re: Peru: Lima, Cusco, Machu Picchu, logistics help

The advice we received a few years ago was to fly into Cusco but stay in the Sacred Valley to acclimate to the altitude. That seemed to work really well for us and we had a great trip in 2019.

We arrived on Monday afternoon and had a private driver take us to our hotel in Yucay, which was a small town with a few good restaurant options. The next day we had a private tour of the Sacred Valley, which took us to Ollantaytambo (Incan fortress and battle site) Moray (terraced architectural site), and the salt mine in Moray. We also had a stop for a textile demonstration and went into someone's home to try the corn beer.

The next morning we hired a driver to take us back to Ollantaytambo to catch a morning train to Aguas Calientes. Once we got there, we went up to Machu Picchu where we met our tour guide who showed us through the ruins.

We then spent the night in Aguas Calientes and went back to Machu Picchu the next morning. Since we had a guided tour the previous day, we were able to go back in by ourselves and hiked to the sun gate and then to the inca bridge. After that we walked back through the ruins on our own.

We then took the train back to Ollantaytambo, then met our driver to take us to Cusco where we stayed a couple of nights. I really liked Cusco and thought it was worth spending time in.

I'm not sure what else you're looking at in Peru, but I'd recommend spending a few days in the rain forest. Before going to the Sacred Valley, we flew from Lima to Puerto Maldanado where we spent a few nights at a "resort" along the Madre de Dios river. The resort had planned excursions every day to allow you to see wildlife and flora of the region. It's a pretty amazing experience to wake up at 4:00 am to the sounds of howler monkeys over your cabin.