Day 1: LIMA
Upon arrival to Jorge Chavez Lima International Airport, you will be transferred by taxi to your selected hotel. Depending on arrival time, we can arrange optional museum visits, city tours, culinary tours, a crash course in Spanish, or even paragliding off the cliff tops of Miraflores.
Day 2: LIMA/PUERTO MALDONADO
Morning transfer to airport and flight to Puerto Maldonado. Upon arrival to the Puerto Maldonado airport you will be met by our staff and given a brief orientation. Next our guides will take you on an adventure in itself getting to the lodge. We will take a short hike through the jungle before boarding the canoes. Next your guides will navigate the canoes through narrow canals of a flooded palm-tree forest where hundreds of red-bellied macaws can be seen. After we navigate through the canals we will cross the beautiful, protected Oxbow Lake and arrive at the jungle lodge on the hillside overlooking the lake. Lunch and Dinner provided.
Day 3: PUERTO MALDONADO
No other lodge in Tambopata-Madidi is on the banks of a protected oxbow lake. Our short Lake Lodge program includes two nights of fully-screened accommodation in 25 double-occupancy rooms complete with en suite facilities with hot-water showers, electricity, fans, meals, airport transfers in Puerto Maldonado, naturalist guides, lake excursions by day in search of Giant Otters, monkeys, and macaws, forest excursions, night excursions in search of caimans, and evening slide shows. Our lodge specializes in small groups and individualized attention in our overriding quest to conserve the lake and surrounding rainforest. Sandoval Lake Lodge is built out of ecologically-correct driftwood mahogany and is owned jointly by a nonprofit conservation group and five families of indigenous Brazil nut collectors. Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner provided.
Day 4: PUERTO MALDONADO/ CUZCO
Your choice of morning walking or boating excursion to further enjoy the rainforest, wildlife, and beautiful Oxbow Lake. Transfer to Puerto Maldonado airport and flight to the ancient Incan Capital City of Cuzco. Upon arrival to the Cuzco airport you will be met by our staff and driven to your selected hotel, where you are advised to rest to acclimatize to the altitude. After your rest we will visit the colorful, interesting, Andean market of Cuzco and the Central Plaza of Cuzco. Various nightlife options available.
Day 5: Cuzco
After breakfast your Cuzco adventure begins with a guided tour of the Plaza de Armas, the main cathedral, and the amazing Coricancha (the temple of the sun). The guided tour continues to the beautiful Incan sites of Sacsahuaman, (an impressive Incan military fortress overlooking Cuzco), Kenko (amphitheater with unique stone carvings), Tambo Machay, (fountains only used by Incan royalty) and the small fortress of Puca Pucar and return to hotel. Various nightlife options available.
Day 6: Sacred Valley
After breakfast you will take the amazing scenic drive through the famous Andes Mountains to the Sacred Valley of the Incas. Here you will visit Pisac with its beautiful ruins and its wonderful Andean market, after lunch, we will travel through the Sacred Valley to the traditional Andean city of Ollantaytambo where we will be staying the night.
Day 7: Machu Picchu
Breakfast at your hotel. After an early breakfast and cup of fresh coffee we will leave the hotel to take an early train to Machu Picchu, along the way you will be watching the sunrise over the magnificent Andes and following the Urubamba River. Midmorning you will arrive at the Aguas Calientes Station; from there you will take a short bus ride to the awaited ruins of Machu Picchu. Once there, you will have a guided tour of the ruins and an included buffet lunch. After lunch you have the rest of the day to explore the ruins on your own. Return to Aguas Calientes to bath in the natural hot springs or dine in one of its numerous restaurants. Hotel stay in Aguas Calientes.
Day 8: MACHU PICCHU/LIMA
Breakfast. Depending on the time of the train an optional return visit to Machu Picchu is available. Go see the ruins at sunrise before other tourists arrive or climb the beautiful towering peak of Huayna Picchu to see the ruins from above. Afternoon train to Ollantaytambo and return to Cuzco. On the return to Cuzco we will be stopping at Chincheros Market, where some of the best traditional textiles in Peru are handmade. Here you can watch and enjoy the workers weaving, shearing, dying, and spinning natural fabrics using traditional methods. Hotel stay in Cuzco.
Day 9: LIMA
Breakfast. Transfer from your hotel to the Cuzco airport and flight to Lima. End of Venture Peru services. If you would like and have time we can easily arrange extra days in Lima or a number of other excursions. Just ask.
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