Traveling in Peru

Peru is a very popular tourist destination and a relatively easy country to travel around. Because of the huge size of Peru, long travel times, its many highlights and even more tour options, it is important to be well informed before you travel to Peru. Peru’s main tourist attractions include:

• Train to Machu Picchu;
• Hiking the Inca trails;
• Flights over the Nazca Lines;
• Navigate over Lake Titicaca;
• Colca Canyon Arequipa tours;
• Mountain trekking in Huaraz;
• Tours into the Amazon Rainforest.

Prom Peru has a governmental website with useful local information about each destination.

Of course we can also help you with actual travel information about the safety in Peru, the weather in Peru, road conditions, buses in Peru, visa Peru tips, money tips and useful information about altitude sickness. Depending on available travel time, and budget, we can organize virtually each type of customized tour within Peru. To give you a better inpression about the optional travel destinations, tours and treks within Peru, we have already made a small selection of tour options, which can be adjusted to your travel preferences.

Touring Peru

Traveling through Peru can sometimes feel overwhelming. The country is no less than 37 times the size of the Netherlands and to get to know all the interesting highlights of Peru, you will definitely need a few months. If you have less time but still want to see and experience as much as possible, we at Fairtravel4u can help. We know Peru, we travel through Peru ourselves, we know the highlights, we know the logistics and know what you should take into account. For example the risk of getting problems with altitude sickness while traveling on higher altidude. We offer both ready-made Peru tours and tailor-made Peru tours, where every detail of the trip can be adapted to the preferences of our customers.

Variations within our tours through Peru

Our tours through Peru take you from north to south and from west to east along well-known and lesser-known travel routes in this huge country. Our tours through Peru take you from the coastal deserts, over the mighty Andes Mountains, to the mysterious Amazon Rainforest and back to the culinary capital of the world! Along the way you can admire the remains of ancient cultures and their highly detailed ceramics and golden objects in the deserts of Peru. In the Andes Mountains you are surrounded by snow-capped mountain peaks, turquoise colored lakes, centuries-old impressive buildings and vibrant colorful traditions. While visiting the Amazon Rainforest your senses will be treated to new colors, smells and sounds! Back in Lima, treat your taste buds to one of the best restaurants in the world!

Culinary tours in Peru

It is something that few people know, but Peru has already been named “World’s leading culinary destination” ten times by the World Travel Awards! In the capital Lima you can find no fewer than 2 restaurants from the top 11 of the best restaurants in the world. These are the Central and Maido restaurants. The success of these and other popular restaurants in Peru is mainly due to a healthy mix of age-old traditions and cultures from different parts of the world that come together in Lima. Your tour through Peru can easily become a culinary journey full of new discoveries!

Machu Picchu and the Nazca Lines

They are the two most famous destinations for tours in Peru. We regularly receive requests, from American customers in particular, if we can organize a seven-day trip to Machu Picchu and the Nazca Lines. Perhaps it is due to the fourth Indiana Jones film in which it seemed as if both destinations were almost next to each other, but in reality you need to cross hundreds of kilometers and a height difference of more than 4000 meters between both destinations. In addition, the only direct bus connection between Nazca and Cusco is the least safe travel route in Peru. If you want to visit both the Nazca Lines and Machu Picchu on your Peru tour, it is best to travel in a wide circle. Our recommended itinerary goes from Lima, via Nasca to Arequipa, the Cañon del Colca, Lake Titicaca, Cusco and Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu. This route also gives you more time to get used to the large altitude differences. Did you know that the origins of both Machu Picchu and the Nazca Lines are still shrouded in mystery…

The most famous ancient mountain

The archaeological site of Machu Picchu is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. For many, tours through Peru are not complete without visiting this impressive building on a mountain top, surrounded by mountains and rainforest. However, why and how Machu Picchu was built are questions that are literally and figuratively shrouded in mystery. The Incas had no metal tools, did not know how to use the wheel, and did not have strong pack animals. Horses and donkeys were only later brought by the Spaniards on their tours to Peru. Even the name ‘Machu Picchu’ was created by a translation error between explorer Hiram Bingham and his local guide. When they visited the then unknown ruins in 1911, Hiram Bingham asked his local guide what the name of these ruins was. However, for the local population, the ruins were not of sufficient value to give a name. On the other hand, the surrounding mountains are important to them. The guide therefore thought Hiram Bingham was asking for the name of the mountain and replied: “Machu Picchu” (Old Mountain) and the rest is history.

Huge drawings in the sand

When you are waiting for your flight at Nazca airport, you will see several videos about the history and possible origins of the Nazca Lines. While these videos are interesting to watch, much of the content is still speculation. In recent decades, many archaeologists, historians and even mathematicians, national and international, have tried to explain the Nazca Lines during their tours through Peru. The best known and most dedicated was the German-born Peruvian mathematician, archaeologist and technical translator Maria Reiche. Investigating the Nazca Lines was her life’s work and the discoveries she made can be admired in a museum named after her. The fact remains, however, that it is still not clear how these enormous drawings and geometric figures could be drawn in the sand, when they could only be seen from above. Another important question is: “Why? Why were these drawings made?” It’s a question that will probably remain forever unanswered…

Fusion of cultures

In addition to visiting mysterious archaeological sites, Peru tours are also very educational when it comes to learning more about the merging of cultures. Something that is very actual worldwide today. Many peoples on the warpath try to take over and erase other cultures. Under Inca rule, local cultures and beliefs were allowed. Not that the Incas were sweethearts, because of course high taxes had to be paid to the Inca Empire. But because the Incas allowed local cultures to exist during their tours through Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Chile, they were also able to learn new skills.

Tomb towers of Sillustani

People who visit Cusco, Machu Picchu and other archaeological Inca sites are often impressed by the craftsmanship with which the stones are cut to size and fit together. However, several archaeologists and historians believe that the Incas copied some of these building techniques from the Colla people. This population group, which lived near the gigantic Lake Titicaca, built round stone burial towers long before the Inca Era. You can admire these impressive funerary towers at the archaeological site called Sillustani, near Puno.

Inca terraces

Another construction technique of the Incas that has received much admiration worldwide are the so-called ‘Inca Terraces’. These are horizontal agricultural terraces built on a slope. These horizontal terraces on (steep) slopes ensure that rain and glacier water flows slower down the slopes. This technic prevents erosion and creates more agricultural surface, while the water is better absorbed into the soil. The terraces allowed the food production of the Incas to be increased. However, it is quite possible that originally it were not the Incas, but the Collas who inventet the terracesses. Centuries before the Incas the population of the Colca Valley already built agricultural terraces on the slopes of the valley. However, their terraces were slightly sloping. There is a good chance that the Inca people saw these terraces during their travels through Peru and subsequently adopted and improved the original concept.

The foundations of Cusco

Even though the Spanish rulers destroyed much of the Inca culture, they realized in Cusco that the building techniques of the Incas were superior to their own building techniques. Various Inca buildings were therefore demolished down to their stone foundations, after which the earthquake-resistant foundations were used as a foundation for the construction of important Spanish buildings. During our tours of Peru you can still see a fusion of construction techniques of the Collas, Incas and Spaniards in Cusco. For our general Cusco tours we work with the professional services of Easy Going Peru. For travelers who want a luxury tour in Cusco, we work with Auri. And if you already want to see a short impression of Cusco, then we can recommend our YouTube video with a virtual Cusco City Tour.

The road network of the Incas

The Incas were masters of planning and organization and understood that in order to govern their empire, it was important that all destinations were easily accessible. To make traveling through Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Chile easier, the Inca people built a huge road network. Estimates range from between 20,000 to perhaps 40,000 kilometers! Ironically, this extensive road network not only allowed the Incas to better rule their empire, but also made traveling around Peru easier for the Spanish with their horses…

The Inca Trail

However, there was at least one road or path the Spaniards never found and this wasn’t because a lack of trying. To prevent the Spanish from finding Machu Picchu, the Inca rulers ordered part of the Inca Trail to be erased. There were persistent rumors going around that a group of Inca nobles had left along this path to Machu Picchu and the Amazon Rainforest with large amounts of gold and silver. These supposed treasures have never been found and even now form the basis of stories about an El Dorado (loosely translated “The Gold”) hidden in the Amazon Rainforest. It is a legend that has inspired many tours in Peru, even that of Hiram Bingham.

The Amazon Rainforest, rich in natural treasures!

Whether or not Inca treasures are hidden in the rainforest will probably always remain a mystery. However, the wealth of the Amazon Rainforest cannot be expressed in money. The impressive flora and fauna is so varied that we still haven’t discovered everything! In addition, the Amazon Rainforest is also called ‘the medicine cabinet’, or even ‘the lungs of the earth’. Unfortunately, the rainforest in Peru is highly threatened by illegal logging and mining. Sustainable tourism can help protect the Amazon Rainforest in Peru. We work closely with the reliable Naturandes in Lima to organize our Peru trips.