If you missed part 1 of our recommendations for a Peru itinerary check it out here. For this post we are breaking down what we did in our second week of Peru. As with any trip, once you are home, you almost always wish you had done things slightly differently and here is our take on the best way to see Peru! And in case you haven’t read our other Peru posts, Machu Picchu is always MP.
Week Two:
Day 7: Half day walking/van tour of Cusco, overnight in Cusco
Day 8: Half day tour of Maras and Moray, overnight in Cusco
Day 9: Sacred Valley, overnight in Ollantaytambo
Day 10: Train to Aguas Calientes, bus to Machu Picchu, overnight in Aguas Calientes
Day 11: Optional morning at Machu Picchu, train back to Cusco, overnight in Cusco
Day 12: Free day in Cusco, overnight in Cusco
Day 13: Fly to Lima, half day tour of Lima, overnight in Lima
Day 14: Free morning in Lima, flight home to USA in the evening
Day 7 – What we did:
Took a walking/driving tour of Cusco.
What we recommend:
Take a walking/driving tour of Cusco. It was so awesome to see the city and learn about it as we went along. There’s a really cool place Sacsayhuman (pronounced Sexy woman, no joke) that has AMAZING views of Cusco from above. There is also a TON of Incan architecture and some amazing churches. We got a BIG CITY TICKET that got us entrance to quite a few things which was nice.
Day 8 – What we did:
A half day trip to Maras and Moray.
What we recommend:
Only go to Maras. We LOVED this so much, we were insanely sad to leave. As travel bloggers we got so engrossed in getting the perfect insta photo, that we felt a little rushed by our guide to get over to Moray. And once we got to Moray there wasn’t a lot to see. In our minds, not worth it. Or if you want to do both, schedule the tour for a full day so you don’t have to rush at Maras.
Day 9 – What we did:
Took a tour to the Sacred Valley to stay the night and then travel on to Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu, before coming back to Cusco.
What we recommend:
This is slightly complicated, but don’t worry, we broke it down for you since the logistics are weird. But we definitely recommend doing the Sacred Valley and staying in Ollantaytambo because we really enjoyed it.
Day 10 – What we did:
Took the train to MP first thing. And we mean first thing. Pro-tip: arrange a transfer to the station given the time of day (really forking early) and not knowing the town – it was way easier and much less stressful.
What we recommend:
Take the Vistadome train from Ollyntantambo to Aguas Calientas because it is daylight out and BEAUTIFUL.
What we did:
Took the bus to MP to meet our tour guide.
What we recommend:
Take the bus up to MP and meet your pre-arranged tour guide. It is completely worth having a tour guide (and supposedly they’ve changed the rules and it is mandatory the first time you go in) because it’s impossible to know what all the stuff at MP is without one. Our guide was awesome and this was a highlight for sure.
What we did:
Ate at the buffet at the hotel at MP.
What we recommend:
Eating at the buffet. So it’s a little pricey, but it’s really good and they have wifi and air conditioning. It was NOT COLD when we were at MP so resting in the cool air was amazing. We stayed for a couple of hours which also allowed MP to clear out. Pro tip: you can’t bring food into MP with you. But you can bring water!
What we did:
Went back into MP in the mid/late afternoon.
What we recommend:
Go back in later in the day. A LOT of people do day trips to MP and have to be back down the mountain to catch the train by about 5 PM. So the lines to get down are CRAZY. But the good news is that means MP is almost deserted if you stick around. It was amazing. Do yourself a favor and get a pass for the whole day and spend the night in Aguas Calientes. Trust us, it’s worth it!
What we did:
Ate dinner at The Tree House
What we recommend:
Eat dinner at The Tree House. It was one of the best meals of the trip, if not the best. Seriously AMAZING. A touch hard to find, and definitely hard to get to (climbing up the side of a mountain essentially), but absolutely worth it.
What we did:
Bought two days’ worth of tickets for MP
What we recommend:
Since we used a tour company, they arranged our tickets for us and we did not end up going up to MP the second day. That means we ended up wasting about $60 USD on that ticket. We think it’s ABSOLUTELY worth having a backup since the weather at MP can be really rough. But it is a good idea to buy tickets in town if you need them, rather than in advance so you don’t waste your cash! We lucked out with the most amazing day at MP anyone could EVER want (literally it ended with a double rainbow. Yeah, not kidding), but were so glad we had that backup ticket if needed. Instead, we wandered around the town and it was so fun! And a crappy day for weather so we were happy we didn’t go back up to MP.
Day 11 – What we did:
Took the Vistadome back to Cusco
What we recommend:
Save yourself some cash and take the regular train. We went to Peru in late August/early September so by the time we left Aquas Calientes, it was basically dark anyway. And because the point of that train is to see the views, not worth the extra cash money. Lesson learned.
What we did:
Stayed at the same hotel when we got back to Cusco
What we recommend:
Staying in the same hotel when you return to Cusco since that way you can store your luggage and not have to worry about getting bags and going to a different place. This makes more sense once you read our post on the logistics of the Sacred Valley and MP.
Day 12 – What we did:
Had a free day in Cusco and visited our favorite coffee/breakfast/lunch place (Museo del Cafe), went to the market, and re-scheduled our flights home.
What we recommend:
Do whatever you want. Cusco is a great city to explore. But we did LOVE the market once we found it. And Museo de Coffee was so good we went every day. We do not recommend having to re-schedule flights home. Unfortunately for us, we were in Peru when a massive hurricane was barreling towards the United States. And since there are only so many USA points of entry from South America, getting home was special, to say the least. But we made the best of it. If you can pull-off spending an extra couple of days in Cusco we hope you do. There are so many things we didn’t even get to do because we had to leave…
Day 13 – What we did:
Flew back to Lima
What we recommend:
Only fly back to Lima for a night before going home. Do this city on the front-end, trust us, you’ll like it more that way.
What we did:
A half-day tour of Lima
What we recommend:
Do a half-day tour of Lima, get some food, sleep and then go-home! Or if you do this on the front end fly in, sleep, and move on to your next destination.
What we did:
Went to Peru for two weeks
What we recommend:
Go to Peru for one week (Cusco, Sacred Valley and MP) and then go to another South American destination. Not that we didn’t have a great time, that’s not it. We just loved our Cusco, Sacred Valley and MP experience SO MUCH, that to us, your time is better spent exploring another nearby country.
