trip details for incas, trails & condors (XLC)

We hope you enjoy this video of life on the road. This video may not be of this trip you are looking at but should give you an idea of what life is like on a Dragoman Overland journeys in this region of the world.

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is this trip for me?

Route: Lima to Cusco or v.v.

Length of Section: 16 Nights

Profile: Short Comprehensive in-depth journey, good roads but with off the beaten track exploration, challenging mountain trekking, homestays and community involvement. Altitude and climatic variations from dry desert to high altitude cold. Great for a short annual adventure holiday

Adventure Rating: Moderate

Crew: 2 crew, local guides as necessary.

Vehicle: Classic Dragoman truck.

Accommodation: Mainly hostel/hotel and wildcamps. (35% camping, 65% hotels)

what's included?

Nights 1-4: Southern Desert & Coast:

Overnight stay in historic Lima
Boat trip to the seals & seabirds on the Ballestas Isles
Visit to the Nazca Lines and Chauchilla Cemetery

Nights 5-9: Andes & Altiplano:

2 night stay in Arequipa
Overland through the High Andes of Peru
2 night stay and guided trip to see Colca Canyon and Condors
Quechua Indian homestay and community crafts project

Nights 10-16: Inca Heartland:

7 nights in and around Cusco and the Urubamba Valley
Sacred Valley tour and entrances to all major sites
Hike Inca Trails in the Andes above the Sacred Valley
Inca Trail community project with local Quechua village
Guided visit to Machu Picchu, the Lost City of the Incas

what can I do on the way?

(Activities available at extra costs)

Dune buggying or boarding in the spectacular sand dunes of Peru Desert
Fly over the Nazca lines
Guided tour of Arequipa's Santa Catalina convent
White-water raft the Urubamba River

notes:

General notes: Because of its nature, this itinerary may vary.

Kitty does not cover food while staying in hotels and hostels.

8 day Tourist Class (GALAM8) 5 day First Class (GALED5) 8 day First Class (GALED8)

Machu Picchu Inca Trail Deals: This Peru and Ecuador adventure travel trip includes our unique Inca Trail & Quechua Community Project. If you want to take the Classic Inca Trail (not included), you will be refunded the cost of our included Inca trail. For detailed travel information on Inca Trail and Machu Pichu, please see our trip notes.

This is one for the lover's of walking and mountains. The core of the trip is our seven days in and around Cusco, Machu Picchu and trekking the Inca Trails in the mountains around the Urubamba Valley. This comprehensive short South America overland adventure trip is ideal for the annual adventure holiday. Short enough for a quick break but long enough to allow time for real off the beaten track adventures and time to stay in local communities with our Quechua Indian hosts.
This 'discover style' overland adventure travel trip is designed to get you off the beaten track. Any well-planned adventure travel in South America should allow you to see more that just the regional highlights. We will therefore take diversions off the overland trail and tarmac road. For instance we will make a boat trip out to the Bellestas Isles in Peru to see sealions and spend two nights in and around the Colca Canyon for a full on condor experience.
There are countless Machu Picchu, Inca Trail deals available and it is often difficult to see the differences. As part of our responsible travel commitment, Dragoman Overland Adventure Travel has also developed a local community tourism trekking project, which involves local Indian communities in Peru. This trek allows us to trek the Inca trails on the other side of the Urubamba Valley and to help out with various community projects at the same time (For detailed travel information on Inca Trail and Machu Pichu Community Project, please see our trip notes). No adventure travel in South America is complete without trekking an Inca trail, but make sure you know the difference between the various different treks.

travel information on Inca Trail and Machu Pichu in Peru: No Dragoman Overland adventure travel trip is complete without a community tourism project and on this Peru and Ecuador adventure travel trip we offer much more than just the usual tourist Inca Trail (although if you want to do the Classic Inca trail, you can). Machu Picchu and Inca Trail deals have become such big business that hundreds, if not thousands of trekkers, now trek Classic Inca trail every day. We have therefore developed our own unique Inca trail so that you can trek through unspoilt stunning Andean mountains and visit Machu Picchu as well. This kind of community project is fundamental to Dragoman Overland Adventure Travel�s responsible travel policies
Peru is known as being the heart of the Inca civilization and Cusco was very much the centre of the Incas realm. This trek takes us back in time to that very heart.
The Incas worked in stone to create some of the finest architecture in the world. Incredibly these were built without mortar and blocks fitted together like a jigsaw. The architects of the time were closely in tune with their environment and so designed their structures to survive earthquakes and as a result many are well preserved for us to explore today. The quality of the stone joints has to be seen to be believed especially when you consider that this was all completed before the invention of iron and the wheel and that the Incas had no form of written language.
To reach their far-flung outposts the Incas constructed a huge network of roads, over 2000km of hand worked Inca trails, across some very severe terrain.
Inca Trail & Quechua Community Trek is exclusive to Dragoman Overland Adventure Travel and has been pioneered by our local tour operator Andina Travel, who are founding members of ATSO, the Association of Sustainable Tourism.
The Inca trails that we trek take us off the beaten track and into the hidden heart of the Andes, following in the footsteps of the ancient Incas in the Pumahuanca region. We explore the spectacular scenery of the Cordillera Urubamba mountains; nestled deep in the eastern Andean landscape of glacial lakes, sub tropical valleys and high mountain puna. Above us the mountain �Apus� or Gods look down from the snow-capped summits of Mount Veronica, Pitisuiray, Sawasiray and Chicon, as we trek through this little known area. The mountains have inspired local myths and legends and shape the lives of the Quechua speaking Andean farmers who work this ancient land.
Each day your senses are assaulted by new sights, a vizcachua bounding between rocks, small bright blue gentians flowering in a sunny mountain meadow, Ibis and Andean geese feeding at a lake edge, the sounds of children herding the llamas and alpacas through the valleys, a whiff of smoke from a family fire� there is just so much to take in.
Local communities have closely managed the opening up of this region for tourism from the very beginning. In collaboration with national and international protection agencies and a handful of trekking companies, a plan was put together with these local communities to promote tourism in the area following the guidelines of sustainable tourism and responsible travel. This helps to bring money into these remote areas, whilst protecting the communities from exploitation and allowing them control over how their environment is used.