Inca & Amazon Adventure Family Holiday

• Seven nights in hotels, three nights of full-service camping and three nights in a rainforest lodge
• Four days of point-to-point walking with full porterage
• Group normally 8 to 16, plus leader and support staff
• Altitude maximum: 13,830ft (4,215m); average: 10,005ft (3,050m)
• Travel by minibus, train, two internal flights, boat and on foot
• 15lb (7kg) personal weight limit on trek
• Alternative Lares Trek or One-Day Inca Trail Option available when Inca Trail permits have sold out

All breakfasts, seven lunches and six dinners are included in the tour price. Peruvian cuisine is loved for its flavours and originality; it’s well worth digging into the local delicacies. Among these are ceviche (seafood or fish marinated in lime juice), lomo saltado (a Peruvian take on a beef stir-fry), and various hearty soups including the delicious quinoa soup. Other dishes include roasted cuy (guinea pig) and alpaca steak. To drink, there’s pisco sour, the national beverage. Drinking water is provided as tap water in Peru is not safe to drink; boiled and filtered drinking water is provided on the trek and elsewhere your leader buys large water containers from which you can refill your bottle. Hotel breakfasts are normally simple buffets, usually including bread/toast and jam, cereal, sometimes eggs or a cooked dish, sometimes fruit, tea/coffee and fruit juice. We cannot guarantee that wheat-/gluten-free products are available for breakfast in all locations – if you have an intolerance you may wish to bring your own breakfast food. Where lunch and dinner are not included in Cuzco/Aguas Calientes, we visit a variety of cafes and restaurants. During the Inca Trail or Lares Trek, hearty breakfasts are served and good quality cooked lunches and dinners are provided. These usually consist of soup or a starter, a main course with meat/fish and some form of carbohydrates, followed by a dessert. Snacks are also provided. Tea/coffee is brought to your tent each morning and juice or hot drinks are provided with all meals during the trek. While in the Amazon, all meals are included at the lodge.

The diverse geography of Peru results in a very varied climate between different regions.

The coastal desert, including Lima, is generally dry but cloudy through most of the year. The exception is January to March when the skies are clear and the temperatures rise.

Cuzco and the Andes have a temperate climate. December to March is the rainy season in Cuzco/the Andes and April to November is the dry season, characterised by clear skies and strong sunshine in the mornings, sometimes clouding over as the day progresses. Daytime temperatures are usually pleasant (approximately 20C/68F on average) but night times are only 5C-10C (41F-50F), except for May, June, July and August when days are cooler and nights on trek are often below freezing, particularly at the highest camps where it may be around -10C (14F). In the Andes, anything is possible at any time of year, including cloud, rain or even snow, and rapid and unexpected changes!

Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu are in the cloud forest and, as such, attract large amounts of precipitation all year as clouds move up from the Amazon Basin. Rain here can be heavy but is seldom prolonged. Cold fronts sometimes occur from July to August.

While the Amazon Rainforest is generally warm and humid, it can be subject to drops in temperature caused by cold fronts pushing in from the south. This can occur at any time of year but happens most often in June and July. Temperatures can get low so we recommend you take some warm clothing with you to the lodge in case of sudden changes in the weather.

Peru is affected by El Niño, a weather phenomenon whereby warming of Pacific Ocean surface water off South America drives a shift in the atmospheric circulation resulting in abnormally high levels of rainfall over parts of South America. These events occur at irregular intervals of two to seven years, and last nine months to two years. A strong El Niño event occurred in 2014-16. In El Niño years, temperatures in Lima can be much warmer than described above but it still rarely rains in Lima.

This trip is graded Activity Level 5 (Challenging) and is designed for 13 to 16-year-olds.

Please see the Family Activity Levels on our website for further information. When grading our trips, we consider multiple factors including pace (how busy an itinerary is), level of activity involved and amount of travel time. The weather is an important factor too as is the altitude on this itinerary.

Please note, it is essential you read the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu regulations in the Important Information section of the Trip Notes before you book this trip.

We consider the Inca Trail as ‘challenging’ (for families) and this tour is designed for families with older children. There are four days of point-to-point walking with full porterage, reaching a maximum altitude of 13,830ft (4,215m) and an average of 10,005ft (3,050m). You may walk for up to seven hours a day and the route involves considerable ascent and descent. Though not without its difficulties (in particular the ascent and descent of the first pass, known as Dead Woman’s Pass!) this trek is certainly possible for anyone in good health and fitness, but we would not recommend it to someone with no walking experience. If you are not a regular walker, you should put in physical preparation beforehand. The trek is also not particularly suitable for those with bad knees due to the number of steep and uneven steps, particularly on the third and fourth days of the trek. If you have any concerns about the difficulty of the walking or your/your family’s capabilities, please feel free to speak to us before booking.

You may find our Fitness Training Guide a useful reference.

The climate in the Amazon is hot and humid, which can make activities tiring.

There is a degree of flexibility within the itinerary, with an array of optional activities in Cuzco.

Protest action/strikes are not uncommon in Peru and, while these are generally peaceful, they can involve roadblocks and cause travel disruption. Occasionally, your leader may have to adapt your itinerary in response to this.

As this trip spends considerable time at altitude, we ask you to refer to the Altitude Warning within the Trip Notes. We spend three days in Cuzco (11,155ft/3,400m) acclimatising before starting the trek.

Walking hours stated within the itinerary are given as approximates only. Timings stated include lunch and photo stops and vary depending on the group’s pace.