Galapagos & Machu Picchu Combined Tour

Trip Itinerary at a Glance

Day 1 · Lima
Day flight arrives to Lima late. Overnight in Lima at Costa del Sol, Includes breakfast. The Wyndham Costa del Sol Hotel is a simple hotel, but conveniently located by the airport. (B)

Overnight in Lima at Wyndham Costa del Sol Hotel

Day 2 · Lima / Sacred Valley
Private transfer from your hotel to Lima airport, Fly to Cusco, Private transfer from Cusco airport to your hotel located in Sacred Valley with tour enroute of Awanacancha & Ollantaytambo with private guide. Awanakancha is a weaving center and farm with the goal to keep alive the traditional textile arts. It is a private project with 14 local native communities; the people of these communities have made weaving the principle activity of their villages and have done so for many centuries. Here you can see four members of the camelid family – llama, alpacas, vicunas and guanacos of South America, Alpacas have thick wool and is the most commonly used while the vicunas are small and delicate with fur considered the finest wool of the Cameloids. After lunch, you will visit the last town located in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, which is considered the oldest continuously occupied town in the Americas. (B, L)

Overnight in Sacred Valley at Tambo del Inka

Day 3 · Sacred Valley Today explore the Sacred Valley with visits to Chinchero town and Maras & Moray with private guide. Includes picnic lunch. Chinchero is a small village between Cusco and Urubamba. It sits at 12,500 feet and has wonderful views of the Urubamba mountain range. The Chinchero market is held on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. The Sunday market is typically the largest and best. An old Inca wall borders the market. The wall has large niches and was once probably part of an Inca palace. A 17th-century adobe church, built on Inca foundations, rises above the wall. Visitors can explore the church on market days. After lunch, we will visit the ancient salt mines near the village of Maras, where salty springs emerge from the hillside and the Incas built terraces to capture the flows and harvest salt. Continue to Moray, with its huge circular agricultural terraces, built by the Incas on limestone sinks, which served to plant various crops. The Incas used the terraces as an agricultural laboratory to determine the optimum conditions for each species in varying altitudes. (B,L)

Overnight in Sacred Valley at Tambo del Inka

Day 4 · Sacred Valley to Machu Picchu
Early morning transfer to Ollantaytambo Station. Board the Vistadome train to Aguas Calientes station. Your guide is traveling with you to Machu Picchu. Lunch is included at the Tinkuy Restaurant. Machu Picchu was built around the year 1450, but abandoned a hundred years later, at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. Forgotten for centuries, the site was brought to worldwide attention in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, an American historian. Since then, Machu Picchu has become an important tourist attraction. It is also one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. Machu Picchu was built in the classical Inca style, with polished dry-stone walls. Its primary buildings are the Intihuatana, the Temple of the Sun, and the Room of the Three Windows. These are in what is known by archaeologists as the Sacred District of Machu Picchu. Enjoy a unique dinner at Café Inkaterra, overlooking the Vilcanota River, you can unwind after a day of exploring the local environment with a cup of delicious locally produced coffee. After exploring both Machu Picchu pamper yourself to the onsite Unu Spa (try the coca-leaf treatments, and the eucalyptus sauna). (B, L,. D)

Overnight in Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel

Day 5 · Machu Picchu to Cuzco This morning we enjoy a second visit to the ruins via a hike to the Sun Gate (Intipuku). The Mountain base starts at South East of the ruins/ elevation 8,860 ft. Intipunku consists of two large stones that correspond to the winter and summer solstices, and on these dates the gates are illuminated by laser-like beams of light. In addition to their symbolic importance, the gates also provide remarkable views of Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu. This is a fairly easy roundtrip hike of about two to three hours. The entire way to Intipunku is a ramp with some stairs, not too strenuous, an obvious rise in elevation, and a distance about 1.5 miles. After the hike we board the Vistadome train to Poroy Station. Upon arrival at the train station your driver will take you to your hotel in Cusco the ancient capital of the Inca Empire and is one of the most interesting and beautiful cities in Peru. Cusco was the empire's holy city, and it was also the epicenter of the legendary Inca network of roads connecting all points in the empire. (B)

Overnight in Palacio del Inka Hotel

Day 6 · Cusco This morning, you will tour around the former capital of the Inca Empire. During this half day tour, you will visit Korikancha (Temple of Sun) where you will find one of the best samples of the ability of the Incas working the stone. You will continue to the Cathedral that shelters priceless pieces of colonial art. Afterwards, you will head to the monuments that surround the city, like Sacsayhuaman which is an impressive fortress built using rocks of extraordinary measures that were taken from a nearby quarry. you will continue to Qenqo, Puca Pucara and the Inca bath of Tambomachay. (B)

Overnight in Palacio del Inka Hotel

Day 7 · Cusco - Lima - Quito Transfer to Cusco airport. Fly to Lima. Connecting Flight to Quito. Private transfer from Quito airport to hotel. Spread across a spectacular Andean valley and flanked by volcanic peaks, Quito’s setting alone is enough to strike you speechless. The historical center – or ‘old town,’ as it’s called – is a maze of colonial splendor, an Unesco World Heritage Site since 1978. Quito is currently flush with pride after 2006 marked the final installment of a massive restoration project that spruced up buildings and churches, brought historic theaters back to life and made the old town’s formerly sketchy streets safe to explore once again. (B)

Overnight in La Casona de la Ronda Hotel

Day 8 · Quito This morning's sightseeing demonstrates some of the reasons why Ecuador's capital earned its honor as the first UNESCO World Heritage Site. Marvel at San Francisco Church and its museum of religious art, La Compañía and the seven tons of gold gilding its glittering walls, and the bustling Independence Plaza, flanked by the Presidential Palace and the Cathedral of Quito. Rich in art treasures, fine woodcarvings, and flowering balconies, the historic center is the lifeblood of Quito and the tour ends with a visit to Panecillo Hill with spectacular views of Quito and the surrounding mountains. (B)

Overnight in La Casona de la Ronda Hotel

Day 9 · Quito to Baltra, Galapagos Private transfer to Quito airport and fly to Baltra. Upon arrival, you will be transferred and board the Infinity Yacht. The Infinity among the smallest group size of any Galapagos boat.

PM Visit to El Chato We start our exploration in the afternoon with a Visit to El Chato Tortoise Reserve. The reserve allows visitors to observe giant tortoises in the wild during the dry season and is also a good place to spot short-eared owls, Darwin’s finches, yellow warblers, Galapagos rails and paint-billed crakes. Highlights: Giant tortoises, finches, Galapagos rails

Possible Activities: Walking, bird watching Type of Landing: Dry landing Difficulty: Easy / medium

Overnight aboard the Infinity Yacht

Day 10 · Galapagos Islands

AM Visit to Dragon Hill (Cerro Dragón). Situated on Santa Cruz Island, Dragon Hill is one of the newest visitor sites accessible to tourists in the Galapagos Islands. One of the lengthier Galapagos walking trails will lead visitors along a beach and up a trail to the lagoon lookout where bright flamingos, pintail ducks, and land iguanas can be spotted. Highlights: Land iguana nesting spot, Galapagos flamingos, common stilts, palo santo trees and cacti forest

Possible Activities: Walking and hiking Type of Landing: Dry landing Difficulty: Easy to moderate: the trail may get muddy at times, and there is uneven rocky terrain.

PM Visit to Bachas Beach. Located on the north shore of Santa Cruz, Las Bachas is a swimming beach. One of the few remnants of the U.S. World War II presence in the Galapagos, a floating pier, can be seen here. You may see flamingos, Sally Lightfoot crabs, hermit crabs, black necked stilts, and whimbrels. Sea turtles also nest off the beach.

Highlights: World War II remnants Animals: Sally Lightfoot crabs, hermit crabs, black necked stilts, whimbrels, sea turtle Type of Landing: Wet

Difficulty: Easy

Overnight aboard the Infinity Yacht

Day 11 · Galapagos Islands

AM Visit to Post Office Bay. In the 18th century whalers passing through the islands placed a wooden barrel on Floreana Island for use as an unofficial mail box. The tradition continues today as visitors leave addressed postcards in the barrel and sort through left mail to deliver at home.

Highlights: Post office barrel, nice sandy beach. Possible Activities: Short hike (less than 0.6 miles/1 km) & snorkeling Type of Landing: Wet landing

Difficulty: Easy

PM Visit to Cormorant Point. This site hosts a large flamingo lagoon where other birds such as common stilts and white-cheeked pintails can also be seen. The beaches on this island are distinct: The “Green Beach” named so due to its green color, which comes from a high percentage of olivine crystals in the sand, and the “Four Sand Beach” composed of white coral.

Highlights: Flamingos, green-colored beach Possible Activities: Dinghy ride & hike (1.2 miles /2 km). Type of Landing: Wet landing

Difficulty: Easy

Overnight aboard the Infinity Yacht

Day 12 · Galapagos Islands

AM Visit to Suarez Point This area is great for spotting blue-footed boobies, albatrosses and Nazca boobies. A beautiful site on the ocean front, the large waved albatrosses use the cliff as a launching pad. The famous attraction is the magnificent blowhole, spurting water high into the air. This site presents wonderful photograph opportunities.

Highlights: Hood mockingbirds, Nazca boobies, waved albatrosses, red-billed tropicbirds, lava lizards, Galapagos hawks, blue-footed boobies, blowhole, amazing landscape

Activities: Hike (1.9 miles/3 km) Type of Landing: Dry landing Difficulty: Difficult

PM Visit to Gardner Bay Gardner Bay, on the eastern side of the island, is the breeding site of nearly all of the world´s 12,000 pairs of waved albatrosses. It has an ample white sandy beach with a myriad of sea lions, perfect for relaxing. Its rocky shores make this site a great place for diving and snorkeling.

Highlights: White sandy beach, sea lions, mockingbirds; snorkeling: colorful fish, sea lion nursery. Activities: Snorkeling, dinghy ride, kayaking, short hike of (0.6 miles/1 km). Type of Landing: Wet landing. Difficulty: Easy

Overnight aboard the Infinity Yacht

Day 13 · San Cristobol, Galapagos Islands - Quito - Home

AM Visit to Interpretation Center. The Interpretation Center was opened in 1998 as a phase of the project “Interpretation and Environment Education Project.” Visitors enjoy expositions on natural history, human history, and conservation. The conservation efforts represent the movement to protect the wildlife and natural environment through means of population and tourist control.

Possible Activities: Short walk. Difficulty: Easy. Type of Landing: Dry Highlights: Information and history about the Galapagos Islands.

Shared transfer from the pier to San Cristobal Island airport. Fly to Quito. Connection flight home.