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trip details for incas, trails & condors (XLC)

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Map of Incas, Trails & Condors (XLC)

Route: Lima to Cusco or v.v.

Length of Section: 17 Days

Comfort Zone:   2 out of 5     [what's this?]

Physical Rating: 4 out of 6     [what's this?]

Crew: 2 crew, local guides as necessary

Vehicle: Overland expedition vehicle and local minibus

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

Why not add one of these trips to the start or end of your adventure:
Madventurer Peru Volunteer Project (a 2, 4 or 6 week building and teaching project)
Peru Jungle Lodge Extension (a 5 day trip into the Peruvian rainforest)

If you love walking there can be few better places than the area around Cusco in Peru. We spend 7 days exploring the Urubamba Valley around Machu Picchu, along a network of paths making up the Inca Trail. We stay with our Quechua hosts as part of our community project in the area, and get a remarkable insight into the lives of the locals. Heading for the coast we take a boat trip out to the wildlife sanctuary of the Ballestas Islands, and visit the Colca Canyon, famed for its condors, as well as the extraordinary Nazca Lines - just some of the highlights on this incredible Peruvian odyssey.

what's included?

Nights 1-4: Southern Desert & Coast

  • Overnight stay in colonial Lima
  • Visit to Paracas National Park, coastal wildlife reserve
  • Boat trip to see the seals & seabirds on the Ballestas Isles
  • Visit to the Nazca Lines and Chauchilla Cemetery

Nights 5-9: Andes & Altiplano

Nights 10-16: Inca Heartland

  • 7 nights in and around Cusco and the Urubamba Valley
  • Sacred Valley tour and entrances to all major sites
  • EITHER hike unspoilt Inca Trails and visit Quechua communities in remote stunning Andes scenery away from tourist treks on our exclusive Inca Trails Community Trek.
  • OR Trek the Classic Inca Trail up the Royal Inca Road
  • Guided visit to Machu Picchu, the Lost City of the Incas

what can I do on the way?

(Activities available at extra costs)

  • If time allows 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 rafting and mountain biking in the Cusco region
>>trip highlights | trip details | dates and prices | hotels | images | visas | health & equipment | insurance | climate | community projects

 

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.