Express Weekend to Machu Picchu

Ideal for those who are in Lima on business and do not want to miss this world wonder.

Good time to travel: Year round.

Day 1 | 2 | 3

Day 1

Arrival from your international flight into Lima airport. You will be met by our representative and assisted to board your local flight to Cusco (please note that if your international flight cannot connect to the local flight, an overnight in Lima will be required). Arrival at Cusco airport, where you will be met by our Aracari representative, as well as by your guide.

Drive to Ollantaytambo to take the Vistadome Train to Aguas Calientes, the station that serves Machu Picchu. The train ride is approximately 3 hours through wonderful cloudforest scenery. Guided visit of the site with your private guide. Machu Picchu, also known as "The Lost City of the Incas" is one of the world's most celebrated archaeological sites and rightly so. Its location is spectacular. It is nestled in the Andean cloud forest on a high ridge straddling between two mountains with the Urubamba River curling like a snake below it. The mountain scenery surrounding it is magnificent and the site itself boasts some of the finest and more complex Inca architecture known. After visiting the site with your guide, you will take a half hour bus ride down to your Hotel, the lovely Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel or enjoy the perfect location by the ruins themselves, at the Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge.

(Alternatively El Mapi)

Day 2

Today you have 2 options: you can stay in Machu Picchu and take the 1:30pm Vistadome Train back or you can take the earliest Vistadome Train, at 8:35am and visit more Inca sites in the Sacred Valley.

With the first option, you will be able to enjoy Machu Picchu almost all to yourself, as you will be able to access the site as soon as it opens, and watch the morning unfold. Machu Picchu at this time is pure magic. All morning at leisure in Machu Picchu. At appropriate time, depart by train to Ollantaytambo where you will be transferred to a local restaurant for lunch. In the afternoon, visit the village and Inca site of Ollantaytambo, which boasts some of the finest Inca architecture known.

If you choose the second option, you will take the earliest train to Ollantaytambo, departing at 8:35am. Upon arrival, you will visit the village and Inca site of Ollantaytambo. Then, you will be transferred to a local restaurant for lunch and finalize your visit of the Sacred Valley in Pisac Ruins (1 hour away), our favourite site in the Urubamba Valley with stunning terracing hugging the contours of the hills. After your visits, you will be driven to the Hotel Monasterio del Cusco where you will overnight.

(Alternatively Casa San Blas)

Day 3

Experience Cusco with a difference! Your guide will take you to the most important sites within the Historic Centre of Cusco, such as the Cathedral and Korikancha (or Sun Temple). After the visit, you will be transferred to the airport to take your flight to Lima. In Lima, you will be welcomed by our representative and enjoy a day Room in Country Club Lima Hotel**, an afternoon city tour in Lima and a special dinner before you take your international flight back home.

(**Alternatively day room in Casa Inka)