Inca & Amazon Adventure Family Holiday

• 7 nights en suite hotels, 3 nights full-service camping and 3 nights rainforest lodge
• 4 days point-to-point walking with full porterage.
• Group normally 8 to 16, plus leader and support staff
• Altitude max. 4215m, average 3050m
• Travel by minibus, train, 2 internal flights, boat and on foot
• 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, 7 lunches and 6 dinners included in the price of the tour. Peruvian cuisine has developed a reputation for its flavours and originality and it’s well worth trying out a few of the local delicacies. Amongst these are ceviche (a spicy dish of seafood or fish marinated in lime juice), lomo saltado (a Peruvian take on a beef stir-fry) and various hearty soups such as the delicious quinoa soup. Other dishes include roasted cuy (guinea pig), alpaca steak, and to drink, the national beverage: Pisco Sour. Drinking water is provided. The tap water in Peru is not safe to drink; boiled and filtered drinking water is provided on the trek and elsewhere your leader will buy large water containers for you to refill your bottle from. Hotel breakfasts are normally simple buffet-style affairs, usually including bread/toast and jam, cereal, sometimes eggs or a cooked dishes, sometimes fruit, tea/coffee and fruit juice. Regrettably, we cannot guarantee that wheat/gluten-free products will be available for breakfast in all locations - if you have an intolerance you may wish to bring your own breakfast food. Where lunch and dinner is not included in Cuzco/Aguas Calientes we'll 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, and usually consist of soup or a starter, a main course with meat/fish and some form of carbohydrates, followed by a dessert. Some snacks between meals are also provided. Drinking water (boiled and filtered) is provided in the mornings and at lunch during the trek so that you can refill your bottles. Bed tea/coffee is brought to your tent each morning and juice or hot drinks are provided with all meals during the trek. Whilst in the Amazon, all meals are included at the lodge.

Peru's diverse geography results in a very varied climate. 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 (approx. 20 degrees C on average) but night times only 5-10 degrees C, except for May, June, July and August when days are cooler and nights are often close to, or a few degrees below, freezing. In the Andes, however, 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-August. Whilst 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. This can send temperatures dropping into single figures, and we recommend that you take some warm clothing with you to the lodge in case of sudden changes in the weather. Peru is affected by the El Niño 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 Level 5, Challenging. It is designed for ages 13 to 16. Our family activity levels are aimed at children in the primary or ‘Designed for’ age group. Please see the family activity levels on our website for further information. When grading our trips we consider multiple factors, the pace

how busy an itinerary is

and the level of activity involved as well as the amount of time a family will spend travelling. The weather is an important factor too as is the altitude on this itinerary. We consider the Inca Trail as 'challenging' (for families) and this tour is designed for families with older (teenage) children in mind - please refer to our activity level guidelines. There are four days point-to-point walking with full porterage, reaching a maximum altitude of 4,215m, average 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 a good state of health and fitness, but we would not recommend it as a beginner's trek to anyone with no previous walking experience. If you are not a regular walker you should put in some 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. We have many Exodus staff members who have completed this trek therefore if you have any concerns about the difficulty of the walking or your own/your families capabilities please feel free to speak to us before booking on. 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 to choose from in Cuzco depending on your family's interests. Protest action/strikes are not uncommon in Peru, and whilst these are generally peaceful, they can involve roadblocks and cause disruption to travel. 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 (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 will vary depending on the pace of your group. Inca Trail Regulations An Inca Trail permit is required for this trip. There are a number of important regulations regarding the Inca Trail that we would like to make you aware of:Spaces on the Inca Trail are on a first come, first served basis and we urge you to book as early as possible. If you cancel your booking more than 8 weeks before departure and wish to transfer your deposit to another departure or another trip the transfer fee is £150 as we will lose the permit we have purchased on your behalf. This is an amendment to our Booking Conditions. No transfers are possible within 8 weeks of departure. Bookings can only be made if we are supplied with your full name, passport details, date of birth and nationality, exactly as per the passport you will be using to travel to Peru (this information is used to purchase your Inca Trail permit). If your passport details do not match those on your permit you will be refused entry to the Inca Trail by the local authorities. Should the passport used to purchase your permit be lost, stolen or expire before your Inca Trail start date, you must purchase a new passport and notify Exodus immediately as we will need to apply to amend your Inca Trail permit. To do so, you must supply copies of both your old and new passports to Exodus in advance of travel and pay an administration fee of £25. For this reason, we strongly recommend that you make a copy of your passport at the time of booking.Please be aware that these regulations may change at any time, and Exodus is not responsible for the decisions made by Peruvian authorities.There is a possibility that the Peruvian authorities may increase the entrance fees to the Inca Trail, Machu Picchu and other major sights at any time. If they do so, we will inform you of this increase and the extra amount will need to be paid locally in cash in Peru. Please Note: Whilst your departure date may be 'Guaranteed', your Inca Trail permit itself will initially be 'On Request'. If travelling within the current year we will try to purchase your permit immediately upon receiving your booking. If travelling next year, we will apply for your permit as soon as they are released for sale. In either case, in the event that we are unable to get your permit we will contact you to discuss your options. List of Regulations for visiting Machu Picchu: The main points impacting your visit are the following:The tickets are valid only for one entry which means that you cannot leave the site and re-enter.Once you have done the chosen circuit with your guide, you cannot walk back to view anything already visited and once you finish the circuit, you will have to leave the site. You can no longer explore the site further after the guided tour.The two visit times for visiting the site, either 6am-12pm or 12-16.30pm.The local authorities have restricted the temples which can visited at Machu Picchu depending on the time of the visit to the site. These regulations will affect how long you are able to spend at Machu Picchu and which temples you can visit. In the past, after the guided tour passengers could stay longer to explore the site, this is not possible anymore. The alternative that we are implementing on our visits to allow you further time, is to explore the upper part of Machu Picchu (Sun Gate and Inca Bridge) before starting the guided tour. The guided tour will be about 2 hrs in duration, and unfortunately at the end of it, you will need to exit the site. You will be able to visit the Condor’s Temple, but not the Sun Dial Temple or the Sun Temple on this itinerary. Schedule of visit to Machu Picchu on this itinerary:Early bus to Machu Picchu and explore upper part with the tour leaderBetween 9-10am start the guided tourBetween 11.30am-12.30pm passengers leave Machu Picchu Please see our COVID Travel Guide for Peru for more information on current guidelines for travel in Peru.