Peru Explorer
A Nazca Lines overflight and the open burials at Chauchilla Cemetery, then a climb from sea level desert to Puquio at 3,200 metres and over the Abra de Malaga into cloud forest.
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The route
Fifteen nights from the Pacific desert up into the high Andes and down into the Amazon, driven by the travellers themselves with a guide leading. Compass supply the 4×4.
Lima starts it, then the coast road south to Paracas, with a boat out to the Ballestas islands, where the guano was once thick enough to mine commercially and the sea lions, pelicans and Humboldt penguins are usually in plain sight. Ica and the Huacachina oasis follow, a lagoon ringed by dunes with a buggy ride over them.
The Nazca Lines come next, seen from the air, which is the only way they make any sense, along with the Chauchilla cemetery, where pre-Inca burials sit open in the desert with textiles and hair preserved by the dryness. The climb into the Andes then follows to Puquio at 3,200 metres, and on across the high country to Abancay.
Ollantaytambo is next in the Sacred Valley, with its terraced Inca fortress, then over the Abra de Malaga down into cloud forest at Quillabamba and back again. The train runs from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes for Machu Picchu, then Cusco and the Plaza de Armas. A flight to Puerto Maldonado closes the trip, at the meeting of the Madre de Dios and the Tambopata, with a night at an Amazon ecolodge. Prices are quoted in US dollars, per person. Sea level to 3,200 metres in a few days asks something of the body, and the itinerary is built to allow for it. The variety is the selling point: coastal desert, high Andes, Inca sites and rainforest inside a fortnight, with the long transit legs flown rather than driven.
Images selected by Stradora to represent the journey.
What's included
- Airport transfers
- Cusco to Amazon and return flights
- 2 night Amazon jungle experience
- Ballestas Islands boat trip
- Huacachina Oasis and dune buggy experience
- Nazca Lines overflight
- Chauchilla Cemetery
- train journey to Aguas Calientes and return
- Machu Picchu entry and guided tour
- 4WD rental (self-drive option)
- fuel and tolls (self-drive option)
- 15 nights' accommodation in 3, 4 and 5 star hotels, lodges, haciendas and ecolodges
- 15 breakfasts, 11 lunches, 13 dinners
- services of Compass Expeditions leader and support staff
- access to the Compass Expeditions app
- pre-departure material
- Compass Expeditions tour shirt
- entrances to all attractions and excursions mentioned in the itinerary
Not included
- International flights
- visas if required
- personal health and travel insurance
- tips and gratuities
Ready to drive it?
16 days, from £10,080pp