13-Day Peru with Machu Picchu & the Nazca Lines, a Women-Only Tour 2027

Highlights

• Lima: Unwind at your luxury abode in Lima before meeting your Travel Director and fellow travelers in the evening for a dinner that elegantly captures typical flavors of the Peruvian capital.
• Lima: Visit Casa Aliaga that the Aliaga family has called home for 17 generations. Meet Wilma Ehni de Aliaga, who’ll show you around her family's impressive mansion and share personal stories. Learn how the colonial home dates to the founding of Lima in 1535 and is the oldest dwelling in the Americas that has been in the same family for generations. Discover how the home was rebuilt and reshaped after earthquakes and architectural trends and represents both the Colonial and Republican history of Lima. 
• Join archaeologist Samantha Encalada Rafael from Museo Larco to indulge in lunch in its 18th-century garden setting. You’ll love this opportunity to learn insights into the museum’s history and the archaeologist's experience working there.
• Discover Museo Larco with a Local Expert who will guide you through private museum's impressive collection.
• Founded more than 20 years ago with the aim of sheltering and helping teenage mothers and their children, Mantay store not only offers a safe place, but also provides women with health services, education and job training. The women at Mantay apprentice at a leather workshop as part of their vocational training, learning how to make beautiful hand-sewn leather goods. Once the women reach the age of 18, they transition out of the home with their children but can continue to work full-time in the workshop, providing them with the opportunity for long-term stabilised income. To commemorate your visit, you’ll receive a small present supporting the Mantay project.
• Cathedral of Lima: This morning, explore Peru's buzzing capital with your Local Expert, including the Cathedral of Lima, the Government Palace, the Archbishop’s Palace and City Hall.
• Sacred Valley: The Maras Salt Mine will inspire the mind of any curious traveler. Learn how salt once harvested by Incas at this site is now exported to the entire world. Discover how the Incas found a water stream with high salt content and learned - in Pre-Incan times - how to build terraces to extract salt. You’ll be amazed at how, to this day, it is not known where the water actually comes from and has only been measured in the last 20 years during which the flow and intensity has not changed.
• Sacred Valley: Peru’s Incan history and archaeology will inspire the mind of any curious traveler. At the Moray Incan laboratory northwest of Cusco, learn how the Incas determined the ideal altitude to grow crops in the Sacred Valley. You’ll be fascinated by how this ancient culture learned how to build these terraced circular depressions on a high plateau at an altitude of about 11,500 feet and experimented with different kinds of soils and temperatures to grow their crops.  
• Machu Picchu: Transfer to the station for your 360° IncaRail train ride. This train ride offers an unforgettable experience journeying through the Andes Mountains in style with large panoramic views allowing guests to enjoy the amazing scenery of the lush mountains and the Urubamba River en route to Machu Piccu Pueblo.
• Sacred Valley: On the way, visit the Ollantaytambo ruins, consisting of a large fortress built in the 1400s, a stepped terrace, and an area known as the Princess Baths, where ceremonial bathing took place. Later, stop by a a local house in the village and meet the family living there.
• Machu Picchu: Walk in the footsteps of Inca engineers as you explore this majestic UNESCO World Heritage Site. With your Local Expert, uncover the astronomical precision of the solar observatory, the ceremonial significance of the Temple of the Three Windows and the ingenious design behind the ritual baths. Marvel at dry-stone walls so masterfully constructed they’ve resisted centuries of seismic activity. Learn how this 15th-century sanctuary, perched high in the Andes, eluded Spanish conquistadors, its secrets safeguarded by the cloud forest until its rediscovery. 
• Aguas Calientes: Peru’s Incan history and archaeology will inspire the mind of any curious traveler. With a full day, you have the option to return to Machu Picchu for a different circuit. Or, take advantage of a day at leisure in Aguas Caliente – the town of Machu Picchu of 3,400 residents - to stroll along the river, go shopping for that perfect local souvenir or grab a coffee all midst the cloud forest.
• Cusco: Once you arrive, head on a walking tour of Cusco with a Local Expert. Explore what's known as the "historic capital" of Peru as you discover its ancestral magic through visits to the cathedral and the Qorikancha temple.
• Cusco: Start your day with a walking tour of Cusco, before heading to Sacsayhuaman.
• Paracas: A windswept coastline and haven for wildlife. The Ballestas Islands are a wildlife sanctuary that hold over 200 species of birds including Peruvian boobies, Inca terns, pelicans, red-legged cormorants and Humboldt penguins. You’ll treasure this opportunity to see these penguins in their natural habitat alongside a plethora of different birds.
• Ica: The pride of Peru and their national drink, Pisco is a must-try on any trip to Peru. Visit the beautiful Hacienda La Caravedo to learn about how Pisco was traditionally made on this unique opportunity to see the oldest, continuously operating distillery in the Americas established in 1684 and the biggest distillery in South America. In addition to learning about this tasty beverage, you’ll love learning how the distillery has plants on their rooftop to offset Co2 emissions.
• Sacred Valley: Enjoy lunch at Altar Inca with impressive views of the Sacred valley surrounded by the breathtaking Andes Mountains.
• Sacred Valley: Make your way to the small lagoon of Laguna Piuray where you’ll enjoy your lunch of Pachamanca, a traditional Peruvian feast.
• Cusco: Enjoy an immersive slow-cooked Cusquenian lunch at Pacha Papa. Lunch will be served al fresco at the courtyard of a historic mansion in the artsy neighborhood of San Blas.
• Cusco: In the evening, join your fellow travelers for a memorable Celebration Dinner at Inka Grill, where you'll embark on a journey of flavors from Ceviche Palteado to Quinotto and Aji de Gallina.
• Sacred Valley: Visit a local traditional Quechua weaver for a private textile presentation and learn about ancient techniques and their cultural significance. Your visit directly supports United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5: Reduced Inequalities.
• Cusco: Visit Cusco's planetarium to learn more on how the Incas interpreted the stars. After a reception with hot wine (or tea) and appetizers, Local Experts will explain and share stories about the influence the stars had on Andean culture. You'll then be led to a room specially accommodated to view the ancient night skies, weather permitting.
• Paracas: Take to the skies on your Peru tour to see the iconic Nazca Lines, archaeological enigmas scratched in the ground 500 B.C. and A.D. 500. Gaze down in awe of these massive designs and patterns you can only view from above. Your private flight will show you many of the lines, complete with their names and a bit of history. From above, you’ll observe the different types: straight, geometric (such as triangles, rectangles, trapezoids, spirals, arrows, zigzags, and wavy lines), and pictorial (including a spider, hummingbird, cactus plant, monkey, whale, llama, duck, flower, tree, lizard, dog, and even a mysterious humanoid figure). Some of the animal geoglyphs are up to 1,200 feet long! You’ll also learn why the Nazca culture created these lines in the desert plains of the Rio Grande de Nazca River basin and how the Nazca people were able to carve out such massive designs.
• Paracas: In Paracas, meet a local fisherman who will share how traditional practices are passed down through generations. Gain insight into daily life at sea, learn how small-scale fishers contend with industrial fleets and discover what a day’s catch is worth in a community where the ocean still shapes survival.
• Cusco: Explore Cusco’s lively San Pedro Market with your Local Expert, browsing stalls filled with colorful produce, regional grains and everyday ingredients used in Andean cooking. Select essential food items to donate to a local community, supporting families in need while gaining a more personal insight into daily life in Cusco.
• Cusco: Visit Cusco’s magnificent Cathedral with your Local Expert, built between 1560 and 1664 on the site of the Inca Wiracocha’s former palace. Admire its Renaissance facade, intricate colonial goldwork and celebrated religious art, including a distinctly Peruvian interpretation of ‘The Last Supper’ and the revered Lord of the Earthquakes statue.
• Choose between two carefully selected activities
• Cusco: Explore Cusco’s lively San Pedro Market with your Local Expert, browsing stalls filled with colorful produce, regional grains and everyday ingredients used in Andean cooking. Select essential food items to donate to a local community, supporting families in need while gaining a more personal insight into daily life in Cusco.
• Cusco: Visit Cusco’s magnificent Cathedral with your Local Expert, built between 1560 and 1664 on the site of the Inca Wiracocha’s former palace. Admire its Renaissance facade, intricate colonial goldwork and celebrated religious art, including a distinctly Peruvian interpretation of ‘The Last Supper’ and the revered Lord of the Earthquakes statue.