If Peru is in your bucket list, this guide is for you! I'm sharing the exact itinerary I did for 2 weeks around Peru, where I got to experience a mix of nature, adventure and culture.
From hiking for several days around The Andes, to visiting the cultural and popular attractions like Machu Picchu, and even riding over the dunes in the Peruvian desert! Yes, Peru has a huge desert, too.
Are you ready? Let's explore the beauty of this country together!
I travelled unexpectedly to Peru for 2 weeks during the month of July. It was an incredible experience but it is important to mention that Winter was hitting hard, specially in locations like Lima where the cold was harsh to cope with, even more than in the Andes mountains (although it was pretty cold at night, too, but less humid than in the city). For that reason, I would recommend travelling during warmer months, otherwise just make sure you carry warm clothes with you.
What did I do?
My experience in Peru was a mix of nature, adventure and culture. I just visited the place as a tourist, but I would love to be back and stay for longer, perhaps while doing volunteering.
That's why I suggest you checking the +350 volunteering opportunities that Worldpackers offers around Peru! Apply my promo code EVARIOS to get a special discount for your membership!
Explored Huaraz's nature and do the 4-day Santa Cruz Hike, in Los Andes
Explore Cusco and its surroundings, including Machu Picchu
Explore the Peruvian desert
I need to be back to explore the Peruvian Amazonas! I really missed out that place, as well as others like Arequipa. If you have more time, or really want to see the Amazonas, prioritise that place! I'll be back one day to South America to explore the world's largest rainforest!
My 2-week Itinerary around Peru
Day 1: Lima
Honestly, I just stopped by Lima because the international airport is there. As I only had 2 weeks, I skipped visiting the city. so I just spent some nights and take flights from there to the different parts of the country.
But I'm aware that the city has a lot to offer - although if you are a nature lover and want to get to know the best of the country, I suggest you prioritising other places, like the ones I will sharing with you along the guide -.
What shocked me about Lima is its population size, did you know that this city has over 11 million inhabitants? And the number is increasing every year! This figure impressed me a lot! The city also has a lot of culture and history, and you could take a free walking tour to get to know more about it with a local guide!
Also, I've been told that the city can be dangerous, so be extra careful. Miraflores is the most touristy suburb, so you will be fine there.
Ica is a coastal desert in Peru, characterised by its high dunes, so it's a perfect place to do sand boarding and dune buggy rides. Both activities are really funny!!
Another attractive of this desert is the Huacachina oasis, if you have a drone you definitely have to fly it over this small town - I didn't because it was already very dark when I got to the town as we were watching the sunset from the dunes. So I couldn't get the aerial view, the sunset was worth it, though.
I recommend going for 1 day to Ica Desert and do the fun activities over the dunes, like the buggy ride and sand boarding.
There is also the option to do overnight in Huacachina, in case you want to explore more days the oasis and desert. There are options of hostels and hotels.
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I did a 1-day tour with Peru Hop. The tour departed from Lima, and they return you back to the city so I recommend doing that.
The 1-day tour included also the visit to Paracas, where I got to see marine wildlife like sea lions and lot of birds as well as penguins and the landscape was beautiful as well as to get to know some information and history of this place.
I got to see lot of marine wildlife like sea lions, dolphins, penguins and birds. It was a guided tour so I learnt about the history of the place and it was very interesting! Overall it was a good day trip.
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Day 3-4: Huaraz
Do you know how I got from Lima to Huaraz? By an overnight bus. That's something interesting to consider in order to save time and money, too. It was an approximately 9-hour drive until getting to Huaraz.
I did it with Cruz del Sur, and it was great, the buses were comfy to sleep. I did both ways by bus, going to Huaraz and then returning to Lima from there.
If you are interested in doing hikes in the Andes as I was, it is important to acclimatise well to the high altitude.
For acclimatising, it is recommended to do 1-day hikes prior to adventure yourself to any longer one around the area. I personally acclimatised very well, and this was my acclimatisation hike:
In my opinion, this hike was very easy so it can be perfect for acclimatization.
I felt a bit of headache and breathless, as it was my first time in a high altitude, this hike reaches the 4.550 meters.
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There are a lot of impressive hikes around Huaraz you could also do, some of them are Laguna Parón, Laguna 69, Laguna Churup, among others!
Day 5-8: 4-day Santa Cruz Trek
This is the highlight of my trip to Peru! I loved it.
The Santa Cruz Trek is a 4-day hike around La Cordillera Blanca in the Peruvian Andes.
It is a beautiful and an adventurous experience, specially if you love nature, hiking and being outdoors! You'll love it.
I did the hike with Peru Adventure Travel and it was lovely! It's a local business ran by a mountain lover Peruvian family.
The best of my time in Peru was this!
Recollecting these images while doing the Guide made me feel very nostalgic about the mountains.
It was a magical experience to disconnect from the world out there while being surrounded by majestic high peaks and glaciers, some of them reaching altitudes of 6.000 meters high!
It was my first time seeing peaks that high and it was impressive. A gift from nature to me, and also could be to you if you come here.
This trek is easy and not very demanding - at least it wasn't for me. But, of course, it requires you to be fit. Try not to adventure yourself in a long hike if you don't feel fit enough. It can be dangerous. Specially at those altitudes, as you can get altitude sickness and then the situation gets worse.
I reacted perfectly to altitude, but my friend had complications and felt very bad one night. So be cautious about that. If you don't feel safe, always go with an organised tour and with experts of the area.
I lived this amazing experience with the local tour company Peru Adventures Travel and they were awesome!
EVA'S TIP❗If you have more time, instead of doing the Santa Cruz Hike, adventure yourself and take the Huayhuash 8-day hike, I'd do it if I'd come back to this amazing place, because that hike is the top of the top!
On the same day 8 you could try to get back to Lima to save time, and take the overnight bus, but if you are very tired, you can always just rest and visit Huaraz next day. It's up to you and the time you have available. In my case, my time in Lima was getting into an end so I needed to make it to Cusco soon, for that reason, next day I was already in Lima taking my flight to Cusco.
Cusco is an enchanting town, full of history and culture of the country, as it used to be the capital.
I recommend taking a walking tour to get to know more about the culture and the country's history!
I did all these 1-day tours departing from Cusco, which you must actually do, because the landscapes are impressive, even though they are the most popular sites in the country, so expect to see crowds, but still worth it! And I am going to give you some recommendations so you can enjoy to the fullest.
My trips around Cusco were organised by Cusco Purisun Travel Agency, below you have a video showing the full itinerary
This landscape reminded me to Iceland, which is crazy beautiful! The hike is easy (in my opinion) but the demanding part is the lack of air, as you reach a point higher than 5.000 meters! So you should take a previous acclimatisation hike before coming here.
A downside of the Rainbow Mountain is that it's a super touristic place, so expect a loooot of crowds, which I didn´t like. Another thing I didn't like was to see llamas exposed there, the animals were used to take pictures with them, in my opinion, that's animal harassment, even though the animal can be used to it, I don't feel it right.
But, overall, the landscape is beautiful.
The Red Valley is right next to the Rainbow Mountain and I would say is more impressive than the Rainbow Mountain, specially because there are no crowds. Also, this is the highest point in the area, reaching the 5.200 meters high! So be well prepared for feeling breathless.
To get to the Red Valley viewpoint, I had to pay a small amount in cash (I know, that's not right, but that's the downside of touristic places like these ones, they will try to get as much profit as possible from us), and walk for about 20 minutes until reaching the viewpoint - you can go beyond that point, even to a higher peak, and just be by yourself, how amazing is that?
Anyways, I truly recommend you checking out this place, it is very worth it! And if at this moment it is the same as when I was there, not crowded and less popular, you'll enjoy a lot the views being by yourself and just a few people more, NOT a huge crowd unlike in the touristic places !!!
This is one of the 7 Wonders in the World and of course you should see it when visiting Peru, but, do it with a tour guide (of course!). Otherwise it makes no sense -for me- to go, as the beautiful part of this is to know about the history.
Travel Purisun Agency gave me a private guided tour! Which was incredible, and I got to learn a lot of interesting information about this magical place.
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You can also reach to Machu Picchu by hiking the Salkantay Trek for about 7 days! I didn't do it because of lack of time, and because I already did the hike in Huaraz, but it's an experience you should consider when visiting Machu Picchu.
Nonetheless, if you have the option to choose either if doing a hike in Huaraz or in Cusco, I'd recommend you taking a trek in Huaraz - less people, less popular, incredibly beautiful place -. Not saying that the landscape around Machu Picchu is not beautiful (it is really beautiful in fact), but this is just my recommendation.
Huaraz and The Andes were too impressive, sorry 😜
In case you can do all the treks, just do them all !!
The Sacred Valley is literally a valley where you can find lot of remaining from the Ica Culture, so 100% you need to take a guided tour, otherwise you'll only see ruins.
In my opinion, after getting to know about Machu Picchu, I found that this was a bit more of the same. So probably I could have skipped it, it was nice to see it anyways.
Some places I visited in a 1 day tour were:
- Templo del Sol
- Sacred Valley
- Pisac
- Chinchero
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Some places that can also be nice to see but that I didn't visit are:
- Moray and Maras
- Ollantaytambo
- Laguna Humantay
After Cusco, I just took a flight back to Lima and move out from Peru. I didn't have time to visit places like the Amazonas or Arequipa. Need to be back to Peru so bad!
But I hope this itinerary helps you organising your upcoming trip to this beautiful country and that you can get to connect with its culture and nature.
I invite you to check out other of my Guides around the world 👇 and to visit my profile to see all of them, because I have a bunch!
📍Currently in Australia
If you love exploring beyond your comfort zone, you are adventurous and you enjoy immersing yourself into other cultures and adapting to different environments, without prejudices, and with open mind, you just found a like minded person, me!
I'm living nomad since 6 years ago and now I'm sharing my knowledge, experiences and advice about my experience and destinations with you! Book a call with me if you want to travel, move abroad, do volunteering... but money or fear is stopping you. I can help you do that, because that's what I've been doing until now! Travelling almost for free around the world!
In addition to that, I've always worked in the tourism industry or done volunteering, that's why I feel fully empowered to give the best tips and guides of each of the destinations.
Follow my journey on my Instagram & TikTok @evarios14, and don't hesitate to reach me out!
