Cusco and the southern Amazon in fourteen days

Why this order

The trip begins with the mountains and ends with the forest. After the arrival night in Lima, it goes straight up to Cusco (about 3,400 m) but immediately goes back down to sleep in the Sacred Valley, which is lower (about 2,870 m). Machu Picchu, lower still, comes before the three nights in Cusco: by the time you get there, your body has already spent several days at altitude. Stay alert to the first signs of altitude sickness: those that mean you must go back down are described in the altitude guide.

The forest comes last: you come back down almost to sea level, with no altitude constraints, and the flight to Puerto Maldonado leaves from Cusco. The return to Lima on day 13 leaves a spare day before the international flight.

Where you sleep: the city, then the forest

Total: thirteen nights, nine of them in towns and four in a lodge.

The three transfer days

• Day 2, Lima → Cusco → Urubamba. The flight, then the road; no visits.
• Day 9, Cusco → Puerto Maldonado → lodge. direct flights from Lima (LATAM) and from Cusco (LATAM and Sky). Do not assume that a direct flight exists on your date: otherwise, you have to go via Lima, and the day gets longer. The lodge organises the transfer, by road and then by boat; how long it takes depends on the sector.
• Day 13, lodge → Puerto Maldonado → Lima. A morning boat, then the flight.

Day by day

Days 2 to 4: the Sacred Valley, sleeping lower than Cusco

Day 2 contains only the journeys: a slow walk, a light meal, an early night. On day 3, Pisac, a village with a craft market and a large site perched on the ridge, with spectacular terraces; if you feel the altitude, keep to the village. Day 4 climbs onto the plateau: weaving in Chinchero, the circles of terraces at Moray, the pools of the Maras salt pans, seen from the authorised paths. Moray and Pisac are covered by circuit III of the Boleto Turístico (S/ 70); the salt pans have a separate ticket.

Days 5 and 6: Machu Picchu

On day 5, the site and village of Ollantaytambo, with its Inca layout, then the afternoon train to Machu Picchu Pueblo, with a small bag for the night. On day 6, the shuttle bus, the route chosen on the ticket, then the train and the road to Cusco. The Machu Picchu page compares the three circuits and the ten routes.

Days 7 and 8: Cusco

On day 7, the city: the Qorikancha beneath the Santo Domingo convent, the twelve-angled stone, San Blas, San Pedro market. On day 8, Sacsayhuamán and the sites above the city, a museum, or rest before the forest. See Cusco.

Days 9 to 13: four nights in the forest

With four nights, a lodge on the middle Tambopata is within reach: S/ 30 for one day, S/ 60 for two to three days, S/ 150 for four to thirty days (general rate); every day from 5:00 to 19:00; Lake Sandoval 30 minutes by boat then 3 km on foot; middle Tambopata (Cocococha, Sachavacayoc and Condenado lakes) about 3 hours by boat; upper Tambopata (Chuncho and Colorado clay licks) about 5 hr 30 min by boat. Further from town, the forest is less visited; closer in, Lake Sandoval can be visited in half a day. Each day has one main outing and a time to rest, during the hot hours:

Nobody can promise a species; a good guide says so before setting out. See which Amazon to choose and its lodge comparison tool.

Health. The CDC recommends the yellow fever vaccine for Madre de Dios, and malaria is present below 2,500 metres east of the Andes: see a travel medicine centre before you leave. See health.

Budget: the items to add up

As the lodge is often all-inclusive, remove these four nights from meals and local transport in the budget calculator.

Variant with Manu

Manu is experienced as an expedition: Andean sector via Paucartambo to Acjanaco (143 km, about 4 hours from Cusco); río Manu sector: Cusco–Atalaya in about 8 hours by road, then about 7 hours by boat to Limonal (a six-day visit is advised); an authorised operator is compulsory. You go down from the Andes through the cloud forest, then travel by boat for several days. The trip becomes sixteen days:

Ask the operator for the exact itinerary, the road and boat times, where you will spend the nights, and how the return works. See Manu.

Variant in eleven days

You lose Chinchero, Moray and Maras, a day in Cusco and the most distant forest; you keep the essentials of both worlds.