Peru is one of the most fascinating and mysterious country in the world. Here I’m going to share my 10 day itinerary with you. 10 days is nowhere near enough to see the whole country, but if you are on a bit of a time constraint like we were, hopefully this itinerary helps you narrow things down.
Day 1: Arrived in Lima, Peru
We arrived in Lima and settled into our hotel in the afternoon. We stayed in the apartment hotel called Apart Hotel Petit Palace Suites, located in the Miraflores area. It is a nice and quiet area with restaurants and shops nearby. After settling down, we went for dinner at Panchita restaurant . We ordered a few Peruvian dishes and they were absolutely delicious.
Day 2: Explore Lima City
Plaza de Armas
This is the main plaza of Lima. We went in the morning and were lucky to encounter a parade celebration around the plaza. It was also the day of the Copa America Football Championship final between Brazil and Peru, so many people were gathered in the plaza to watch it live on the big screen.
Catacombs of the San Francisco Basilica
The basilica offer tours inside, and they took us down to the underground cemetery, where an estimated of 75,000 bodies were buried under the church. You will see many of the bones and skeletons stacked inside circular stone pits. While this was fascinating, I do not recommend this visit if you are claustrophobic, as the underground hallways and rooms can get very narrow.
Huaca Pucllana
Located in Miraflores, this is a clay pyramid built by the pre-Incan civilization. It is only recently discovered and became a historical cultural park in 1991. When we visited, there were still parts of the pyramid that was still covered. The guide said they are still working to uncover the whole pyramid.
Parque del Amor (Park of Love)
At the end of the day, we relaxed and enjoyed the view of the Atlantic ocean.
Day 3: Arrive in Iquitos – Amazon Rainforest
We flew from Lima to Iquitos airport in the morning. Our guide met us at Iquitos airport and it took around 3 hours to get to our jungle lodge in the rainforest: Libertad Jungle Lodge. Click here to read about our experience staying with this lodge.
Day 4 to 6: Exploring the Amazon rainforest
We spent the next three days going on excursions, spotting wildlife animals and hiking in the Amazon rainforest with our lovely and very knowledgeable private guide, Remigo. Libertad Jungle Lodge allowed us to decide our daily schedule. Click here to read more about our daily excursions and see the wildlife we spotted! The Amazon rainforest turned out to be my favorite part of this entire trip to Peru!
On the last day, we caught our plane in the afternoon and flew to city of Cusco. We rested early to adjust our body to the high altitude.
Day 7: Cusco – See the Sacred Valley and take the train to Aguas Calientes
We joined a local day tour to the Sacred Valley and along the way we got to see many beautiful Inca ruins, like the beautiful agricultural terraces. We got picked up at our hotel early in the morning. The tour guide spoke very good English and so we were able to follow along. Click here to see the details of the tour.
After exploring Ollantaytambo, we had to leave a bit earlier to catch our train to Machu Picchu at 4:30pm. The two railway companies to Machu Picchu are IncaRail and PeruRail. Both of them are very similar. You can check the times and prices and book the train tickets in advance. The train took us to Aguas Calientes, the nearest town to Machu Picchu. Many travelers stay here for the night so they can get up early for Machu Picchu the next morning, which is exactly what we did.
Ollantaytambo
Day 8: Machu Picchu
We woke up super early to catch the bus up to Machu Picchu. If you are going during high season, I recommend pre-purchasing your bus ticket. Click here for more information. The buses come every 10 minutes and the trip going up to Machu Picchu is 30 minutes. Click here for the official website for Machu Picchu tickets. Important reminder: Bring your passports. You cannot get into Machu Picchu without it.
Here we are, standing in front of this magnificent Inca citadel. I recommend getting a tour guide as we learnt a lot about the ruins. You will see many guides standing at the entrance. We also hiked up the Machu Picchu Mountain while we were there, which I was a little nervous about due to the high altitude but it turned out fine! It was a tough hike but the view made it worthwhile.
That evening, we took the train back to Cusco city.
Day 9: Moray, Maras and Salt Mine & free afternoon in Cusco city
We joined a half day tour to see the Inca ruins in Moray and visited the Salt mine in Maras. We first stopped at Chinchero and visited a local family, learnt about dyeing clothes using natural spices and plants. Then we moved our way to Moray and Maras. The landscapes were beautiful and there were workers on the mine that day. Click here for more information for this tour.
Since we got dropped off back in Cusco city in the early afternoon, we walked around Plaza de Armas and the nearby area. A group of students were rehearsing that day for their high school’s anniversary performance.
Day 10: Hike the Rainbow Mountain!
This was one of the highlights of this trip. I highly recommend this trek! We booked our trek experience with Rainbow Mountain Travels and we had a great time! We were picked up at 3:30am in the morning and got to the mountain at around 7am. (Yes, it was super early, but the good thing is we avoided the crowd that came later that day).
The trek itself is quite an easy one, but due to the high altitude (5200m above sea level), we got altitude sickness during the hike and I got a massive headache. Luckily, our guide gave us a medicinal oil and I felt so much better after that. The view was one of a kind up there and it was so worthwhile.
That concludes our 10 day itinerary in Peru! I hope this helps a little with making your own itinerary! If you have more time to spend, I would suggest you to stay longer in this beautiful country. There are other places I have heard that I wish I had time to go, like Lake Titicaca (the floating islands) and the Nazca Lines. Where do you want to visit the most in Peru? Leave me a comment below! Here’s to a wonderful trip! Happy Planning!
P.S. High altitude sickness and Yellow fever (Amazon Rainforest) :
Before we went to Peru, we went to the travel clinic to have a doctor assess our itinerary. Based on the places we are going, she made recommendations on how to prepare for the trip and gave us vaccinations and medications to bring with us. We had to take the yellow fever vaccine as we were entering the Amazon. We also took high altitude sickness pills a few days before arriving at Cusco, so we barely felt anything when we were in Cusco city and Machu Picchu. However, every body is different and I recommend you consult your doctor when you are planning for your trip.