We’ll pick you up in Cusco, eat a delicious lunch at a local favourite restaurant, then head for the tiny Inca town of Pisac in the stunning Sacred Valley.

Along the way we’ll visit Cochahuasi, a private animal-rescue sanctuary where you can get close to flamingos, lynxes, pumas, tapirs, and condors. There’s time this afternoon to wander through the charming cobbled streets and squares of Pisac, or to simply rest: it’s important to take it easy as you acclimatise to the altitude of the high Andes (3,300m or 10,800 feet in Cusco, 2,900m or 9,500 feet in Pisac).

Meals: Lunch and dinner included

Accommodation: Comfortable hotel in Pisac

Pisac is home to two major tourist attractions. The first is the huge Inca fortress that bristles spectacularly on the mountain above the town. In the morning we’ll explore the sprawling ruin, and enjoy the views of the high peaks around us and the verdant Sacred Valley of the Incas below. In the afternoon there’s time for shopping at Pisac’s handicraft market – the biggest and most famous in the region.

Pisac is also home to a great family attraction: a country club with kid and adult pools, a playground, miniature lake with fish, and lots of space to run around. This is another great option today as we ease into our Peru experience.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Comfortable hotel in Pisac

We’ll spend this very special day with families who lead a life that has barely changed in hundreds of years: subsistence farming in the village of Amaru. We’ll spend time in their homes learning about how they live, eat, farm and raise their children.

In the afternoon, the women of Amaru will show us how they make the traditional textiles they wear. We’ll have the opportunity to participate in every stage of the process, from picking plants to make dyes, to weaving on a loom!

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Basic guesthouse in Amaru

After breakfast we’ll wave goodbye to our new friends in Amaru and head down off the mountain into the Sacred Valley. For proficient bikers, there’s the option to ride bikes from Amaru down to Pisac: it’s a fun, curvy descent on an unpaved country road through beautiful mountain scenery.

Then we’ll drive through the sunny, fertile Sacred Valley – we’ll need lots of photo stops! – to Ollantaytambo, our pick for the most charming of all Inca towns. From here we’ll take a scenic train ride, that enchants children and adults alike, to Aguas Calientes, the town that nestles at the base of Machu Picchu mountain.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Comfortable hotel in Aguas Calientes

An early start rewards us with sunrise at Machu Picchu – a peak moment for anyone. A spectacular stone city surrounded by incredibly steep, incredibly green mountains, Machu Picchu needs no introduction and is deservedly one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. Your guide will show you around the key structures and get you oriented in this massive site, then you’ll have time to explore the ruin, or relax and play on lawned terraces with incredible views, before we take the train back to Ollantaytambo.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Cosy, family-run hotel in Ollantaytambo

Today we’ll visit two unusual and fascinating Inca sites. First is Moray – three massive Inca amphitheatres of incredible engineering precision and stern, magnificent beauty. They are said to have been a crop laboratory but have a mysterious, other-worldly vibe that suggests a more mystical purpose to many. Next is Salineras, the still-operational Inca salt factory – a surreal and beautiful patchwork of pools and paths that’s one of our favourite sights in the Sacred Valley.

If you like, you can ride quad bikes (also known as ATVs or four wheeled motorbikes) from one site to another today – it’s a great way to enjoy the beautiful rolling countryside. Kids can drive their own or be passengers with an adult – it’s up to you.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Cosy, family-run hotel in Ollantaytambo

This morning the adventure continues with stand-up paddleboarding – a fun, safe adventure that we recommend for even our smallest guests. After a full briefing and warm-up, we’ll spend the morning paddling on serene, stunning Lake Piuray. It’s a lot of fun for kids, and a great way for parents to soak in the quiet majesty of the mountains all around us.

In the afternoon, there’s time to explore the charming church and expansive mountain terraces of Chinchero before we head to Cusco for the night.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Comfortable hotel in Cusco

Cusco is bursting at the seams with things to see and do: churches and temples, colonial architecture, stunning streetscapes, great cafés, mountain views, museums, musicians, markets, and crazy hole-in-the-wall shops selling everything from frogs and herbs for casting spells to the world’s most colourful candles!

If you feel like taking a family-friendly class today, learning to make either chocolates or ceramics with local master artisans, we’ll arrange it.

There’s also hiking in the countryside only minutes away, and plenty of outdoor activities on offer, so whatever you feel like doing today, we’ll make it happen! By this stage of the trip, your guide will be familiar with your family’s interests and will be there with you to help you make the best of your time in this amazing town.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Comfortable hotel in Cusco

Today we’ll make the incredible journey – by van, plane, and dugout canoe – to pristine Amazon rainforest outside Puerto Maldonado. The irrepressible life all around you, with buzzing insects, flocks of birds and monkeys, and plants growing so fast you can almost see it happening, lets you know immediately that you’ve come to a very different world. The feeling that you’ve stepped into another dimension is enhanced when you find yourself spending the evening spotting caimans (freshwater crocodiles) from a boat on a jungle waterway!

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Remote jungle lodge

This is an unforgettable day of family adventure, so we’ll get started early (like everything else on our family trips, this is optional – we find many teenagers like to sleep late!) We need to be up well before dawn to get in position at Collpa Chuncho, the biggest macaw clay lick in the world! Up to 100 big, clever, guacamayos (macaws) congregate here each morning, eating clay which provides nutrients they can’t get anywhere else. Along the way there and back, there’s a good chance we’ll spot sloths and monkeys going about their morning business.

After lunch at the lodge we’ll hike (about 1.5 hours) to an oxbow lake, where we’ll paddle around spotting dozens of different bird species in the shallows, troops of monkeys on the lakeshore, and flocks of red-bellied macaws in the flooded palm forest. Both tonight and tomorrow, optional guided night hikes give you the opportunity to spot tapirs, night monkeys and tarantulas, and to take in the soundtrack of the jungle after dark.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Remote jungle lodge

We’ll spend today exploring Lake Sachavacayoc, home to countless monkeys, caimans, tapirs, anacondas, hoatzin, and lots of blue and yellow macaws and one of the best places in the Amazon for wildlife spotting.

No family trip to Peru would be complete without fishing for piranha, and we have the chance to get into it today! Pan-fried piranha is delicious, and frying up and eating your own carnivorous catch as the sun sets over the Amazon Jungle is a dinner to remember, and the perfect way to round out the trip as you savour your final evening in Peru.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Remote jungle lodge

Today we’ll retrace our journey back to Puerto Maldonado airport. It’s a good idea to book your flight out for the afternoon, so as not to have to get up too early. If you would like assistance with your domestic flights or other onward arrangements, we’re here to help!

Meals: Breakfast included