Peru / inca trail

benjus

catoutthebag wrote: »

- with salt plane tours : what lengths are available? Seems just 3 days? Is it dangerous as some reports say? Does it involve camping & no water access as I've read ?

It will take you the best part of a day to get down to Uyuni from Lake Titicaca. Then you need to take into account the unreliability of transport in Bolivia - trying to do things on a tight schedule just isn't a good idea. However, if you're expanding your timescale and are planning to use open jaw flights, it would certainly be doable.

You can probably see the salt flats themselves on a day trip from Uyuni, but the region as a whole is definitely worth a visit - the volcanoes, mineral lakes etc are very beautiful, and this is what takes 3 days. When I did that tour there was no camping but the facilities were very basic. There is very little of any kind of settlement in that area. Great fun though.

Proxy

If you just go for a day trip to Machu Picchu then you'll probably have to stay overnight in Aguas calientes, which is okay but very expensive and crawling with tourists. You can only get there by train - there are no roads.

Proxy

And if you're looking for internal flights in Bolivia look at Amaszonas, you can book online and they're reasonably cheap.

Gavin83

catoutthebag wrote: »

Thanks guys!

Gav: would you say the 2 day trail is still worth it - or just go spend a day/night in machu pichu?

I can't 100% say for sure as I haven't done the two day tour. Could you post a link to the tour so we can see what it includes?

I'm torn on answering this though. For me the Inca Trail itself completely overshadowed Machu Picchu itself. While it is impressive and still a must see it was extremely busy, it was full of American tourists complaining about the stairs (which I found annoying after walking for 4 days) and it did take away from the experience somewhat. However I don't really see what you could cover in 1 day that'll be worth the cost as the two day tour does seem expensive.

catoutthebag wrote: »

We normally do 2 (or 3) holidays a year, so don't mind saving just for one.

This morning though, we had a talk about doing 2 (or 3) weeks split over peru and somewhere else. Peru and 2 other countries, but that would be stupid/rushed/expensive.

Depends on what you want to see. You could do a rushed trip over 3 weeks covering 3 countries although you'll miss a lot. You could easily spent 3 weeks in Peru alone and another 3 weeks in Bolivia and still miss stuff. Even spending 6 weeks in Peru there were places I had to skip, it's a big country.

If you have certain 'features' you want/need to see and you won't likely be returning to South America then you could do it. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it but it's possible. You could in theory do something like the following though:

• Lima > 1 night (it's not a great city, honestly)
• Flight to Cusco, spent 3 nights there
• Fly to La Paz, spend 2/3 nights there.
• Fly to Tupiza, spend a night in the town
• Next day do the Salt flats tour, it's 3 nights
• Arrive at Uyuni spend the night there. The town itself it pretty average but the train graveyard is worth a visit.
• Uyuni to Salta (Argentina) overnight bus.
• Fly to Puerto Iguazu. Spent two nights there with the full day spent at the falls.
• Fly to Buenos Aires spend a few nights there and go home.

This will be extremely rushed though but you could do that in 3 weeks. I didn't really fly anywhere but I had lots of time so you'll need to check some of the routes, especially Cusco > La Paz. You could do it by bus but it'll take you the best part of 2 days.

catoutthebag wrote: »

I think peru & Bolivia do able in 2 weeks? Lima, Cuzco, pichu, then la Paz & salt planes (if we figure out costings & get cash together)...

Sure, see above.

I need to shoot off but I'll answer the rest once I get back.

benjus

Proxy wrote: »

And if you're looking for internal flights in Bolivia look at Amaszonas, you can book online and they're reasonably cheap.

Also the civilian airline arm of the Bolivian air force, TAM: http://www.tam.bo/ (not to be confused with the Brazilian airline TAM)...

Gavin83

catoutthebag wrote: »

- hypothetically doing both countries: would internal flights have to be booked in advance? How long before for both London to Lima & internal flights? Good prices for some of the itinary mentioned for next June or July?

- with salt plane tours : what lengths are available? Seems just 3 days? Is it dangerous as some reports say? Does it involve camping & no water access as I've read ?

Thanks again

If you can book flights in advance it'll save you hassle and potentially money. I didn't fly internally at all in Peru but there are plenty of websites which compare airlines. Find out who the national carrier of Peru is and check their website and normally the local airlines are the cheapest.

With the salt flats tour I did 4 days. We did ours from Tupiza which adds a day I believe but I wouldn't do it from Uyuni if I went again. You have 3 excellent days wandering through the Bolivian wilderness with the final day spent at the salt flats themselves.

I'm unsure what the reports have said but I didn't find it dangerous. The driving is chaotic at times but it's safer than most places. Of course if something did happen it'll be a fairly big problem due to how remote you are. However I wouldn't let this put you off, it isn't dangerous.

We didn't camp either, I'm not sure this is even possible. We stays in refuges. They were very basic but we had our own room, there was a shared bathroom (cold showers though), we were fed it had electricity. It was very cold though (no heating) so I'd recommend taking something to use while sleeping, although blankets are provided anyway. We slept in our sleeping bags with the blankets on top.

If someone seriously asked for my recommendation I would say go on holiday to Bolivia over Peru, but I guess it's a matter of preference.

Can you speak Spanish?

catoutthebag

Unfortunately can't speak Spanish

I think 14 days could be doable in 2 countries if funds saved and planned right. It would be a highlights thing (if even that) but still a good taste.

Re salt planes: dont mind roughing it but for my condition I really do need warm shower once a day minimum, so depending if I can overcome that, it may be out.

1dayhttp://redplanetexpedition.com/?mod=tempview1&id=1249675244

2dayhttp://redplanetexpedition.com/?mod=tempview1&id=1249677522

How do the above tours compare to your longer one - are either still worth it?

This is the 2 day inca http://www.llamapath.com/incatrail2d.htm

Proxy

The tour itself looks okay for all you can reasonably fit in for two days.

Would recommend llama path though - I went with them the second time I did the trail (mad, I know) and they were great.

callum9999

Maybe I'm missing something important but I really don't see the point of that tour. The only place other than Macchu Picchu that it lists you can see is the Sun Gate - but you can walk to that from Macchu Picchu anyway.

I guess it makes it much simpler as they make all the arrangements to get you there and back from Cusco - the price just seems a bit steep compared to what you actually get. I did a 5 day trek for less than half that cost but I'm not too sure what an overnight trip to Macchu Picchu would cost if you arranged it yourself?