Luxury Peru Tours That Will Amaze You

Ideal Luxury Peru Tours For Mature Travelers

Luxury Peru tours will always include a visit to magnificent Machu Picchu but is it an adventure or a luxury vacation?  It might surprise you to know that it can be both. You  are most likely to begin your exploration of the luxury side of Peru by flying into Lima.  Although there are a couple of good hotels downtown, the safer and more scenic area of suburban Miraflores is where luxury tourists would stay.

Lima  is a good place to buy lovely ceramic jewelry which is unique to that part of the country.  Before the price of silver skyrocketed, it was possible to find beautiful and unusual silver jewelry at the craft markets.  However, it now appears to have been replaced by the ceramic pieces, which also make excellent personalized gifts.

Cuzco – Your Gateway To Machu Picchu

It only takes a day or two to visit the main sights in Lima before flying on to Cuzco, the gateway to Machu Picchu on a luxury Peru tour.  This can be tricky for anyone with heart or breathing problems, as the altitude in Cuzco is almost 11,000 feet.

The recommended flights from Lima usually leave early in the morning to allow for several hours of rest after arriving at your Cuzco hotel before lunch and afternoon sightseeing. Upon arrival at your hotel, you are given coca tea to drink and advised to lie down and rest for several hours while your body becomes used to the high altitude and reduced oxygen supply.

Some people’s bodies may take longer to adjust to the higher altitude, although it does not appear to be age related.

Cuzco is an interesting town, where you can see Peruvians from the country who have arrived wearing distinctive clothing that is typical in their area. The top-rated historic luxury hotel in Cuzco is Hotel Monasterio or the Monastery Hotel, because the building is a peaceful, converted monastery from the 16th century.

Machu Picchu – Explore In Deluxe Surroundings

The best way to travel from Cuzco to Machu Picchu is on the Hiram Bingham luxury train, which departs from Cuzco at 9:00 am and returns at 9:11 pm. In addition, an afternoon tea is provided at the Machu Picchu Sancutary Lodge, the only hotel right at the famous site..

For those who would like the exclusive experience of enjoying Machu Picchu at the end of the day, when all of the groups have gone or in the morning before new people arrive, it is important to select one of the luxury Peru tours that spends the night at the elite Sanctuary Lodge, member of The Leading Hotels of the World. Since the hotel only has 29 rooms and two suites, you are sharing this fabulous location with very few people.

So what makes Machu Picchu so special and attracts people from around the world? Built by the Incas in the 15th century, perhaps as an estate for the prominent Incan emperor, it was abandoned for over three and a half centuries and unknown to the outside world until Hiram Bingham made the discovery in 1911.

The vast estate of Machu Picchu that you are looking at is a settlement of stone houses and buildings adapted to and spread across the natural form of the mountains. What an amazing view! You can also appreciate the advanced engineering and intellectual abilities of the Incas as evidenced in their building techniques, which utilized blocks of stone that fit together tightly without mortar and allowed the structures to survive in an earthquake-prone area.

Also of great interest is an apparent astronomic clock or calendar built of stones which tracks the path of the sun and accurately reflects the summer and winter solstices. It is startling to us that supposedly primitive civilizations from centuries earlier had capabilities that we are challenged to match.

The natural beauty and spectacular vistas of this lost Incan civilization make it a destination that is truly worth a visit. Along with our travel partners, Abercrombie & Kent and Cox & Kings, who provide luxury Peru tours, we recommend planning a trip to Machu Picchu before the proposed increase in daily visitors makes it too crowded to fully enjoy.

Questions about travel to Machu Picchu and Peru? Book your 20 min complimentary planning session to find all the answers you are looking for.