Welcome to Cusco! We’ll meet you at 1pm for a traditional Peruvian meal at a local favourite restaurant. In the afternoon your guide will lead a relaxed walking tour around Cusco’s stunning historic centre – it’s important to take it easy if you’ve arrived from sea level today, as you need to acclimate to Cusco’s 3,000m (10,000ft) altitude.

Meals: Lunch and dinner included

Accommodation: Comfortable hotel in Cusco

The sunny, incredibly scenic floodplain between Pisac and Ollantaytambo in the valley of the Urubamba River is known as the Sacred Valley of the Incas. Pisac is a tiny, cobbled Inca village which is home to the largest handicraft market in the region and a huge Inca fortress. We’ll explore both, then set off into the Sacred Valley. We’ll need frequent photo stops as we pass still-working Inca terracing, irrigation canals, and awesome mountain vistas. Our destination is Ollantaytambo, perhaps the most perfectly preserved of all Inca towns, a maze of cobbled alleyways and sun-drenched plazas presided over by a spectacular, llama-shaped ruin.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Comfortable hotel in the Sacred Valley

Day 3 HOT SPRINGS AND BIKE DESCENT

This morning we’ll head up to local favourite attraction, the Lares hot springs, where naturally occurring medicinal thermal hot pools are surrounded by lovingly landscaped terraces carved out of a rushing river gorge. We’ll relax and soak before lunch, then spend the afternoon biking back down to the Sacred Valley.

As we gently descend, the landscape gradually changes from craggy Andean peaks and austere open pasture, to a verdant, bushy river gorge where traditionally-dressed locals tend flourishing llama flocks and corn crops, and the traditional weavers of Patacancha and Huilloc practise their ancient art.

Then an easy stroll (or ride in the vehicle if you prefer), through rolling farmland and views of the high Andes, brings us to Salineras – a surreal and beautiful patchwork of pools and paths that still produces salt using Inca technology and is our favourite site in the Cusco region.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Comfortable hotel in the Sacred Valley

Day 4 RUINS, WEAVERS AND SALT

We’ll spend today high up in the mountains, enjoying some of the best scenery of the whole trip with stunning views across the Sacred Valley, to range after range of the central Andes.

We’ll visit perhaps the most mysterious Inca site, Moray – three massive amphitheatres of incredible engineering precision and stern, magnificent beauty. Then we’ll check out Salineras – a surreal and beautiful patchwork of pools and paths that still produces salt using Inca technology, and is our favourite sight in the region!

We’ll also spend time in Chinchero, a quiet little town best known for its outdoor weaving studios, terraced Inca ruin, and intricately-frescoed colonial church.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Comfortable hotel in the Sacred Valley

Day 5 COTTAGE INDUSTRY IN CHICHUBAMBA

This morning we’ll grind and toast beans with coffee processors, and hang out with the chichera - the lady who makes corn beer, a very local beverage whose importance in Andean culture can hardly be overstated.

Along the way we’ll taste these delicious Peruvian products, and experience firsthand how they underpin the local lifestyle and economy.

This afternoon there’s time for a little exploration of Ollantaytambo - perhaps the most perfectly preserved of all Inca towns, a maze of cobbled alleyways and sun-drenched plazas presided over by a spectacular, llama-shaped ruin – before we take the 1.5 hour train ride to Aguas Calientes, our jumping-off point for Machu Picchu tomorrow.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Comfortable hotel in Aguas Calientes

Day 3 Start hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu!

We’ll get up very early this morning to take the bus to Kilometre 82, the start of the Inca Trail. The hike begins in the Sacred Valley as we follow the Urubamba River, climbing ever higher and eventually heading off up the Cusicacha Valley, through semi-arid forest and farming villages, to Wayllabamba, where we’ll camp for the night.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Camping on the Inca Trail

Walking: 12km (7.5 miles)

Minimum Altitude: 2,700m (8,860ft)

Maximum Altitude: 3,100m (10,170ft)

Altitude of camp: 3,100m (10,170ft)

Day 4 Hike over Warmiwayñusca Pass

Most of our walking time today is taken up by a stiff 1,200m (3,940ft) hike up to Warmiwayñusca (Dead Woman's Pass), the highest point of the Inca Trail. From here, if it's clear, we'll enjoy incredible views back the way we came, and onwards towards the distant, snow-capped Vilcabamba Range. Then we descend steeply into Pacaymayo, our campsite for the night with one of the best views in the Andes.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Camping on the Inca Trail

Walking: 11km (6.8 miles)

Minimum Altitude: 3,100m (10,170ft)

Maximum Altitude: 4,200m (13,780ft)

Altitude of camp: 3,600m (11,810ft)

Day 5 Runkurakay, Sayacmarca and Wiñaywayna

Today's hike takes us through some of the most stunning scenery in Peru, with cloud forest, orchids, hummingbirds and mountains on all sides, and to three gorgeous little ruins - Runkurakay, Sayacmarca, and Wiñaywayna, next to the evening's campsite. Along the way we cross the watershed of the Andes - this is one of the best days trekking in the world.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Camping on the Inca Trail

Walking: 12km (7.5 miles)

Minimum Altitude: 2,670m (8,760ft)

Maximum Altitude: 3,900m (12,800ft)

Altitude of camp: 2,670m (8,760ft)

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.

We’ll be up at sunrise so there’s time for your guide to show you around Machu Picchu’s main citadel, as well as our favourite hidden nooks and crannies, before the crowds arrive. Then there’s time for your own exploration of the massive, still-mysterious site, before we catch the train back to Cusco.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Back at our home-base Cusco hotel

There are things to do in Cusco to suit every mood and personality: churches, museums, and art galleries; adventure activities like rafting and horse riding, and organised tours. This is also the perfect day to just wander around and enjoy the spectacular mountain views, traditionally dressed locals, excellent cafes and charming architecture that characterise the historic centre of Cusco.

Meals: Breakfast included

Accommodation: Cusco hotel

The Valle Sur just outside Cusco is one of our favourite places to share with our guests, because it offers a one-day snapshot of the incredible variety of this whole region. We'll meet brujos (witches) who can read your future in coca leaves, and see how bakers create the area's famous chuta bread. We'll explore two charming, little-visited ruins: the Inca agricultural laboratory Tipón, with its still-working terraces and panoramic views, and Pikillacta, 'the flea village', which was home to 10,000 members of a pre-Inca tribe known for abundant procreation!

We'll check out the church of Andahuaylillas, so elaborate it's known as the Sistine Chapel of the Americas, and the deliberately-deformed skulls of departed Inca nobles displayed in the museum next door. On the way home there's time to sample local specialty foods like toqto (pigskin) and cuy (guinea pig), or for the less adventurous palate, the best cakes and ice-creams in the region!

Meals: Breakfast included

Accommodation: Cusco hotel

A 2.5 hour drive brings us to Mawayani, (3,900m, 12,800ft), where our pilgrimage begins. From here it’s a walk of approximately eight kilometres (five miles) up to the Sanctuary, 4,800m (15,750ft) above sea level. Here the ceremonies – in honour of, in no particular order, Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, Taytacha (Father Earth) and the Apu Ausangate (a powerful mountain god) – take place. Along the way are crosses marking places for rest, prayer, and exchanging religious icons, all accompanied by the hypnotic, pentatonic-scale music that will follow us throughout our time here.

Late in the afternoon, we’ll arrive at our comfortable campsite, among tens of thousands of other pilgrims and within sight of the Sinakara Glacier. If you have any energy left, you will find plenty to look at wandering around the site, or you might want to just relax with a cup of coca tea in our cosy dining tent.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Camping at Quyllur Rit’i

Quyllur Rit’i, the largest indigenous festival in the Americas, centres around the Sanctuary of the Lord of Quyllur Rit’i and the nearby pre-Inca holy rock which has had a chapel to the Virgin Mary planted on top of it. A procession of singing and dancing devotees continues day and night between these two points, with a stop in between to make reverence to the mountain. Fireworks go off all night, and the music never stops.

Different comparsas – groups of dancers – drawn overwhelmingly from rural, Quechua-speaking communities are the players. Each comparsa has its own music, dance, and unbelievably elaborate costume. Perhaps the most important personages are the ukukus: the guardian spirits of the festival, and, drawn from all the communities, the unifying link between all the groups here. They are heavily disguised in shaggy bear costumes and masks, always carry a whistle and a llama-hide whip, and speak in falsetto voices to hide their identities.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Camping at Quyllur Rit’i

This morning a solemn Mass brings the Quyllur Rit’i festival to a close. Late this morning we’ll join the trail of pilgrims winding their way back down the valley and out to the road. Here we'll meet our vehicle for the trip back to Cusco, where a hot shower, a gourmet dinner and a comfortable bed await us.

Meals: All meals included

Accommodation: Back at our home-base hotel in Cusco

You can book your flight out of Cusco for any time today. If you’re staying on in Peru, we’d be delighted to help out with suggestions for the rest of your time here.

Meals: Breakfast included