hola peru destination guide

There’s no better place to pick up some traditional souvenirs than Pisac Market, where local Peruvians come every Sunday to sell their handicrafts and produce. Be sure to check out the beautiful Quechuan handwoven wares and the castillos de cuyes (literally, mini castles for guinea pigs).

Get to know Peru’s capital city on a Lima sightseeing tour with your Local Specialist. It’s all about grand buildings, historic monuments, superb food and a beautiful coastline here, and we’ll hop around all the icons like the Plaza Mayor and Cathedral, the Gaudi-style architecture of Parque del Amor, and the buzzing Miraflores neighbourhood. 

The Sacsayhuaman fortress is one of the world’s most impressive buildings and a Peru must see. We’ll let you in on all the secrets of this engineering marvel, built by the Incans around the 13th century with some of the biggest blocks ever found in Incan construction. They’re fitted together so tightly that you can’t even fit a piece of paper between some of them!

History buffs will love Moray, an ancient greenhouse with four platforms that seem to disappear into a huge crater. It's thought to have been used by the Incas to study which plants they could use for agriculture. The village of Maras is just as fascinating, with salt mines that have been used since the time of the Inca. We met the villagers who shared their ancient salt mining techniques and even let us have a go!

Hiking to the Inca Bridge takes about 40 minutes from the entrance of Machu Picchu and whilst it is a relatively easy walk it is not for the faint of heart as at point the trail can be narrow and has a sheer drop off of several hundreds of metres. The walk itself is incredibly scenic and when you get to the end you will be able to observe an original Inca draw bridge that was used to protect the Western entrance to Machu Picchu.

The beautiful city of Cusco is a great way to explore by foot or local taxi (4 to 6 soles per trip within the general city area) Take a walk up to one of the tallest points in the city and have a local cocktail while taking in the red-tiled rooftops of Cusco city. Have the friendly staff introduce and share some interesting stories behind the cocktails while you are at it.