Solo-ish Peru

Enjoy an included transfer to the start hotel where you will be able to get settled and freshen up before attending a welcome briefing in the evening. Afterwards, opt to grab dinner in Lima with your fellow travellers and get to know everyone a bit more over some delicious local fare. It’s highly recommended for travellers to book pre-nights in Lima so they are able to become acquainted with this pulsing city before the adventure inland begins. An activity in the area you could book ahead of time is the Lima city tour.

Included Experiences

• Arrival Transfer: You will be met at the airport and transferred to the hotel to start your adventure.
• Meet Your CEO and Group: Your opportunity to meet your CEO and fellow travellers, and learn more about your tour. Opt to join the group for a local meal afterwards. Don't forget to see the notice in the lobby (or ask reception) for the official time and place to meet up with the group.

Optional Experiences

• Lima City Tour: Discover Lima’s cultural and culinary highlights on this half-day guided tour. Visit the Santo Domingo Monastery, walk around Plaza de Armas, marvel at the Bodega y Quadra Museum, and get to know some of Lima's lovely neighbourhoods. Stop to enjoy some authentic Peruvian tapas and be introduced to Pisco Sours during a demonstration and tasting.

Enter the Barranco neighbourhood in Lima, known as the SoHo of the city. This hip area is adorned with colourful street art, tucked-away bars and coffee shops, old mansions, museums, mouth watering food, and plenty of bohemian vibes. Cross one of the most famous landmarks in the area, the Puente de los Suspiros (Bridge of Sighs), and make a wish. It’s said that if you hold your breath until making it across the 100-ft long wooden bridge, then your wish will come true. After your CEO-led walking tour, the group will visit the local market to learn about and taste different native fruits, before the included cooking experience. Here, the group will learn from an expert Lima chef how to prepare two of the most representative dishes in all of Peruvian cuisine, ceviche and causa. In this intimate setting witness how the sharing of food has the power to bring strangers from all over the world a bit closer. The remainder of the afternoon and evening will be free for optional activities in the area.

Included Experiences

• Lima Cooking Class - Ceviche & Causa: Food is a universal language, and there's no better way to get to know a new friend, or a new community, than by breaking bread together and digging in to a delicious meal. Join your fellow Solo-ish travellers in an immersive cooking class with an expert local chef at a renowned traditional restaurant in the city. Start by taking on the Barranco district of Lima by foot! Put on your walking shoes, hit the pavement and wander Barranco's bohemian streets where you can find street paintings, graffiti, art galleries, museums, and rich architecture while you CEO tells you more about the area's historical and cultural significance. Then, get ready to try different flavours on a visit to a local market to taste different local fruits and produce. Then learn from a chef and his team about how to prepare the two most representative dishes of Peruvian gastronomy, Ceviche and Causa. The group will also have the opportunity to try "Chicha Morada" a traditional drink from Peru prepared with a base of purple corn. Ceviche is made from fresh raw fish marinated in lime juice and spice with chili peppers, red onions, and other local spices. Cause is traditionally made with yellow potato, lemon, boiled egg, yellow chili pepper, black olives, and avocado for the stuffing.

Today is all about Peru's highlands in the Andes. First, enjoy breakfast at the hotel in Lima before boarding your flight to Cusco. Upon arrival the group will transfer to Chinchero in the province of Urubamba. This town is flanked by the large snow-capped mountains and brings together 12 Andean indigenous communities. Those who live here are dedicated to preserving the cultivation of native species, livestock, and the protection of their traditional ways of life. Sit down together for a group lunch at a local restaurant dedicated to generating development opportunities for the immediate environment and community. Finish the day at the hotel property in the Sacred Valley where you will have free time to be as social or solo as you please.

Included Experiences

• Plane: Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's... yup, it is a plane, actually.
• The Heart of the Sacred Valley: With your incredible CEO at the helm, get to know the local community and your Solo-ish travel mates on a day packed full of interesting and engaging adventures. Immerse yourself in the history and culture of the Incas today. Depart the Cusco airport for the Sacred Valley. Sit down for lunch at a delicious local spot and learn from your CEO about how the Incas built an impressive network of platforms and roads surrounding the once magnificent Túpac Yupanqui Palace before it was burned down in the mid-16th century to keep the Spanish from gaining supplies. Today, Chinchero is the main attraction. Visit the textile centre after lunch and gain an appreciation of how present members of the local indigenous community are working hard to preserve the traditions and history of their ancestors through the creation of beautiful items.
• Free Time: Enjoy some free time towards upon arrival to the hotel in Ollantaytambo to unwind and recharge after a jam-packed travel day full of activities.

Prepare to experience what G Adventures does best and enjoy an epic day in the Sacred Valley with a surprise G twist occurring somewhere along the way. Witness how tourism can change lives for the better with a stop at Cuyo Chico, a local pottery making community in a rural village where groups of families support themselves by making traditional adobe ceramic crafts. During your time here, learn about the ceramics process, the materials they use from their natural surroundings, and take in the stunning views of the nearby Pisac Ruins. Enjoy a guided tour of the ruins and later, sit down for a lunch featuring traditionally prepared Peruvian food staples at the G Adventures-supported Parwa Community Restaurant. The best part? Proceeds from this meal go directly back into this remote community allowing them to preserve their traditional ways of life.

Included Experiences

• History & Culture of the Sacred Valley: With your Solo-ish travel mates and CEO, explore some of the world's coolest activities alongside new friends. It's not just an epic day of fun, its chock full of incredible experiences and a surprise G element along the way to take your day to an 11. Start in the rural village of Cuyo Chico in the Sacred Valley, where a group of families joined together to create a small business based on their traditional adobe ceramic crafts. Learn about the ceramics process as well as the traditional adobe brick-making that forms the basis of houses throughout the valley, all while taking in a spectacular view of the Pisac Ruins. After the demonstration, peruse the items for sale directly from the artisans in their shop. Then, tour the fascinating hilltop citadel of Pisac, an Incan ruin with plunging gorges, a ceremonial centre, and winding agriculture terracing that's still in use today amid sweeping green valleys and mountain peaks. Explore the back of the site to see a pocketed cliff across Kitamayo Gorge, which once contained hundreds of Inca tombs. Attend Parwa restaurant for a traditional lunch amid this unique community setting and be on the lookout for your surprise G twist.
• Parwa Community Pachamanca: Contribute to sustainable tourism in Huchuy Qosqo, a small village of 65 families in the Sacred Valley, by eating at the Parwa Community Restaurant. Learn how the resident-run restaurant was kickstarted by G Adventures and the Multilateral Investment Fund, to become a successful farm-to-table program that boosts the local economy and several spin-off microenterprises.

Travel deeper into the surrounding landscapes on a journey by train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of Machu Picchu. Pass through the spectacular Urubamba Valley on the winding tracks, taking in the changing landscapes and small farms along the way and arrive at this village nestled between the mist-covered hills. The remainder of the afternoon and evening will be free for you to explore a bit on your own, and opt in for one of the activities offered locally in the area. We think a nice long soak in the natural hot springs is just what you need to relax before tomorrow’s big reveal of the ‘Lost City of the Incas’.

Included Experiences

• Train: Climb aboard, take a seat, and enjoy the ride.
• Free Time: Opt to visit the local market, the botanical garden, and the Mandor waterfalls or soak in the hot springs. If you're feeling adventurous you can pre-book the 1-day Inca trail for this day.

Optional Experiences

• Hot Springs Visit: Soak your sore muscles in the local hot springs for which the town, Aguas Calientes, was originally named.
• One-Day Inca Trail Hike: Traverse cloud forests while enjoying spectacular views on this '1-day Inca Trail' trek. Start by disembarking the train at km 104. Follow the local guide as the trail rises steeply up into the mountains and winds past the archaeological sites of Wiñay Wayna and Inti Pata. Gain insight into the fascinating culture of the Incas en route to the trek's culmination at the Sun Gate. Enjoy a packed lunch along the way, and reach the Sun Gate in the late afternoon. Enjoy free time to explore a bit of Machu Picchu before the guided tour the following day. After, take one of the blue buses from Machu Picchu to Aguas Calientes to spend the night in a hotel in town. Opt to visit nearby hot springs to soak sore muscles, if time permits. **Please note this must be pre-booked as it requires an Inca Trail permit, which is on request and subject to availability. Please speak to your GCO or travel agent for more information.

Breakfast is essential for this jam-packed day to visit the ‘Lost City’. In the morning, board the bus from Aguas Calientes up the winding roads to the entrance of Machu Picchu and set off with a local guide to fully explore and appreciate this impressive, UNESCO World Heritage site. Travel back to Aguas Calientes and find a fun spot for lunch on your own. Later, return by train to Ollantaytambo before a private vehicle transfer back to Cusco arriving in the evening. Dinner will be at your leisure and there’s plenty of great spots in the central part of the city that are the perfect vibe after a full day of adventure.

Included Experiences

• Local Bus: Climb aboard, grab a seat, and enjoy the ride.
• Train: Climb aboard, take a seat, and enjoy the ride.
• Machu Picchu Guided Tour: Set off with the local guide to explore Machu Picchu, the Lost City of the Incas. Learn about the history and gain insights into this massive mountaintop citadel while wandering through ancient dwellings, stone temples and along sculpted terraces. Feel the energy of this 15th-century site, now both a UNESCO World Heritage site and voted one of the new Seven Wonders of the World in a worldwide internet poll.

The key to a well-rounded solo experience is time to do your own thing. It’s built in here with a free day in Cusco that belongs entirely to you. Choose to visit a nearby archaeological site, or treat yourself to pampering with a massage. Your CEO will be leading a walk to the San Blas neighbourhood of the city, known for its historical importance after the arrival of the Spaniards in Cusco, as well as the Sapantiana Colonia Aqueduct. Choose to join, or continue exploring the city at the heart of Incan culture on your own.

Included Experiences

• Cusco Me Day: Traveling solo alongside your new Solo-ish travel mates means there's always something fun to do and new friends to explore with. But the joy of travel can also be about taking time to yourself to recharge, refresh and reflect on the journey. Today, choose to join your CEO for a memorable activity, or take the time for yourself to enjoy your own company in one of the most incredible places on our planet.

Optional Experiences

• Rainbow Mountain Hike - Full-day Trip: Lookout over these colourful Andean mountains striped with maroon, turquoise, lavender, and gold. The sediment, elevation, and proximity to the ocean create a landscape that has to be seen to be believed. Get started early to drive around 3 hours approximately to the starting point of this challenging, yet rewarding full-day hike. Reaching 5,029m (16,500 ft) this 8 km hike is no walk in the park, but these unique mountains do not disappoint. The ascent takes approximately 1.5 hours.
• Cusco Tourist Ticket: This ticket allows admission at 16 sights of the city of Cusco including many popular museums and cathedrals, the ticket also provides entrance to Sacsayhuaman Archaeological Park, and sights in the South Valley of Cusco and the Sacred Valley of the Incas.
• Cusco City Tour: Enjoy a half-day tour of Cusco's main sights. Walk around the Plaza de Armas (main square) and explore this city steeped in one of the world's most alluring and ancient cultures. Visit Qenqo, Koricancha, the Cathedral, Puca Pucara, Tambomachay, and the archaeological site of Sacsaywaman.
• Inka Museum: Get ready to explore the artifacts from the Inca Empire, including mummies, jewelry, skulls, and ceramics at this museum of archaeology.

Begin your final day in Cusco with a walk to Koricancha with your CEO and group. This beautiful site is one of the most important and sacred temples of the Inca empire. Enter the space whose name roughly translates to, “Walls of Gold” and admire the mix of Indigenous and colonial architecture of this temple on the hill overlooking the bustling Avenida el Sol below. Afterwards, walk along the cobble-stoned streets to the San Pedro Market, the city’s oldest main food hub and shopping area. As your CEO takes you through to various stalls you will experience the true aromas, sounds, and tastes of the city. Sample a variety of traditional fresh products harvested from throughout the region including, fruits, vegetables, cheeses, and sweets. The remainder of the day is free to explore as you choose. There’s much to do and little time, but we know you will find something to make your solo heart soar. Gather in the evening for an optional final meal together to cap of this Peruvian solo-ish adventure.

Included Experiences

• Koricancha Visit: Visit Koricancha with your CEO and group. This beautiful site is one of the most important and sacred temples of the Inca empire. Learn more about this beautiful space as you wander through the grand architecture and look out over the city perched below and the rising hills in the distance.
• San Pedro Market Walk - Cusco: Take in the sights and smells of the sprawling San Pedro market and try out a glass of fresh fruit juice from one of the stalls along with other regional specialties as your CEO helps you navigate the hustle and bustle.
• Free Time: Head out and explore. Free time is yours to use how you want on this final afternoon in Cusco.

You arrived a solo traveller and are leaving with many new friends. Say goodbye to your fellow Solo-ish travellers and depart at any time.