Signature Machu Picchu & the Amazon

Upon arrival at Lima International Airport, you are met and transferred to your hotel.

This afternoon, explore Peru’s capital, visiting the Plaza Mayor and Cathedral. Spend time exploring the Larco Herrera Museum, one of the city’s best museums for pre-Columbian artifacts.

Fly to Cusco, one-time capital of the Incan Empire, high in the Andes. Upon arrival, transfer to the Sacred Valley of the Incas, Urubamba. En route, visit Awana Kancha, a center where South American camelids (llamas, alpacas, guanacos and vicuñas) are bred. Learn about the valuable fibers created from their coats as well as the ancient weaving techniques still in use. Spend your afternoon at leisure, taking time to acclimatize.

Discover the lifestyle of the Quechua highlanders as you participate in their daily activities, and visit their kitchens to experience what’s being cooked upon wood-fired mud-brick stoves. You may also learn about local textile techniques and symbolism during a demonstration. Continue your immersive experience with seasonal activities, be it a village walk to learn about agricultural cycles; a visit to an adobe farmhouse to learn about locally produced supplies; household chores; or the breeding and care of guinea pigs. Continue to Hacienda Huayoccari, where you sit down to lunch.

Board the Vistadome train bound for Machu Picchu, the crowning achievement of the Incan civilization. Explore the city's ruins, and feel its pulse as you visualize the lives of the priests, craftsmen and servants who inhabited this remote citadel. Overlooking the raging Urubamba River and discovered in a hidden tangle of vines and trees, the city of Machu Picchu will forever hold the secret of its purpose — the Incas left no written records.

Rise early for a walk through the misty ruins at sunrise, or choose between two guided hikes: the Inti Punku, or Sun Gate, entry point to Machu Picchu on the Inca Trail; or the Huayna Picchu, a high peak affording excellent views of the ruins. Later, return to Cusco on board the Vistadome train.

Tour the city of Cusco, visiting the cathedral on the Plaza de Armas and the Santo Domingo Temple, built on the foundations of the Koricancha, the Incas’ principal religious structure. Next, travel just outside of Cusco to behold the ruins of Sacsayhuaman, an enduring testament to Incan architectural skills. Examine its colossal stone blocks, cut and fitted together with incredible precision and without a single drop of mortar to hold them in place. Spend your afternoon at leisure.

Fly to Lima and connect to Iquitos. Board your luxury river cruiser. Spend the next three days cruising along the Marañon and its tributaries as well as on the mighty Amazon itself. Spot rare flora and fauna, including pink river dolphins, three-toed sloths and macaws. Stop at riverside villages to meet locals, with fine dining and fabled pisco sours on board. Conditions permitting, you may also board a skiff for an exploration of the Yarapa River or set out on the Yanayacu-Pucate River to canoe and swim.

Disembark ‘Aria Amazon’ and return to Lima airport, where you board your flight home.