7-Nights Peru: Cusco, Machu Picchu & the Sacred Valley

Country Walkers

This walking tour of Peru explores bustling markets and mountaintop ruins, where Andean culture endures as surely as stone walls.

Morning light pierces the forest canopy, and your heart quickens. Another few steps up the centuries-old Inca stairway and…you’re there! Intipunku—the Sun Gate. Far below, Machu Picchu’s ruins lie across a knife-edge ridgeline of green. As you’ve discovered on this walking tour, Peru’s culture stands the test of time. At Sacsayhuaman fortress, it’s impossible to fit even a slip of paper between the massive stones that comprise its walls—mortarless craftsmanship so resilient it’s survived wars and earthquakes. Outside Maras, survey the vast checkerboard of steeply terraced evaporation ponds, where locals still harvest salt as they did before the conquistadors. And in Pisac market, meet women resplendent in traditional embroidery busily working handheld spindles, while their children play among bags of multihued native potatoes. Here too, the ancient endures.

Vacation Inclusions

• Exceptional boutique accommodations
• 16 on-tour meals: 7 breakfasts, 4 lunches, 5 dinners
• Local guides with you throughout tour
• Local wine and/or beer with dinner
• Telescopic walking sticks provided on tour
• Expert local guides to introduce you to the best of your destination
• Off-the-beaten-path places you’d never find on your own
• Delicious multi-course meals—a majority are included
• A maximum of 18 fun-loving fellow travelers to share the journey
• Gracious accommodations that are a clean, comfortable home away from home
• Experts to handle all the details

Featured Destinations

Lima Lima Lima, "the City of the Kings," became the effective capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru, established 1560. Today, a visit to Lima may serve as a unique Peruvian experience that offers a glimpse into the Andean world, Spanish tradition and the country's modern aspect. Visit handsome old buildings and baroque churches that testify to the city's religious background and the Plaza de Armas, shared by the realms of the Catholic church, municipality and national government. The pre-Inca ruins of Pachacamac lie a short distance south of the city. Once a ceremonial site, Pachacamac has been the most important religious center of the Andean world since before the age of Christ. Stop and admire The Temple of the Sun and the Moon, Lima's outstanding museums, and Machu Picchu - a "Jewel in the Mist."	Destination Guide
Machu Picchu Machu Picchu Machu Picchu is a fortress city of the ancient Incas, in a high saddle between two peaks 50 miles NW of Cuzco, Peru. The extraordinary pre-Columbian ruin consists of five sq. miles of terraced stonework link by 3,000 steps; it was virtually intact when discovered by Hiram Bibghan in 1911.	Destination Guide
Sacred Valley Sacred Valley The Urubamba valley is also named the Sacred Valley. It begins in the Urubamba's village and continues to Macchu Picchu.
Cuzco Cuzco The Cuzco (Cusco) region of Peru combines Inca legacy with Spanish colonial architecture in an atmosphere at once provincial and sublime. The chaotic marketplaces where campesinos barter grain or potatoes for multi-colored fabric belie the mute spirituality of the Lost Cities, where Inca stonework conveys order and balance. Such diversity enhances this inspiring nine-day adventure. The blue sky radiates with an intensity achieved only at high altitudes (the city of Cuzco lies 11,150 feet above sea level), while the landscape offers its unique pattern of exacting agricultural grids and tangled jungle masses.	Destination Guide

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