Day 1 - Canada - Lima

Depart for Lima. Bienvenidos! Your journey into the Sacred Land of the Inca begins today. With indigenous cultures dating back millennia, Peru is an indomitable land of Amazonian rainforests teeming with wildlife and soaring mountains harbouring secret cities. Private transfer to hotel after arrival. Balance of the day is at leisure.

Day 2: Lima (B/L)

Enjoy the morning at leisure and then enjoy a tasty Peruvian buffet lunch. Embark on a city tour of Lima, with its 2000 years of history. Begin at the colonial center of the city, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with its historic buildings surrounding the splendid Plaza Mayor. View the impressive Palace of the Archbishop with its fine carved balcony, the opulent Government Palace, the official residence of the President, and the 16th-century Cathedral of Lima whose first stone was laid by Pizarro. Continue to the 17th century Monasterio de San Francisco complex with its magnificent tiles, ornately carved ceilings, exceptional paintings and world-renowned library. Then we drive back through the residential districts of San Isidro and Miraflores.

Day 03: Lima - Puerto Maldonado - Amazon Jungle (B/L/D) 

Rise and shine for your journey into the wilds of the Peruvian Amazon. Take an early morning transfer to Lima airport, then board the flight to the frontier town of Puerto Maldonado. Upon your arrival, meet and greet by your Safari Tour guide and then travel by private vehicle to the river pier. You can leave most of your luggage in safe storage and continue travelling with a small pack for your jungle experience. Navigation by motorized canoes to the nearby jungle lodge (25-minutes). It is located in an enchanting and serene lush setting within 819 hectares of natural rainforest. The rainforest acts as a buffer zone between the Tambopata National Park Reserve and the shores of the vast Madre de Dios River making the location unique and wonderfully remote. Enjoy the serene tranquility that the lodge has to offer and prepare to be amazed by both the wildlife and the culture inherent to the Amazon. After enjoying welcome cocktail and lunch with organic ingredients and native flavors, take a walk inside nature trails. Learn about primary and secondary rainforest, its components, uses and transformations by the humans, and its relevance for the world. See the cacao plantation, breadfruit trees and rubber trees. Go in search for the local wildlife! After welcome dinner at the lodge, you will get acquainted with the sights of the jungle and fall asleep to the sounds of nature.

Day 04: Amazon Jungle Program • Canopy Walkway (B/L/D) 

Get ready for an unforgettable day exploring the depths of the jungle! After a nutritious buffet breakfast, join the canopy walkway excursion. A 25-minute ride by motorized canoe takes you to the Inkaterra Canopy Walkway Interpretation Center. After ascending the first tower, at 95 feet (29 m) above the forest floor, you will literally walk through the treetops for one-and-a-half hours along suspension bridges that link eight observation platforms. Enjoy landscapes and vistas that would be unimaginable from below, while on the lookout for giant strangler fig trees, orchids, toucans, woodpeckers, trogons and with a little luck birds of prey, monkeys or sloths. After your descent from the Canopy, experience the Anaconda Walk for about 15 minutes along the 200-meter wooden bridge over the wetland. On your walk, keep an eye out for rainbow coloured macaws and butterflies, and listen for the barking call of the peccaries and chattering of monkeys that call the jungle home. Return to the lodge for lunch. At dusk, take a ride with your naturalist guide by motorized canoe on the Madre de Dios River. Along the way you’ll see a variety of jungle fauna – perhaps hoatzins, monkeys, macaws, black caimans, flying parrots, and, if you are lucky, a family of endangered giant river otters. Learn about the river ecosystems, Amazonian creeks, nocturnal animals’ behavior, and the southern constellations. Return to the lodge once again to freshen up, then enjoy some dinner. After dinner there will be an optional night walk through the jungle.

Day 05 : Amazon • Cusco • Awanakancha Farm • Pisac Market • Sacred Valley (B/L) 

Depart the lodge this morning after an early breakfast. You will be taken from the port to the airport. Departure to Cusco (35 minute flight), then meet and greet by your tour guide upon arrival in Cusco. In order to avoid altitude sickness, we drive down to the Sacred Inca Valley (2,000m). On-route we visit an indigenous Alpaca and Lama coop-farm. After a tasty Quinoa lunch, take a scenic drive to Pisac Village. There, explore the town and bargain with vendors on the cobblestone streets of the Pisac handicraft market. Enjoy a cultural blast as the entire town has been converted into a street market. Afterward, continue to your hotel in the Sacred Valley.

Day 06: Sacred Valley • Machu Picchu • Inka Trail to Intipunku • Sacred Valley (B)

Early this morning, private transfer to the Sacred Valley's Ollanta Station and board the Inca Rail Train for the ancient citadel of Machu Picchu, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Also known as "The Lost City of the Incas", Machu Picchu was built circa 1450 and abandoned only 100 years later. The purpose of this splendid city is still a mystery to modern historians. Meet your tour guide at the train station and take the shuttle bus to the Machu Pichu entrance. Enjoy exploring the ancient citadel and marveling at the imposing Temple of the Sun, the House of the Priest, the Sacred Plaza and the intricately carved rock likely used as a sundial by the ancient Incas. The images of this significant archaeological site will be a long-lasting memory. Take the train to Ollanta Station and then transfer back to your hotel.

Day 07: Maras • Moray • Saqsaywaman Ruins • Cusco (B)

Today you many enjoy the morning at leisure or join the optional Moray and Maras optional tour(US$60). Begin the tour in Moray, an impressive agricultural center that demonstrates the ancient Incan’s mastery of high-altitude crop growing. Here, you’ll see a large complex of terraced circular depressions in the earth which historians believe were used to study the climatic conditions on crops. As you descend each layer, the surrounding temperature descends as well, degree by degree, making for a unique and highly sophisticated thermo graphic tool. During the tour, you’ll have the opportunity to see the local farmers and shepherds working with native crops and animals all along the valley. This is a unique chance to peer into the daily lives of the indigenous people. We continue to the salt mines of Maras. At this amazing site, you can see the pans fed by saline spring water that were built on steep terraces along one side of a narrow valley. The water is sent throughout the pans by a network of channels where the water slowly evaporates leaving the salt behind. Salt has been collected from Maras since Pre-Incan times and it is thought that a collective of salt ‘miners’ has maintained the terraces and channels for hundreds of years. Then continue our tour to Cusco. On-route we visit Saqsaywaman. In addition to a wonderful view over Cusco, UNESCO World Heritage-listed Saqsaywaman boasts massive stones, measuring up to 13 feet (4 meters) tall, placed tightly together, creating a fortress-like structure. As you walk around with your guide, learn about the site's history and defensive purpose. We continue to Puca Pucara, a site of military ruins used for defense of the Inca Empire. Private transportation to your hotel in Cusco.

Day 08: Imperial Cusco • San Blas Neighborhood (B)

Spend today independently discovering the "Imperial City" of Cuzco, once the capital of the Inca Empire and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This lively city, rich in history, reveals remains of both the Incan and the Spanish presence. The flawlessly built Incan roads spread to all regions from the “Plaza” which was thought of as the center of the world. Visit the impressive Colonial Cathedral in Cuzco which contains over 400 paintings from the Cusqueña School in addition to an impressive collection of colonial art. Continue on to visit the Temple of the Sun, whose walls and floors were allegedly once covered by sheets of solid gold. This temple was once the most important religious site of the Incas. Stroll with your tour guide through San Blas, the artistic part of town. During the tour, you will have the opportunity to visit a local shop featuring alpaca clothing and accessories, and a local jewelry shop, featuring gold and silver necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and rings. This evening, join the optional dinner with folklore show (US$59). It includes a folkloric show and buffet dinner. Spend an unforgettable evening enjoying a wonderful buffet dinner and spectacular show featuring the most important manifestations of dances, music and Peruvian folklore.

Day 09: Cusco (B)

Enjoy your day at leisure or join the optional tour to visit the Inka museum, Pre-Columbian Art Museum in Cusco (US$40). Inka Museum is without a doubt the best museum dedicated to the Incas. In it you’ll find gold and metal work, pottery, ceremonial jewelry, textiles, and mummies. The museum also explains the cultural significance and importance of coca leaves to the Incas. It is a good place to start in any attempt to gain a better understanding of the Incas and their culture. Then visit Pre-Columbian Art Museum. Located inside an Inca ceremonial house that dates back to 1450 AD, this is Peru’s only museum dedicated to ancient Peruvian art. Inside you’ll find a collection of 450 pieces that date from 1250 BC to 1532 AD. The artworks are all from Lima’s Museo Larco’s storage collection, and descriptions in various languages help to give you a fuller picture and understanding of the people who created them.

Day 10: Cusco • Lima

Enjoy the morning at leisure. In the afternoon, pickup from your hotel to Larcomar.  Free time at Larcomar Mall. Larcomar is a shopping center in Miraflores located on top of a reef with breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean. There are shops, restaurants and many activities. Then transfer to the Cusco airport, fly back to Toronto via Lima.

Day 11: Lima•Toronto

Departure from Lima to Toronto.