Peru? Any advice welcome.

Arkwright007

Do you have any knowledge/experience of booking flights, activites or accomodation in Peru. I'm hoping to take 4 weeks in July/August travelling in this area on rather a tight budget.
I have always wanted to visit Machu Picchu along with parts of the Amazon but would not want miss something that this once-in-a-lifetime trip may offer. Any comments would be welcome.

nelly_2

i think exodus do a tour packeage not sure now i chucked the magazine away do a google of exodus tours.

I'd deffinatley go with an organised escorted tour rather than a diy thing though.

IvanOpinion

There is a poster on these boards called 'R.Mac' who did a trip to Peru last year which I believe involved a hike up Macchu Picchu (I had the pleasure of meeting her at the Edinburgh meet last year). If you can find her I am sure that she could help.

Ivan

edda

We used Trailfinders to do a similar visit a few years ago.
They will put together a bespoke trip using your budget constraints - and are v. good on flights as well.

We also found the Rough Guide to Peru helpful - again, especially when on a tight budget.

Enjoy the experience!

Edinburghlass_2

You can read about r.mac's trip here....

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=88002

richardw

Flights - BA codeshares with American Airlines and Iberia to Lima, you can do London-Miami-Lima and back Lima-Madrid-London.

slonik

We went to Peru for three weeks last summer and it was fantastic. At the time the cheapest flights I found were from https://www.Travelbag.co.uk (and you can get Rpoints cashback), on BA to U.S. and then on to Lima on LAN. We organised the whole thing online, which I recon worked out cheaper than going with a group plus we could chose what to do and when.
A lot of the local hotels have websites, and they are very cheap - you can get places for $25 a night/double room (or cheaper if still if you don't mind not having hot water!!). Do the Inca Trail. This has to be with a group/guide, and you should ideally book well in advance (ie now) as you'll be going in the busy season. Expect to pay about $300 for the trek. You can get around on internal LAN flights, but these can get cancelled/delayed. Alternatively there are buses, which you can book/find locally. But Peru's pretty big, so the distances are big. Other than Inca Trail, I'd recommend the Nazca Lines and a trip to the jungle (you can go for a couple days with a group, and do things like piranha fishing). Lake Titicaca is also supposed to be amazing, but we never made it there. When planning the trip, I found lots of useful info here: http://www.andeantravelweb.com/peru/. Also, they don't speak English much - including in the cheaper hotels - so I suggest buying a Spanish phrase book before you go.

alison74

I have booked my Peru trip for later this year with www.tucantravel.com but there are plenty of other companies out there that do trips gapadventure, imaginative traveller etc.


If you are wanting to do the 4 day hike to MP, book it soon, as you have to get a permit in advance now and these are limited.

You used to be able to turn up in Peru and get permits there, but the days of this are gone now.

Have a look on the thorntree lonely planet forums for specific advice, or the MP forums on www.tripadvisor.com

You can also get the train there instead of walking and stay a night.

I am flying with Continental from Edinburgh. Not the airline I would have thought of for a SA trip, but it was the cheapest believe it or not and I get a free stop over on the way home in New York.

Have fun !

Arkwright007

Thank you to all who responded. I have taken your advice on board and enjoying the planning and anticipation. I have managed to book a place on Inca Trail Trek but all July already sold out. So much to see in only 4 weeks. I will report back at the end of August.