful South American Camelids: ‘vicuñas’, where can still be seen in their natural habitat. 
  • You will be dropped off at your hotel.
  • Free afternoon at leisure to rest up and get accustomed to the altitude or enjoy La Calera thermal baths (entrance fee not included)
  • Overnight: In Colca Valley

Meal Plan: breakfast

  • Breakfast at Hotel
  • Early pick up and departure to the viewpoint Condor Cross to observe the Andean condors, which soar overhead, granting a spectacular view across the Colca Canyon, one of the world’s deepest. Throughout the Colca Valley, you can see colorful pre-Incan agricultural terraces still used today for growing quinoa, corn, barley, and wheat.
  • In the afternoon we will return to Arequipa.
  • Overnight: In Arequipa City

Meal Plan: breakfast

  • Breakfast at Hotel. At appropriate time transfer to Arequipa’s Airport to take your flight to Cusco City.
  • Arrival to the Capital of the Inca Civilization, Cusco. Drop off at your hotel. Take it easy as soon as you arrive. Drink a lot of bottled water, coca-leaf tea and rest. Have a light, relaxing lunch.
  • In the afternoon start a guided tour that will show you the amazing colonial city built on the foundations of the Inca palaces. You will visit the Koricancha or Temple of the Sun, the Plaza de Armas and the Cathedral. Then you will be driven to the Inca fortress of Sacsayhuaman, to the underground cave and temple of Kenko, Puca Pucará and to Tambomachay, known as the Baths of the Inca.
  • Overnight: In Cusco City

Meal Plan: breakfast

  • Breakfast at hotel. Pick up in the morning from your hotel in Cusco. You will be driven through a scenic landscape to the Urubamba Valley, the ‘Sacred Valley of the Incas’. Arriving at the town of Pisac, an hour drive from Cusco, you will visit the colorful Pisac Market, where the locals meet to sell their merchandise as they have done it for centuries. There is also a handicraft market. Then continue toward Urubamba. Lunch included. The tour goes on to the town of Ollantaytambo from where you will climb up to its imposing Inca fortress at the top of the mountain. Drop off at your hotel.
  • Overnight: In Sacred Valley of the Incas

Meal Plan: breakfast and lunch

  • Breakfast at Hotel. At the appropriate time, transfer to the train station. Departure of the rail coach through an amazing route. The trains have panoramic windows offering unsurpassed scenic views and photographic opportunities as you enter the Inca's territory in search for Machu Picchu Citadel. With glass surrounding them on all sides, passengers feel as if they are part of Peru's remarkable landscape. Snacks and hot and cold refreshments are included on the journey.
  • Upon arrival, you will be welcomed and accompanied to your hotel.
  • Overnight: In Machupicchu Pueblo (Aguas Calientes Village)

Meal Plan: breakfast

  • Breakfast at Hotel. Get up the earliest possible and catch the bus up -approximately 25minutes ride- to the top of the mountain: Machu Picchu Sanctuary. You may take this unique chance to ascend to the Inti Punku (the Gate of the Sun) or climb the Wayna Picchu (if you have previously requested this entrance at the time of the booking; check with your travel advisor) for remarkable panoramic views and a truly unforgettable experience.
  • You will be informed in advance the time and meeting point with your guide to start your tour to the hidden gem of the Incas: Machu Picchu Citadel. At the end of the tour, limit yourself to taking a stroll around the Citadel. Head back by train to Cusco City in the evening. Transfer Cusco Train Station to Hotel.
  • Overnight: In Cusco City

Meal Plan: breakfast

  • Breakfast at Hotel. At scheduled time, pick up from you hotel and transfer to Cusco’s Airport to take your flight to Puerto Maldonado.
  • Upon arrival, we will welcome you at the airport and drive you ten minutes to lodge headquarters. While enjoying your first taste of the forest in our gardens we will ask you to pack only the necessary gear for your next few days, and leave the rest at our safe deposit. This helps keep the boats and cargo light.
  • Skirting Puerto Maldonado, we drive 20 kilometers to the Tambopata River Port, entering the Native Community of Infierno. The port is a communal business. The two and a half hour boat ride from the Tambopata Port to Refugio Amazonas will take us past the Community of Infierno and the Tambopata National Reserve´s checkpoint and into the buffer zone of this 1.3 million hectare conservation unit. Upon arrival, the lodge manager will welcome you and brief you with important navigation and security tips. We will be out at the river’s edge at night, scanning the shores with headlamps and flashlights to catch the red gleams of reflection from caiman eyes. 
  • Overnight: Lodge in Tambopata

Meal Plan: breakfast, box lunch and dinner

  • Breakfast. A two hour hike takes you to Sachavacayoc Lake. You will then paddle around the lake in a catamaran, searching for the resident family of five giant river otters (seen by about 30% of lake visitors) and other lakeside wildlife such as caiman, hoatzin and horned screamers. We hike out at dawn - when otters are active. Don’t forget the two hour return hike! For those who do not want to take the long hike Condenado Lake, thirty minutes from the lodge, is an option. After lunch, farm Visit and Ethno botanical Garden: Five minutes downriver from the lodge lies a farm owned and managed by charismatic Don Manuel from the neighboring community of Condenado. He grows a variety of popular and unknown Amazon crops - just about every plant and tree you see serves a purpose. He has also identified and cultivated many of the medicinal plants used in the region in a little backyard garden. Brazil nut trail and camp: A few minutes hike from the lodge is a beautiful old growth patch of Brazil Nut forest that has been harvested for decades (if not centuries) where the precarious remains of a camp used two months a year by Brazil Nut gatherers can still be experienced. We will be demonstrating the whole process of the rain forest's only sustainably harvested product from collection through transportation to drying. After dinner, night walk. You will have the option of hiking out at night, when most of the mammals are active but rarely seen. Much easier to find are frogs with shapes and sounds as bizarre as their natural histories.
  • Overnight: Lodge in Tambopata

Meal Plan: breakfast, lunch and dinner

  • Breakfast. A fifteen minute boat ride and thirty minute walk from Refugio Amazonas is a parakeet clay lick. From a blind you will see parakeets descend on most clear mornings to ingest the clay on a bank. Species such as Dusky headed and Cobalt Winged Parakeet descend at this clay lick. We visit the lick at dawn, when parrots are most active. Twenty minutes walking from Refugio Amazonas is a peccary clay lick. These wild rain forest pigs show up in herds of five to twenty individuals to eat clay in the late morning. Chances of spotting them are around 15%, but well worth the short hike. Other wildlife also shows up including deer, guan and parakeets. After lunch, a thirty minute walk from Refugio Amazonas leads to the 25 meter scaffolding canopy tower. A bannistered staircase running through the middle provides safe access to the platforms above. The tower has been built upon high ground, therefore increasing your horizon of the continuous primary forest extending out towards the Tambopata National Reserve. From here views of mixed species canopy flocks as well as toucans, macaws and raptors are likely. Then after dinner, nightly lectures prepared by the staff of Refugio Amazonas cover conservation threats, opportunities and projects in the Tambopata National Reserve. 
  • Overnight: Lodge in Tambopata

Meal Plan: breakfast, lunch and dinner

  •  Breakfast. We retrace our river and road journey back to Puerto Maldonado, lodge’s office and the airport. Depending on airline schedules, this may require dawn departures.

Meal Plan: breakfast

Price Information

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