michaelpianko

This is just a rough draft day-by-day itinerary. I am trying to first figure out how many nights to reserve in each location.

Saturday: Flights from Detroit to Lima, arriving at 9 to 10pm? 1st night in Lima

Sunday: find a grocery store; Huaca Pucllana Inca site (9-5. Ticket includes a required 1-hour guided tour); other museum, various monuments, and/or view of the ocean. 2nd night in Lima

Monday: Museo Larco (9-7pm, private museum with decorative pots, Moche pots); various monuments; El Circuito Mágico del Agua (illuminated fountain open every evening, must buy a ticket). 3rd night in Lima

Tuesday: Museo Banco Central de Reserva del Perú (art museum, 9-5), Museo de Arte de Lima (10:30-6pm). 4th night in Lima

Wednesday: Museo Nacional de Antropología, Arqueología e Historía del Perú (9-7:30). 5th night in Lima

Thursday: Pachacamac Inca site (9-5). 6th night in Lima

Friday: Fortaleza del Real Felipe (9-4, take a taxi or uber, might be in a bad neighborhood), Museo Pedro de Osma (10-6). Evening Bus to Nazca. 7th night

Sunday: flight in a small plane over the Nazca Lines. If time, somewhere else. Possibly a guided day or part day tour that includes the flight and somewhere else? Bus to Arequipa leaving approximately 8:59 or 9:15pm? Or should I spend a night in Nazca? And or should I take the bus back to Peru and then a flight to Arequipa? 8th night

Monday: Drop stuff off at hotel; Arequipa: guided or unguided tour/ Museo Histórico Municipal Guillermo Zegarra Meneses (8-3 Mon or Tues); Casa de Moral (Peruvian coins and bills, 9am-5pm?), Monasterio y Museo de la Recoleta (includes Amazonian artifacts 9-1:30p, 3-5pm closed mon); Basilica Catedral de Arequipa (5-6pm). 1st night in Arequipa, 9th night total

Tuesday: Museo Arqueológico UNAS (8:30-1pm or 2-3:30); Museo Santuarios Andinos (Inca mummy, 9-6pm closed Mondays), La Mansión del Fundador? (restored mansion, 9-5?); Observatorio y Planetario Stellarium (5:30-9:30pm). 2nd night in Arequipa, 10th night total



Wednesday: flight to Cuzco. Drop stuff off at hotel. Guided tour or Museo Inka (9:15-4pm), Museo Histórico de Regional (8-5); Museo de Arte Precolombino (8am-10pm). 1st night in Cuzco, 11th night total

Thursday: Qorikancha (Inca ruins of a temple, 8:30-5:30, museum 9-6), Saqsaywaman (Inca ruins, 7am-5:30pm); Planetarium Cuzco (6-8pm)? 2nd night in Cuzco, 12th night total

Friday: train to Ollantaytambo. Ruins. 13th night, sleep in Ollantaytambo

Saturday: train to Aguas Calientes, bus the rest of the way to Machu Picchu. Train back to Cuzco.

Sunday: flights back to Detroit.

Does this itinerary look ideal, or should I totally rewrite it and try starting with flights to Cuzco and then putting Lima at the end?

Am I including too many museums and not enough time for outdoor scenery? I know I need to see the sunlight at least a little bit each day and if I go in July, it will get dark before 6pm.

Other details if this matters: I am a 41-year-old childless single man. At this time I am in good heath, although my great-grandfather with my same last name had a heart-attack and died 6 weeks before he would have turned 40. This will be a solo trip. So far in my adult life I took 7 solo trips to Europe, different countries each time, including a trip to Spain in 2022; I took a solo trip to Mexico City and the mountainous areas of south-central Mexico in 2023. An aunt insisted that Mexico is dangerous and that I shouldn’t go there; a week ago she insisted that if I go South America I need to go on a guided tour but solo would be unsafe. In Spain I got a horrifying virus that affected my digestive tract that was severe for a day, mild for another day, then I was approximately fully recovered. I suppose I could have got too dehydrated and needed a hospital or worse. I tested negative for coronavirus 2019. In Mexico I did not get sick. My mom claims that I am nuts and that solo travel is dangerous.

If necessary I could probably delete a day from Lima. My vacation time from work resets in the 3rd week of June; the earliest I could travel would be the last week of June; I am tentatively thinking of traveling in July; unless I am persuaded that winter in Peru would be a bad time to travel because the sun will set too early. Work is closed weekends. If I use all my 10 days of paid vacation, + the power of the weekends, I could stretch my trip up to 15 nights, just maybe 16 if I am away on the 4th of July (U.S. independence day). I probably want to skip the Amazon jungle biome ad stick with museum, major monuments, mountain scenery, ancient ruins, probably a view of the Pacific, and so on.

Are the Nazca lines worth it? If I go I want to do a flight in a small plane. The Nazca lines looks like the hardest supposed activity to fit in, for sure harder than Machu Picchu.

kja

I’m no expert, but a quick glance makes me think your itinerary is reasonable —as long as you are flexible. As a fellow museum lover, my experience is that it can be difficult to plan in advance how long any particular museum will take.

I spent a month in Peru as a solo female almost entirely on my own in 2018. I only had guides for a very few things, as my preference is generally to explore on my own. I never felt unsafe or unwelcome.

You might find some useful information in my trip report— just click on my screen name and scroll through the list of my TRs to find it.

BTW, I skipped Nazca.

Hope that helps!

crellston

To be blunt, your itinerary does not look ideal and yes, you should rewrite it.

July is a pretty good time to visit Peru. It is the peak season as it is the cool dry season in the Andes so you can expect clear blue skies there. However, in Lima and much of the coast is affected by the Garua, the sea mist which blankets teh coast 24/7 for months. Making it cool , damp and grey.

"winter in Peru would be a bad time to travel because the sun will set too early" As Peru is close to the equator, sunset is pretty much the same year round - approx 18:00.



As far as your itinerary is concerned, it seems you have 15 nights in the country. With that amount of time, I would skip the Nazca lines and focus upon Arequipa, Cusco and the Sacred Valley and Lima. In the context of the time you have available, a week in Lima is way too much. Don’t get me wrong, I love the city and often spend several weeks there at the beginning or end of a longer trip to South America. You will definitely want to spend the nights of arrival and departure there plus a couple extra. I don’t think it matter much which end you place those nights.

Nazca is a pain to get to and I feel you would spend a disproportionately large amount of time getting there and away for a 30 min flight. I would skip it completely.

Arequipa is one of my favourite cities in South America. Again, in the context of the time available, I would probably allocate 3 nights there which would give you two full days of sightseeing. The Monasteria de Santa Catalina alone will take half a day. Not sure you would have the time but, take a look at Colca Canyon and see if that appeals. If so, you could spend a couple of nights there. The scenery is wonderful. Very easy to arrange from Arequipa. At 2400m above sea level Arequipa is good place to start acclimatising to the altitude which is v. important.

Cusco is fascinating city and was the centre of the Inca empire . To cover the main sites in the city and Sacsayhuaman which is just outside would take a couple of days. You can get the train from Cusco to Aguas Calientes to visit Machu Picchu, though I would suggest staying a couple of nights in Ollantaytambo which is a stunning Inca village with its own set of ruins and visiting from there. It is much closer and you could even visit MP as a day trip from there.

There are numerous sites in the Sacred Valley like Moray , Maras and Chinchero which are very much worth seeing and can easily be covered in a taxi tour between Cusco and Ollantaytambo. I will provide a link to our travel blog which covers our time in some of these. Other sites worth considering are Pisac, Tambomachay, Puka Puccara, Q’enko which could be done as a day trip from Cusco by taxi or bus.

​​​​​​Machu Picchu is clearly a highlight for many.you will need to book well in advance for July as tickets do g sold out. Book entrance tickets only on the official site. You will also need to book train tickets well in advance again use the official site. Bus tickets room AC to the citadel are not so critical brook n to sa IME on the day. A few years ago a new Erie was put in place to smooth visitor flows through the site ( I think it has recently changed again. You now have to buy tickets for a specific route(s) and time(s) Route 2 seems the most popular and some people book two slots either on the same day or adjacent days
In Lima the majority of people will stay in either Miraflores or Barranco. Both overlook the oceans and both are well served with accommodation, restaurants and shopping. For food, the main supermarkets are Metro and Wong. Wong being the more upmarket. Miraflores has most of the big hotels and is a bit more "upmarket" than the adjacent barrio of Barranco which is smaller and has more of a bohemian vibe. I prefer the latter. Best way to get around is by the Metropolitano lines.

In terms of safety , Peru is relatively safe in teh areas you are considering and assuming that there are no more civil disturbances as the re were a couple of years ago. Particular care should be taken around bus tractions and on public transport where pickpocketing is rife.not sure of the relevance of your virus issues, but if concerned about food safety , food hygiene is pretty good. I have probably spent over a year travelling in the country at one time or another and don’t recall getting sick. As with most places, drink only bottle or purified water.

In terms of health, do read up on altitude issues https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/altitude-sickness/ it needs to be taken seriously.

Here is Lanka to our blog which covers our travels in soomsof the places mentioned which you may find helpful.

Happy planning.

kja

Crellston knows far more about Peru than I, so I urge you to take his advice to heart. That said, I don’t think he has as great an interest in museums as I do, so my thoughts about Lima are probably a bit different.

michaelpianko

Have any of you done a flight in a small plane over the Nazca Lines? How was it? Yeah I know Nazca is out of the way and requires a long bus ride to and from and the flight is only about half an hour. I want to take this flight over the Nazca lines anyway if it can be done without too much trouble at least so I can show I didn’t let my mom keep me from doing it. She has a phobia of riding in a plane, she has never taken a plane flight. ... I want to avoid sitting around too long doing nothing waiting for a bus after the flight. I am willing to sacrifice seeing Cañón del Colca.

The best flights from Detroit to Lima that I found so far are on Delta. The plane arrives in Lima at about 9-10pm. Would it be better to put all my time in Lima at the beginning of my trip, or would it be better to take flights From Detroit to Cuzco, spending as little time in Lima as possible on the way? (Would it be better for my first sights I see to be in Cuzco at a high elevation, or in Lima near sea-level?)

Should I take flights from Detroit to Cuzco, spending as little time in Lima on the way as possible, making my first sights be in Cuzco at a high elevation? Or should I take flights just to Lima, making my first sights in Lima near sea-level?

This is what I currently want but I don’t trust that it is wise and I am willing to go against what I assumed I wanted: I suppose I want to put all my time in Lima at the beginning or end of my trip, not split my time in Lima, spending one or more nights in Lima at the beginning and another one or more nights in Lima at the end of my trip.

michaelpianko

For comparison I spent 8 nights in Mexico City. I suppose that a lot, maybe most travelers would spend a maximum of 3 nights, usually just 2, in Lima, seeing at most one or two museums and just a few places in Lima, focusing mainly on outdoor scenery, Machu Picchu, Cuzco, hiking trails, and so on. Wouldn't it be a shame to skip even the major museums? Maybe I could skip the fort in Lima.

michaelpianko

Thanks for all your input.

tom_mn

Just spent a month in Peru doing solo travel. I have contributed to some of your Rick Steves topics.

Several things:

Coming from a Delta hub gets you a lot more flexibility. LATAM and Delta are SkyTeam partners so you can avoid Lima more easy than other airline flyers. For example I met a Seattle woman who for a two week vacation flew on one ticket SEA>>LAX>>LIM>>CUZ then flew home on one ticket Arequipa>>LIM>>LAX>>SEA thus avoiding any overnight in Lima. Non-SkyTeam flyers have to fart around a lot with Lima which is nice enough and seemed entirely safe but the whole area around the airport is a dump and the distance with traffic to hotel and restaurant areas is unpleasantly far, especially when repeated. I live in a Delta hub but had American points to use so had to deal a lot more with Lima than was desirable, 3 separate stays.

Be sure to look at LATAM flights JFK or ATL or MIA to Lima, you don’t have to fly to Lima on Delta from Atlanta. There are many SkyTeam possibilities.

I did do Nasca, it’s a long way from anywhere. I took the bus in and out in between Arequipa and Lima. Because of motion sickness issues skipped the flight and did a ground tour, there is an overlook tower plus a few glyphs made to be seen from the ground. Personally enjoyed my visit but didn’t do the flight, I’m guessing that the mystique of the lines is partially derived from seeing them from the air, they seem smallish and something easily made when seen from the ground. The same kind of thing was made by North American Indians out of earth, animal effigies, especially in Wisconsin, I could tell you where to go look.

tom_mn

Health: I would say Perú is in the same category as Mexico, eat whatever you want, didn’t hear of anyone having illnesses issues from food. Tap water should not be drunk but I’ve read it’s more from heavy metals in the water not because pathogens in the water will make you sick.

Safety: Reading you mom’s comment, it’s a pretty gentle and honest population, the kind where taxi drivers will help you find change if needed. Tell your mother Perú is not Brazil or Colombia.

kja

Avoid cheese and milk products that have not been cooked. Avoid raw fruits and vegetables except those that can be peeled.

tom_mn

I ate a lot of salads, with lettuce and tomatoes. As I said nearly everyone is doing it without issues. Pisco sours are made with raw eggs, I had 2. Bought a lot of milk (always sold in plastic bags if not UHT) and it’s all pasteurized. Eggs with cheese is a standard breakfast so ate a lot of cheese too.

Adding: I don’t think I was being reckless or lucky. Peru is not a country like say India with a lot of public defecation + swarms of flies and fetid open sewers in the street that are red flags for food borne disease. I didn’t see anything like that

kja

I’m glad Tom was fortunate. I was not, nor was the board certified infectious disease specialist with whom I work, who did part of her training in Peru. Personally, I prefer safe to sorry when traveling, and I prefer expert advice.

tom_mn

Did you get sick while doing all you suggest? Then it was likely a virus passed from another person that made you sick and not food or water borne disease.

kja

As detailed in my trip report, I wasn’t paying attention and ate cheese that had not been cooked. BIG mistake.

michaelpianko

In Spain I did not eat any restaurant food. The last thing I ate before the disease popped up was some rice cakes I bought at a grocery store. I ate them on a bench outside, about 2 hours before the effects of the virus started. At other times I had fruit rinsed in tap water, pre-cut prewashed lettuce, and rinsed my mouth with tap water but then switched to rinsing with bottled water. In Mexico, I tried some restaurant food and some food from street vendors. I didn't get sick at any time in Mexico. About a year before my trip to Spain I had the about the same disease but I was in my apartment in Michigan and I tested negative for coronavirus.

michaelpianko

In about August 2018 me and my dad took a flight in a little plane, at a small airshow/ open house event at a small airport that is just for charter flights and little planes, in Michigan. It might have lasted 20 minutes; I saw small lakes and didn't have any motion sickness.

kja

The problem with many foods has nothing to do with contamination (although that can happen). It’s that you might never have built the immune system responses to bacteria that are common in other parts of the world.

crellston

Some interesting comments re food hygiene and health issues. I have travelled extensively throughout Peru over many years eating everywhere from street stalls and markets to high end restaurants. My wife and I volunteered for a couple of months at a small NGO in the Sacred Valley whose primary objective was to promote good food hygiene to the villages in the mountains. The person who set up the NGO Was w nutritionist who had written several books off the subject. Her opinion was that most people who fell sick with gastrointestinal issue did so because they failed to wash their hands before eating rather than the food itself. In the fast disappearing world of using cash to by stuff , cash was considered a particular culprit. There may have been more than one reason Shakespeare described it a "filthy lucre"

The reality is that most food borne viruses take 24-48hours to take effect so it is impossible for anyone to lay the blame on an illness on one particular food or restaurant. Unless of course they only eat one meal a day.

I never drink tap water anywhere other than my home country, not because I fear it is dirty but simply because all water contains some bacteria and if you are not used to it, your body may react accordingly. I am quite happy rinsing my mouth with tap water and do not shower with my mouth clamped shut as I have seen some suggest. As any good dentist will tell you; don’t rinse after brushing your teeth , it is far better to let the fluoride in the paste do it’s work!

My "rules " such as they are are to eat where the locals eat. Only eat freshly cooked food. Eat food that is supposed to be hot, hot. Not lukewarm. Don’t assume that high end hotels and restaurants are any cleaner than markets. They may well have all the washing facilities but unlikely that all staff use them all the time.

Never felt eating cheese was a problem , though I know unpasteurised is not advised fro pregnant women. Can’t stand milk so that isn’t an issue for me.

Agree with someone’s comment above re India - South America is way cleaner than there. I would also add Africa to the that. We lived in west Africa for a while and the hygiene standards there were non existent, we had to boil water for 20 mins AND filter it! Everyone got sick to one degree or another. Peru is not like that.

leow730215

Lima is a colorful city but there isn't that many attractions to see. I would say 2 full days are enough.

michaelpianko

Look how many museums and sights I found just from the guidebooks I looked at so far (Lonely Planet, Fodors, Rough Guide). Would you say a lot of travelers skip most of the museums in Lima? It seems like a shame to skip what I listed. Maybe I could skip the fort.