Christmas Departure 10 Days - 9 Nights starting December 23

Description

You will take a guided sightseeing tour to the most attractive and important sites in Lima, the "City of Kings". The tour includes Lima's Historical Centre, passing by Plaza San Martin, Plaza Mayor, the Government Palace, the City Hall, the Cathedral and its Religious Art Museum (it's construction was begun on the city's foundation, on January 18, 1535.

Itinerary Day by Day - December 2019

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Day 1 / Mon 23 - Arrive to Lima

Upon your arrival in Lima, you will be met by your transfer-man (member of Machu Picchu Inc. staff), who will assist you with your luggage and check-in procedures at your hotel in the Sacred Valley. You will receive a welcome package with all hotel’s information as well as our office's contact information for each city and the 24-hour emergency numbers for any further assistance you may require. Accommodation at AC Miraflores hotel for two nights at one AC Deluxe Ocean View room. (-/-/-)

Day 2 / Tue 24 - HD City tour of Lima with Larco Museum and Lunch (Private)

Today in a half day tour, you will take a guided sightseeing tour to the most attractive and important sites in Lima, the "City of Kings". The tour includes Lima's Historical Centre, passing by Plaza San Martin, Plaza Mayor, the Government Palace, the City Hall, the Cathedral and its Religious Art Museum. Its construction began on the city's foundation, on January 18, 1535. You will visit the Convent and Church of San Francisco, considered by some as the greatest architectural complex of Colonial Art in America and Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The underground galleries or Catacombs that served as a cemetery for the city during the Viceroyalty period. You will continue with a visit of the Larco Herrera Museum, founded in 1926, which showcases remarkable chronological galleries providing an excellent overview on 3000 years of development of Peruvian pre-Columbian history. The museum, located in a unique vice-royal mansion of the 18th century built over a 17th century pre-Columbian pyramid, has many fine examples of textile works, one example of which has a record breaking 398 threads per inch; materials and tools used by ancient Peruvians to produce their work in ceramics and metal, it also features the finest gold and silver collection from Ancient Peru. The rest of the day is free for passengers own activities.

Special Christmas Dinner will be served at the hotel. Accommodation at AC Miraflores hotel at one AC Deluxe Ocean View room. (B/-/D)

Day 3 / Wed 25 - Lima, Cusco, Sacred Valley

At the appropriate time, you will be met by your transfer-man who will assist you with your flight to Cusco. When you arrive to Cusco, the Imperial City, you will be met by your transfer-man and private driver who will assist you with your luggage and will drive you to your hotel located in the Sacred Valley of the Incas.

On the way, visit Awanacancha textile center to observe traditional Andean weaving and to see the four types of camel-related Andean animals – llamas, guanacos, alpacas and vicuñas. Alpacas have thick wool and is the most commonly used while the vicuñas are small and delicate with fur considered the finest. Awanacancha is a weaving center with the goal to keep alive the traditional textile arts.

Here you can meet these four types of camelids, learn about the harvesting of the different wools, the natural dying techniques and have a chance to see native weavers from different areas showing their different weaving secrets and lifestyle.

Overnight at Aranwa Sacred Valley Hotel & Wellness for three nights in One Deluxe room, including breakfast, hotel tax and service charge. (B/-/-)

Day 4 / Thu 26 - Sacred Valley, FD Pisac Market, Pisac Ruins & Ollantaytambo fortress with Lunch (Private)

Your first visit is the town of Pisac, where the Incas built an observatory to study astronomy as well as an impressive network of cultivated terrace. After this, you will have the opportunity to bargain with vendors at the local handicraft market in Pisac. Lunch will take place at a great restaurant accompanied by a Paso Horse Demonstration. Peruvian Paso Horses, with their elegance and noble spirit, symbolize a centuries-old tradition of cultural fusion and folklore that defines and enriches Peru. In this presentation, Paso horses from our stables demonstrate their flowing gait and graceful motion to the rhythm of 'la marinera,' the national dance of Peru.

Lunch will be served at Hacienda Sarapampa. Opened to visitors in 2015, Hacienda Sarapampa offers a unique experience in a working farm where you can learn first-hand about the Cusco giant white corn and its production, the hacienda life and delight yourself with a Farm to Table lunch while you enjoying the surrounding landscape of the farm and the Sacred Valley. Feel like a Unique guest and experience the real taste of the Sacred Valley of the Incas

After lunch, continue to the Inca fortress of Ollantaytambo. The site was built just as the Spaniards arrived to these territories and evidence of how it was built is still visible. After seeing the magnificent past of the spot stroll through the quaint streets of the present town before returning to your hotel. Overnight at Aranwa Sacred Valley Hotel & Wellness for three nights in One Deluxe room, including breakfast, lunch, hotel tax and service charge. (B/L/-)

Day 5 / Fri 27 - FD Chincheros, Maras, Moray, & Nilda Callañaupa center with Lunch (with private guide)

Today your guide will take you to the town of Chinchero which a small Andean Indian village is located high up on the windswept plains of Anta at 3765m about 30km from Cusco. Chinchero is believed to be the mythical birthplace of the rainbow. Its major claim to tourism is its colorful Sunday market which is much less tourist-orientated than the market at Pisac. The village mainly comprises mud brick (adobe) houses, and locals still go about their business in traditional dress. The village may have been an important town in Inca times. The most striking remnant of this period is the massive stone wall in the main plaza which has ten trapezoidal niches. The construction of the wall and many other ruins and agricultural terraces (which are still in use) are attributed to Inca Tupac Yupanqui who possibly used Chinchero as a kind of country resort.

In Chincheros you visit the home of artist and master weaver Nilda Callañaupa. Peruvian textiles, recently believed to be a generation away from extinction, are making a surprising comeback, and the revival of the country's 2,000-year-old weaving techniques is largely due to Nilda Callañaupa, who works with six mountain villages to resurrect symbolic patterns and avoid the use of garish chemical dyes and synthetic yarns. Enjoy a highly educational weaving demonstration that will include wool spinning, natural dyes, traditional patterns and weaving techniques.
Following after, head to the salt fields of Maras and its seemingly never-ending terraces, where salt extracted from springs is stored. Although these waters have been used for centuries, even before the time of the Incas, Maras were founded by the Spanish in 1556. It supplied salt to the southern highlands during the viceroyalty, so it was an important town. The use of Maras Salt dates back thousands of years and is inherited from generation to generation and managed communally. It is produced naturally in about 5,000 pools of approximately 5 square meters each forming different levels of terraces, nourished by salty water from a creek that permeates the pools and then evaporated by the intense sun, forming thick crystals.

Continue your excursion to admire the Moray terraces, believed to be a former gigantic agricultural laboratory, an astronomical observatory or a place of worship, or maybe all three. It is thought that Moray was used for plant adaptation to new climatic environments thanks to its circular terraces in immense cone-shaped depressions of 47 to 84 m that resemble giant fingerprints or contour lines. These create a series of microclimates at the different heights of the terraces, which enabled the Incas to experimentally improve a great variety of crops.
Lunch is enjoyed in the Wayra Gardens among the native plants, served in a modern environment. We are enveloped by the aroma of freshly baked bread coming out of the wood-burning ovens, tasty empanadas with different fillings and an amazing assortment of native potatoes from remote communities that have preserved them along with their stories. Lunch is accompanied by a Paso Horse Demonstration. Peruvian Paso Horses, with their elegance and noble spirit, symbolize a centuries-old tradition of cultural fusion and folklore that defines and enriches Peru. In this presentation, Paso horses from our stables demonstrate their flowing gait and graceful motion to the rhythm of 'la marinera,' the national dance of Peru.

After the tour, return to your hotel. Overnight at Aranwa Sacred Valley Hotel & Wellness in One Deluxe room, including breakfast, lunch, hotel tax and service charge. (B/L/-)

Day 6 / Sat 28 - FD Machu Picchu citadel by Round Trip VISTADOME Train (Private guide)

This morning, you will be transferred to Ollantaytambo's train station, located close to the site where the old Inca hanging bridge crossed the Urubamba river.

Onboard the Vistadome Train you will move along the tracks following the river's course into the jungle lowlands to Aguas Calientes a.k.a. Machu Picchu Pueblo (a 2-hour ride). This is the last stop before getting to the famous archaeological complex. Find crafts, books, restaurants and array of hotels in this buzzling town. The bus zig-zags up the steep side of the mountain for nearly 20 minutes. The pre-Hispanic engineering marvel unveils itself gradually; this was the site Pachacutec Inca (1438-1572) chose as royal retreat and where his "malqui" or mummified remains were to be worshiped. Machu Picchu or "Old Mountain" is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the New Seven Wonders yet the traveler senses a beauty unmatched by these or any other title. How was such a work accomplished? Granite stone buildings that seem to naturally sprout from the earth instead of being constructed on it. Andean mountain aesthetics can truly be appreciated at Machu Picchu; explore the site at your own pace. Visit the Royal Mausoleum or take the path to the Inca Bridge, or the central flight of steps to reach Intihuatana. Or simply contemplate the sacred geography all around; the Urubamba nearly encircling the site and Mount Salkantay ("Wild"), overlooking the citadel from the southeast.

Buffet Lunch will be included at Tinkuy restaurant in the Belmond Sanctuary Lodge hotel.

After visiting Machu Picchu, in the afternoon, return to your hotel located in Aguas Calientes town. Overnight at Machu Picchu hotel Sumaq, Luxury Edition hotel, for one night in One Sumaq Deluxe room. Buffet Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included this day. (B/L/D)

Day 7 / Sun 29 - 2nd entrance to Machu Picchu & Huayna Picchu (without guide)

This morning you will return to Machu Picchu and you will visit on your own any of the attractions of the citadel. Visit the Intipunku, which in Castilian means "Sun Gate" and is the last stop before entering Machu Picchu if you follow the Inca trail from Ollantaytambo. It was kind of a checkpoint control and the sun rises every day through this door if viewed from the most important buildings of the citadel. You may climb the Wayna Picchu (subject to space availability), which means "Young Mountain" as opposed to Machu Picchu. This ascent takes about an hour and its main attraction is the "Temple of the Moon", a complex of underground constructions, likely to have been used by the elite. Finally, you will be able to know the Inca Bridge, an incredible stone building that served as entrance or exit of the citadel and halfway has a gap of several meters above which were two large wooden tables. Thus, the Incas could isolate the city by simply withdrawing them and thus remain protected.

In the afternoon, head to the train station of Aguas Calientes and from there take the Vistadome train back to the Sacred Valley. Upon arrival to Ollantaytambo station, a private transport will be waiting for you to take you to Cusco city. Overnight at Aranwa Cusco Boutique hotel, for three nights in one Deluxe room, Buffet Breakfast is included this day. (B/-/-)

Day 8 / Mon 30 - HD City tour of Cusco & nearby ruins (Private)

Inca rulers once called Cusco the "Navel of the World". Cusco remains today a city that blends colonial Spanish charm with older, more austere remains of pre-Columbian glory. One can see the foundations of Inca structures on many of its city streets today. Today you will go on a guided visit of the Imperial City of Cusco. In this Cusco city tour, you will visit the Main Plaza, which has been the scene of great historical events in the Capital of the Incas, the main Cathedral church, built of great slabs of red granite in renaissance style and thus contrasting with the baroque style silverwork which decorates its interior. You will then continue on to the Santo Domingo church, built upon the foundations of the Inca temple Koricancha, which was dedicated to S un worship. Later, you will head to the City’s nearby ruins; the fortress of Sacsayhuaman, a magnificent example of Incan military power; Qenqo, a ritualistic site with subterranean galleries that form an underground maze; Puca Pucara, the red fortress and finally Tambomachay, also known as the Incan Baths.

After this amazing educative Cusco city tour, you will be driven back to your hotel. Balance of the day at leisure. Overnight at Aranwa Cusco Boutique hotel, in one Deluxe room, Buffet Breakfast is included this day. (B/-/-)

Day 9 / Tue 31 - Cusco, New Year Eve

Day at leisure for activities on your own.

New Year’s Eve dinner will be provided at hotel and will be accompanied by a folklore show. Overnight at Aranwa Cusco Boutique hotel, in one deluxe room, Buffet Breakfast and dinner is included this day. (B/-/D)

Day 10 / Wed, January 1st, 2020 - Cusco, Lima, Out

After breakfast, your guide will take you to the Cusco airport in time for your flight to Lima. Upon arrival to Lima, reception at the airport by a representative who will assist you with your international departure flight. (B/-/-)

End of Services.

Included

• Private services with local English or Spanish speaking guide, except where otherwise specified
• All entrance fees to the sites mentioned above
• Meals: As indicated in the itinerary
• 01 Roundtrip train ticket to Machu Picchu via VISTADOME coach per person
• 01 Entrance ticket to Machu Picchu per person
• 01 Entrance ticket to Machu Picchu & Huayna Picchu OR Machu Picchu Mountain per person.
• 02 shuttle bus ticket to and from the Machu Picchu ruins per person
• 09 nights hotel acomodación

• All tips (except hotel staff & guides); additional tips are optional and voluntary. However, we provide the following guidelines: Guide/transfer man: US$ 4.00 per guest per day, Driver: US$ 2.00 per guest per day, Restaurant Tips: 10% of the total check.

• Permanent assistance during the trip.

Not Included

• International and domestic airfares (actual price subject to changes by the airline).
• Meals or any other item not described in the itinerary.
• Early check-in, late check-out, services and non-mentioned meals in the itinerary
• Personal expenses.
• Drinks during meals, hotel extras and personal spending
• Tips to guides and hotel staff

• Local VAT taxes (18% applicable only to Peruvian and foreign residents of Peru; in order to be exempted you will need to show your passport and the Andean Immigration card given at Customs at Lima Airport upon your arrival to Peru.). Foreigner should also have stayed not longer than 60 days in Peru, otherwise Peruvian taxation will apply at hotels.