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Note: For Cusco tours, it can make a big difference to spend the first day in the Sacred Valley (9,000 feet/2,400 m) to acclimatize and avoid altitude sickness problems before ascending back to the city of Cusco (11,152 feet/3,360 m).
Various chroniclers, including Juan de Batanzos, José de Acosta, Guaman Poma, and Cristóbal de Molina, described a ritual celebration of festivity and dance that took place each year around the June solstice in honor of the sun god Inti. During the reign of the Incas, only the royal bloodline governing elite could participate in the great feast known as Inti Raymi. In the 1940s, the Sun Festival celebration was revived as an expression of indigenous culture that all Peruvians could celebrate. Over the following decades, the event became one of South America’s most important festivals, attracting visitors from around the world.
We will meet you upon arrival at Jorge Chávez International Airport in Lima and transfer you to your selected hotel.
After breakfast, you’ll embark on a city tour with our private guide and driver to visit Lima’s most important and attractive sites, the “City of Kings.” The tour includes a visit to Huaca Pucllana, an adobe pyramidal structure in the heart of the coastal district of Miraflores, Paseo de la República, and the neocolonial architecture of Plaza San Martín. Passing through ancient streets with colonial mansions and intricately carved wooden balconies of Lima, we arrive at Plaza de Armas.
Here each day at noon, visitors can view the spectacular Changing of the Guard ceremony the gates of the Government Palace on the plaza’s northern side.
Along the east side of the plaza are the Cathedral (housing the tomb of Pizarro) the Archbishop’s Palace, and on the opposite side is Lima’s Municipal Palace.
The next stop is a visit to the San Francisco Convent and Church, which houses the oldest colonial art collection in the Americas, with an exquisitely carved choir, a library of ancient manuscripts, and the Sacristy with paintings by Zurbarán and Rivera. The main cloister courtyard is decorated from top to bottom with blue and white Sevillian tiles depicting biblical scenes from the 16th century. Moorish arches lead us to the Catacombs, an underground crypt from the colonial era, where the remains of 25,000 Limeños from the colonial period rest. The tour continues through the city’s most traditional residential areas: San Isidro, Miraflores Central Park, and to the Larcomar cliff-edge shopping and entertainment complex, a popular symbol of modern Lima. Free time to enjoy lunch and/or shopping.
Visit the Larco Museum for a guided tour of its magnificent collection of 45,000 artifacts. Discover why Peru has recently been recognized as the Sixth Cradle of Civilization in the world, contemporary with Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, Mexico, and China. Larco’s permanent exhibition offers one of the best general explanations for contextualizing Peru’s countless ancient cultures. Learn about the continuity of a shared worldview that united Peruvian cultures, from the earliest known civilizations, through the Wari, Mochica, and Inca empires, to the Spanish conquest of the 16th century.
Return to your hotel. (B)
After breakfast, transfer to the airport to take the flight to Cusco. Of the many journeys from Lima, this is one of the most unforgettable destinations. Upon arrival, check in to your hotel and depart directly to the Sacred Valley for a private full-day excursion to Urubamba, the Sacred Valley of the Incas. Pisaq Citadel atop a sacred mountain in the Sacred Valley – Cusco. Visit the town of Pisac, founded by the Spaniards in the late 16th century. On Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, local farmers exchange their products, and artisans from the area come to sell their woven alpaca wool blankets, ponchos, engraved gourds, jewelry, and other handicrafts. After a buffet lunch, visit Ollantaytambo, the only Inca city that remains inhabited. Explore the ruins above Ollantaytambo before returning to Cusco. Optional: you can decide with your guide if you want to return through the traditional market town of Chinchero. (B/L)
After breakfast, this is the day of Inti Raymi, the Quechua name for the Inca Festival of the Sun (pronounced: In-tea-rye-me). This annual recreation of the ancient Inca winter solstice celebration is the largest festival of the year in Cusco and a “must-see” experience you’ll never forget. For centuries, after the arrival of the Spaniards, the sun celebration was replaced by Catholic Corpus Christi celebrations. Inti Raymi was revived in 1944 as a private initiative of the American Art Institute of Cuzco.
Today’s festival, June 24th, is one of the largest in Latin America, a spectacle of ancient pomp and royal energy.
The religious ceremony unfolds with ritual veneration to the deity Inti Sol and Mother Earth on the esplanade of Sacsayhuaman above Cusco. The Inti Raymi ceremony involves hundreds of dancers who spin around a central platform called “ushnu” while the Inca ruler is carried in a royal litter with a golden throne. Attend the festivities with your private guide to experience this spectacular recreation of ancient Inca rituals yourself. The staging begins at the Koricancha, continuing to the city’s Plaza de Armas and ending at the Sacsayhuaman esplanade. The most important central character is the Sapa Inca. When the ceremony ends, the presentation of folkloric groups begins. Box lunch included. (B/L)
In the afternoon, we begin exploring Cusco on a tour, where your private guide will explain the history and significance of our Inca culture and the great changes that took place with the invasion of Spanish forces. You’ll visit the main plaza, the Cathedral, and the Inca Temple of the Sun or Koricancha. Then we visit the ruins on the outskirts of the city, stopping at the Inca ritual site of Quenqo, the water temple of Tambomachay, the customs house of Puca Pucara, and the impressive Fortress Temple of Sacsayhuaman, strategically built on the hill above the city of Cusco. The vast archaeological complex is famous for its enormous stone blocks, assembled with incredible precision to form the imposing external walls of the complex. Some stones measure nine meters high and weigh more than 350 tons. Afterward, we’ll take you back to your hotel. (B)
After breakfast, your driver will pick you up to transfer you to Poroy or Ollantaytambo train station, where you’ll board the train to Machu Picchu, the Lost City of the Incas.
We arrive at the town of Aguas Calientes and take a bus for approximately 30 minutes, ascending through a series of curves until we reach the incomparable Machu Picchu. The excursion includes a private tour of the citadel, visiting the main points of interest, including the Guard House, the Temple of the Three Windows, the Intihuatana (“Sun post”), the Sacred Rock, and the Temple of the Condor, among others. You’ll also have free time to walk through the complex at your own pace. We’ll have lunch at the Sanctuary Lodge restaurant before checking into your chosen hotel. (B/L)
After enjoying a buffet breakfast, you’ll return to the ruins to explore on your own, in relative tranquility before other visitors arrive on the train from Cusco. (Or perhaps you’d like to consult with one of our travel experts and plan to climb Huayna Picchu to explore the ruins at the mountaintop and experience a breathtaking view of Machu Picchu and the beautiful surrounding landscape. Your travel plans can be highly customized). In the afternoon, you’ll board the train to return to Ollantaytambo or Poroy train station, where you’ll be transferred to the waiting bus back to Cusco and your hotel. (B)
After breakfast, free morning before transfer to the airport to take the return flight to Lima and your flight back home. (B)
(B) Breakfast, (L) Lunch, (D) Dinner
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Fertur Peru Travel’s pledge is to offer you top-quality, individualized attention that starts with the planning of your trip and continues through your journey to guarantee a great vacation.
Planning the perfect trip around Peru can be difficult given the amount of incredible destinations to choose between, and also as everyone has different particular interests. Here at Fertur Peru Travel we have designed the most exciting and complete trip based on personal travel experience, as well as from many years of customizing tours around Peru for our clients. Whether you are looking to spot wild animals, visit impressive archaeological ruins, or try exquisite Peruvian cuisine, we have all of your interests covered here.
We also pride ourselves on luxurious and comfortable tours, so by booking with us you will be guaranteed deluxe private transportation while exploring all corners of the country as you will with our Peru Cultural Itinerary Tour. As well as this we also use the very best, professional tour guides, who will ensure both the most safe and memorable time possible.
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