Peru: good to know
The general-information half of trip planning: how expensive Peru feels, what is considered polite, what is not, and the everyday practicalities - alongside our 410 written places.
Andean patience and pride; altitude sets the tempo and coca tea is the welcome.
✓ Considered polite
- Acclimatise in Cusco slowly - two gentle days before big hikes
- Book Machu Picchu tickets and trains well ahead - entries are capped and timed
- Try the food seriously - Lima is one of the world's great eating cities
- Ask before photographing people in traditional dress; a small tip is fair for posed shots
✗ Better avoided
- Underestimate soroche altitude sickness - it flattens the fit and unfit alike
- Drink tap water
- Buy antiquities or pre-Columbian artefacts - export is criminal
- Expect punctuality from provincial transport
Worth knowing
- Cash for markets and villages; cards fine in cities
- Tipping 10% is appreciated in restaurants
- Colectivos and comfortable buses (Cruz del Sur class) link the coast and sierra
- Rainy season December-March closes the Inca Trail each February
Plugs and voltage: Wikipedia, «Mains electricity by country» (after the IEC World Plugs list), read 15 October 2026.
Some links on this page are Amazon affiliate links - if you buy through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Keep planning
Customs are living things - regions differ, cities relax, generations shift. Take these notes as a friendly head start, watch what locals do, and when in doubt a smile and a greeting in the local language cover almost everything.