From river-dark rainforest to cities built in the clouds
When to go
May-October
Trip length
13 days / 12 nights
Typical investmentPrice
from $8,140 pp
This 12-night journey connects two different ecosystems with the country’s most important Inca sites. After two days in Lima, fly into the Peruvian Amazon for three nights at a Tambopata rainforest lodge with naturalist guides, then climb into the Sacred Valley for three days of archaeology and highland villages before Machu Picchu and a longer close in Cusco.
Along the way
A stay within the wilds of Tambopata National Reserve
Sunrise at an Amazon macaw clay lick
Sacred Valley terraces, culture & and scenic vistas
Two circuits at the ancient ruins of Machu Picchu
Your route
Coastal Peru before the forest
Arrive in Lima and settle in above the Pacific in Miraflores. The remainder of the day is free to recover from the flight.
Explore a historic district and the Surquillo market with a private guide, then return early to rest before tomorrow’s flight into the Amazon.
River mornings & rainforest nights
Fly to Puerto Maldonado and continue by boat up the Tambopata River into the heart of the reserve, arriving at your lodge inside the reserve itself by early evening. Meet the naturalist team and settle in before dinner.
Spend the day on trails and waterways with a naturalist guide, watching for squirrel monkeys, giant river otters, and the macaws that gather along the riverbank.
Rise before dawn for the reserve’s macaw clay lick, where hundreds of parrots and macaws gather to eat mineral-rich clay in one of the Amazon’s most reliable wildlife spectacles. Spend the rest of the day at a slower pace, resting or exploring closer to the lodge before a final evening walk.
From rainforest to highland terraces
Travel by boat and small plane back to Cusco, then transfer down into the Sacred Valley. The shift from humid lowland forest to high Andean terraces happens within a single travel day. Settle into your valley hotel for the next three nights.
Explore Pisac’s hillside ruins and market with a private guide, then continue into the surrounding valley for a visit to a family-run farm growing native potato varieties.
Spend the day around Ollantaytambo, where terraces, water channels, and the still-inhabited town show how Inca planning continues to shape daily life. Climb the fortress in the cooler morning light before the afternoon crowds arrive.
From cloud forest citadel to a slower Cusco finish
Travel by train toward Machu Picchu, the valley narrowing into cloud forest as you climb. Settle into your hotel in Aguas Calientes and join your guide for a timed circuit through the citadel that afternoon.
Use the morning for a second circuit focused on what got rushed the day before, or a walk to the Inca Bridge for a quieter view of the site. Return toward Cusco by rail and road in the afternoon.
Explore Cusco’s Inca walls, colonial courtyards, and major sites with a private guide, from the Coricancha’s polished stonework to the plazas above it. Settle into your hotel a few blocks from the main square.
Keep the day open for San Pedro Market, a nearby ruin like Sacsayhuamán, or a long lunch and a final walk through the city.
Transfer to the airport for onward travel.
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Our top picks
Atemporal contains only six rooms inside a 1940 Tudor-style house in Miraflores. An honesty bar, house kitchen, garden, and highly personal staff create the feeling of staying in a private Lima residence rather than a conventional hotel.
Villa Barranco now places 20 rooms inside an expanded collection of restored Republican-era buildings near Lima’s Pacific clifftops. Original mosaic floors, timber balconies, a rooftop terrace, restaurant, and Barranco galleries give the hotel a residential neighborhood identity.
Monasterio places 97 rooms and 20 suites around a 16th-century seminary courtyard near Cusco’s Plaza de Armas. Religious art, a historic chapel, live opera, oxygen-enriched categories, two restaurants, and a centuries-old cedar tree preserve the character of the former monastery.
Inkaterra La Casona contains 11 suites around a restored colonial courtyard built over Inca foundations on Plaza Nazarenas. Fireplaces, heated floors, murals, pre-Columbian textiles, large tubs, and highly personal service make it Cusco’s most intimate classic luxury hotel.
Explora Valle Sagrado places 44 rooms and six suites on a former agricultural estate beside the Urubamba River. More than 40 guided explorations, meals, transfers, a restored colonial bath house, outdoor pool, saunas, and hot tubs are included in the expedition format.
Tambo del Inka places 128 rooms and suites beside the Urubamba River in a full-service Sacred Valley resort. A large indoor-outdoor pool, extensive spa, three restaurants, gardens, family facilities, and a private rail station for selected Machu Picchu trains distinguish it from smaller valley hotels.
Inkaterra Hacienda Urubamba combines 12 rooms in a main hacienda house with 24 standalone casitas across a hillside above the Sacred Valley. Fireplaces, terraces, a working farm, spa, earth-to-table dining, and approximately 100 acres create a quiet residential alternative to larger resorts.
Las Qolqas places 16 safari-style tents in an Andean botanical garden outside Ollantaytambo. Private terraces, wood stoves, electric heat, hot showers, a greenhouse restaurant, sauna, spa, and room for up to 58 guests create a low-impact base near the archaeological site and railway.
Sanctuary Lodge places 31 rooms and suites only 50 meters from the entrance to Machu Picchu. Two restaurants, a bar, subtropical gardens, Andean treatments, and immediate access to the site make location, not resort scale, the defining luxury.
Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel spreads 83 adobe casitas through cloud forest, waterfalls, gardens, and stone paths at the edge of Machu Picchu Pueblo. Orchid walks, birding, tea, spa, dining, and several room formats create a nature-led alternative to staying beside the citadel.
Refugio Amazonas has 32 open-walled rooms in more than 200 hectares of Brazil nut forest beside the Tambopata National Reserve. A two-hour road-and-river arrival leads to a 40-meter canopy tower, macaw clay lick visits, forest walks, and hands-on research through the lodge’s Wired Amazon program.
The first hotel in the Sacred Valley with a solar-heated pool, set at a lower, easier-to-acclimatize altitude directly on the Urubamba River, with extensive gardens where alpacas graze and the PeruRail line runs past the property. On-property train access to Machu Picchu is seasonal rather than guaranteed year-round, there are no in-room televisions, and the lower elevation means less dramatic mountain scenery than higher Sacred Valley properties.
The Inkaterra Canopy Walkway, a series of suspension bridges across eight platforms roughly 30 meters up in the rainforest canopy, on a property that has recorded 540 bird species. It prioritizes comfort and accessibility over the deepest wilderness immersion, electricity is generator-based and limited to certain hours, and it carries a higher price point than most other Tambopata-area lodges.
Built on a former 1950s Catholic mission and cacao and rubber plantation, with a 200-species botanical garden and a 19-species native palm restoration area, the Palmetum. Excursions run on a more shared, join-in group basis rather than a la carte scheduling, rooms are simpler than its sister property, and electricity and Wi-Fi are limited.
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