Sacred Land of the Incas with Intrepid: Amazon to La Paz

Travelling with Intrepid

Your Intrepid tour leaders travel with the group through Peru and Bolivia, helping each stage run smoothly and sharing recommendations for meals, free time and optional activities. They also bring local context to the Inca and Indigenous history behind the route, while the choice of trek or train to Machu Picchu lets you decide how active you want this part of the trip to be.

Highlights

• Spend two nights in an Amazon jungle lodge, reached by motorised canoe, with a guided rainforest trek and an evening walk in search of nocturnal wildlife.

• Visit a community in the Sacred Valley for lunch and conversation, followed by a stop at a social enterprise supporting women from vulnerable communities.

• Choose between the Inca Trail, the Quarry Trail or travelling by train to reach Machu Picchu, with different levels of hiking available.

• Enter Machu Picchu with a guide to explore its temples, terraces and living quarters among the surrounding Andean peaks.

• Cross Lake Titicaca by boat, visit the floating Uros Islands and spend the night with a family in the Llachon community.

• Finish in La Paz, where an orientation walk introduces the city’s markets, colonial streets and Indigenous Aymara and Quechua culture.

The Amazon and Cusco

After your first night in Lima, fly to Puerto Maldonado and continue by canoe into the Amazon rainforest. Your lodge sits beside the Madre de Dios River, giving you two nights surrounded by jungle rather than visiting for a few hours from town.

Walk through the forest with local guides who explain the plants, wildlife and traditional uses of the rainforest. After dark, head out again to listen for frogs, monkeys and other nocturnal animals before returning to the lodge. From the Amazon, fly into the Andes and continue to Cusco, with time to settle into the altitude and explore the former Inca capital.

The Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu

Travel through the Sacred Valley to Ollantaytambo, where Inca terraces climb the mountains above the town. Along the way, stop at a village that continues many Inca traditions and share lunch with the community before visiting a restaurant and training project supporting women from across the valley.

From Ollantaytambo, you can take one of three routes towards Machu Picchu. The Inca Trail follows the best-known path through high mountain passes and archaeological sites, arriving through the Sun Gate. The Quarry Trail takes a less-travelled route past local communities, old quarry sites and mountain scenery. Travellers who prefer not to camp can stay in Cusco before taking the train through the Urubamba Valley.

Whichever route you choose, the group comes together for a guided visit to Machu Picchu, with time to walk among its temples, terraces and stone buildings before returning to Cusco.

Lake Titicaca

Continue across the high plateau to Puno, on the shores of Lake Titicaca. At around 3,800 metres above sea level, it is the world’s highest navigable lake and an important centre of Aymara and Quechua culture.

Travel by boat to the floating Uros Islands, which are built from layers of totora reeds growing in the lake, then continue to the Llachon community for an overnight homestay. Join your hosts in their daily activities, share a home-cooked dinner and see what life is like in one of the communities along the lake. The following day includes a visit to Taquile Island, known for its hand-knitted textiles and local craft traditions.

La Paz

Cross from Peru into Bolivia and finish in La Paz, a high-altitude city surrounded by the Andes. An orientation walk introduces its markets, colonial architecture and the Aymara and Quechua traditions that continue to shape everyday life.

The final night gives you time to look back over a journey that has moved from rainforest and high mountain trails to Inca sites, island communities and two very different Andean countries.

Terms and Conditions

Economy flights from Dublin to Lima via Newark, departing 27/02/2027, with checked baggage and a private arrival transfer included. The 14-night Sacred Land of the Incas tour with Intrepid travels from Lima to La Paz and includes 14 breakfasts, seven lunches and six dinners. Accommodation includes hotels, two nights in an Amazon jungle lodge, a community homestay beside Lake Titicaca and, for the trekking route, three nights of camping with basic facilities. Transport during the tour includes private vehicles, public buses, internal flights, motorised canoe and boat travel. Eight included experiences cover guided Amazon activities, a Cusco orientation walk, a Sacred Valley community visit and lunch, a visit to the AMA social enterprise, the guided route or train option to Machu Picchu, Machu Picchu entrance and touring, the Lake Titicaca boat journey and homestay, and an orientation walk in La Paz. Return economy flights from La Paz to Dublin via Bogotá and Newark are included. Based on two adults.

14 nights from €3,850 per person