Lima to Cusco through the high country
Two weeks that arrive at Machu Picchu properly acclimatised instead of gasping.
Flying straight from sea level to Cusco at 3,400 metres is the standard plan and the reason so many people spend their first two days in bed. This route climbs the way it should be climbed - Lima, then Arequipa at 2,300, then the canyon, then Titicaca at 3,800, and only then Cusco - so that by the time you reach the Sacred Valley your body has caught up. It is longer and it involves overnight buses, and it is the difference between enjoying the highlands and enduring them.
The route, day by day
- Day 1-2 Lima's Historic Centre
Sea level, colonial core, and the food that makes Lima worth more than a transit stop.
- Day 2 Huaca Pucllana
An adobe pyramid in the middle of a modern district - the city was here long before the Spanish.
- Day 3-4 Arequipa
First altitude, and gentle at it. White volcanic stone and three volcanoes on the skyline.
- Day 5-6 Colca Canyon
Deeper than the Grand Canyon, with condors at the Cruz del Condor in the early morning.
- Day 7-8 Lake Titicaca
The highest big lake in the world at 3,812 metres. This is the acclimatisation that matters.
- Day 9 Sillustani
Funerary towers on a peninsula above the lake, on the way out of Puno.
- Day 10-11 Cusco
Inca foundations under colonial walls, and two full days to rest before the valley.
- Day 12 The Sacred Valley of the Incas
Lower than Cusco, which is why people sleep here. Terraces, salt pans and market towns.
- Day 13 Machu Picchu
Timed entry on a fixed circuit, booked months ahead in season. Go on the first train.
- Day 14 Rainbow Mountain
Optional and brutal - 5,000 metres, and only worth it if the altitude has stopped bothering you.
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Getting around
Domestic flights for Lima to Arequipa, then long-distance buses through the highlands - the good operators run comfortable overnight services. Trains to Aguas Calientes are the only way into Machu Picchu short of walking the Inca Trail, which needs a permit booked half a year in advance.
When to go
May to September is the dry season and the reason everyone goes then. The shoulder months of April and October are quieter and wetter. February is the wettest month and the Inca Trail closes for maintenance.
Honest expectations
Altitude is the real difficulty and it does not care how fit you are. Machu Picchu now runs timed circuits with a daily cap, and the tickets for high season genuinely sell out - book before you book flights. Roads in the highlands are slow and mountainous. Rainbow Mountain is a long day at extreme altitude and gets several hundred visitors a morning.
This is a suggested order, not a booking. Every stop links to its own page with access, season, entry and what is genuinely annoying about it. Check opening days and ferry timetables yourself before you commit - they change, and this page does not.