Inca Kingdoms & Galápagos Islands

Highlights

• Travel through Peru’s Sacred Valley, visiting a women’s weaving co-operative and pottery community before continuing towards Machu Picchu.
• Reach Machu Picchu by train and explore the Inca citadel with an expert guide before returning to Cusco.
• Fly from Lima to Quito and onwards to the Galápagos, where a naturalist guide joins the group for the island section of the journey.
• Stay on Floreana Island in community guesthouses, walk its black-sand coastline and explore the quieter highlands with a guide.
• Hike to the rim of Sierra Negra on Isabela, an active volcano with one of the largest volcanic craters in the Galápagos.
• See giant tortoises at the breeding centre on Isabela and walk to Tortuga Bay on Santa Cruz for turquoise water and a wide stretch of white sand.

Cusco, the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu

After a first night in Lima, the journey moves into the Andes and Cusco, the former capital of the Inca Empire. From here, travel into the Sacred Valley to see how local weaving and pottery traditions are still practised, have lunch at a community-run restaurant and continue to Aguas Calientes at the foot of Machu Picchu. The following morning is the moment much of the trip has been building towards, with an expert-led visit through the terraces, stonework and mountain setting of Machu Picchu before returning to Cusco.

From Peru to Ecuador

There is time back in Cusco and Lima before the journey changes countries completely. Fly to Quito and then onwards to the Galápagos, where the focus moves from archaeological sites and mountain scenery to wildlife and volcanic islands. The first stop is Santa Cruz and the Charles Darwin Research Station, which introduces the conservation work behind some of the animals you will see over the following week.

Floreana and Isabela

Island-hopping begins with a speedboat to Floreana, one of the less-visited inhabited islands in the Galápagos. Stay in community guesthouses, eat in locally run restaurants and walk to the black-sand beach at La Lobería before exploring the island’s highlands with a guide. From here, continue to Isabela and hike Sierra Negra, where the trail climbs to the rim of a vast active volcanic crater.

Wildlife of the Galápagos

The final days bring more chances to see the animals that make the islands famous. On Isabela, visit the Giant Tortoise Breeding Centre, with the option to take a wildlife boat trip in search of marine iguanas, white-tip reef sharks, rays, penguins and blue-footed boobies. Back on Santa Cruz, walk to Tortuga Bay before flying to Quito for the final night.

Terms and Conditions

Economy flights from Dublin to Lima with British Airways and American Airlines via London Heathrow and Miami, departing on 29-01-2027, with one checked bag per person. A private arrival transfer and one pre-tour night in Lima in a Standard Double Room on a Room Only basis are included. The 15-night G Adventures Machu Picchu & Galápagos Island Hopping tour travels from Lima to Quito and includes accommodation, 15 breakfasts, two lunches and two dinners, internal flights, transport between destinations and included activities, a guided Sacred Valley tour, community weaving and pottery visits, train travel to Machu Picchu, a guided Machu Picchu visit, the flight from Lima to Quito, the Charles Darwin Research Centre, Las Grietas, Floreana Island, a Sierra Negra volcano hike, the Giant Tortoise Breeding Centre and Tortuga Bay. G Adventures representatives, specialist guides in Peru and a Galápagos National Park-certified naturalist guide are included during the relevant parts of the trip. A private transfer to Quito Airport and return economy flights to Dublin via Miami and Philadelphia are also included. The price is based on two adults.

16 nights from €5,400 per person