We’ll book your accommodation in Lima tonight, at the very nice airport hotel.

Accommodation: Fancy 3* Lima airport hotel

We’ll fly you all to Cusco today, where your guide will meet you off the plane, get you settled in at your accommodation, then take you out to spend the rest of the day exploring Cusco’s historic centre at a relaxed pace – it’s important to take it easy today, as you need to adjust to Cusco’s 3,400m (11,200 feet) altitude.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Charming, characterful 3* Cusco hotel

The sunny, incredibly scenic floodplain between Pisac and Ollantaytambo in the valley of the Urubamba River is known as the Sacred Valley of the Incas. Pisac is a tiny, cobbled Inca village which is home to the largest handicraft market in the region and a huge Inca fortress. We’ll explore both, then set off into the Sacred Valley. We’ll need frequent photo stops as we pass still-working Inca terracing, irrigation canals, and awesome mountain vistas. Our destination is Ollantaytambo, perhaps the most charming of all Inca towns, a maze of cobbled alleyways and sun-drenched plazas threaded with Inca irrigation canals.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Cosy, family-run, 3* Ollantaytambo hotel

Today starts with Chinchero, best known for its outdoor weaving studios and extensive Inca terracing with incredible views. Next we’ll explore Moray – a mysterious complex of massive amphitheatres of incredible engineering precision and stern, magnificent beauty.

Then an easy stroll (or ride in the bus if you prefer), through rolling farmland and views of the high Andes, brings us to Salineras – a surreal and beautiful patchwork of pools and paths that still produces salt using Inca technology and is our favourite site in the Cusco region.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Cosy, family-run, 3* Ollantaytambo hotel

Day 5 Start hiking the Inca Trail!

We’ll get up very early this morning to take the bus to KM 82, the start of the Inca Trail. The hike begins in the Sacred Valley as we follow the Urubamba River, climbing ever higher and eventually heading off up the Cusicacha Valley, through semi-arid forest and farming villages, to Wayllabamba, where we’ll camp for the night.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Camping on the Inca Trail

Walking: 12 km (7.5 miles)

Minimum Altitude: 2,700m (8,860 feet)

Maximum Altitude: 3,100m (10,170 feet)

Altitude of camp: 3,100m (10,170 feet)

Day 6 Hike over Warmiwayñusca Pass

Most of our walking time today is taken up by a stiff 1,200 m (3,940 feet) hike up to Warmiwayñusca (Dead Woman’s Pass), the highest point of the Inca Trail. From here if it’s clear we’ll enjoy incredible views back the way we came, and onwards towards the distant, snowcapped Vilcabamba Range. Then we descend steeply into Pacaymayo, our campsite for the night with one of the best views in the Andes.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Camping on the Inca Trail

Walking: 11 km (6.8 miles)

Minimum Altitude: 3,100m (10,170 feet)

Maximum Altitude: 4,200m (13,780 feet)

Altitude of camp: 3,600m (11,810 feet)

Day 7 Runkurakay, Sayacmarca and Wiñaywayna

Today’s hike takes us through some of the most stunning scenery in Peru, with cloud forest, orchids, hummingbirds and mountains on all sides, and to three gorgeous little ruins – Runkurakay, Sayacmarca, and Wiñaywayna, next to the evening’s campsite. Along the way we cross the watershed of the Andes – this is one of the best days trekking in the world.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Camping on the Inca Trail

Walking: 12 km (7.5 miles)

Minimum Altitude: 2,670m (8,760 feet)

Maximum Altitude: 3,900m (12,800 feet)

Altitude of camp: 2,670m (8,760 feet)

Day 5 Gastronomy and history in Ollantaytambo

This morning the hikers will set off for the Inca Trail, and we’ll spend the day in and around Ollantaytambo. There’s plenty to see in the township itself, and we’ll also explore the llama-shaped ruin that overshadows the town and was the site of the Inca’s greatest triumph against the Conquistadores.

We'll also delve deep into the incredible produce that made this valley sacred, learning a little about Andean agriculture and some of the area’s unique products in an organic market garden, where pick some vegetables which a chef will whip up into our very own garden gourmet meal.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Cosy, family-run, 3* Ollantaytambo hotel

Day 6 Adventures in the Amazon Basin

Today we cross one of the world’s more drastic topographical divides: from the arid, Pacific side of the Andes to its lush western slope and the uppermost reaches of the Amazon Basin. The differences become more and more obvious as we descend from the icy high pass of Abra Malaga (4,350 m/14,000 feet), all the way down to the steamy heat of the ceja de selva (“eyebrow of the jungle”).

Our destination, sleepy Santa Teresa (1,550m/5,085 feet), is home to one of our favourite places in Peru, the Baños Termales de Cocalmayo, natural mountain hot springs beside a raging river. It’s the perfect place to soak away the road dust of today’s journey from one side of the Andes to the other.

If you’re into biking, you might want to ride some or all of the day’s long descent to the high jungle – it’s an incredibly fun, freewheeling, downhill and is suitable for anyone who can ride a bike. We provide bikes so you can ride as much or as little as you like.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Rustic eco-lodge near Santa Teresa

Day 7 Meet coffee growers and sample their wares

Coffee, grown at cottage-industry level and exported to the world through growers’ co-operatives, is the backbone of this area’s economy. This morning a local coffee producer will show us around their plantation, and the operation where they harvest and mill coffee.

In the afternoon we’ll take a short (seven km/five mile) train ride to Aguas Calientes. There’s time this afternoon to explore the market and admire the scenery all around and above us – the isolated little town has one of the most beautiful settings you’ll see in Peru, in a jungle gorge by a rushing river.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: 3* hotel in Aguas Calientes

We’ll all be reunited at Machu Picchu today – Inca Trail walkers will arrive on foot, and other group members will catch an early bus up, giving us plenty of time to explore and enjoy the ruins and spectacular mountain views, as well as climbing Huayna Picchu.

A spectacular stone city surrounded by incredibly steep, incredibly green mountains, Machu Picchu needs no introduction and is deservedly one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. Your guides are impassioned experts who will show you through the ceremonial centers and orient you on the rest of the massive site.

Late in the day we’ll take the scenic train ride back to Cusco.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: 3* hotel in Cusco

Cusco is the longest inhabited city in and undisputed archaeological capital of the Americas. It’s also beautiful, fascinating, and bursting at the seams with things to see and do: churches and temples, colonial architecture, stunning streetscapes, great cafés, mountain views, museums, musicians, markets, and crazy hole-in-the-wall shops selling everything from frogs and herbs for casting spells to the world’s most colourful candles!

By this stage of the trip, your guide will be familiar with your interests and will be there with you to help you make the best of your time in this amazing town.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Luxury 5* hotel in Cusco

We’ll fly you back out to Lima today, where there will be time for your own exploration.

Meals: Breakfast includedf

Accommodation: 4* hotel in ritzy seaside Miraflores

We’ll take you to Lima airport in time for your flights home. Your hotel room will be available as late as you need it today.

Meals: Breakfast included