Best Things to Do in Sacred Valley

What a wonderful way to see Peru! This was a long but such as varied and exciting trip. We started the trip in Lima (a busy and bustling city with lots to see) and the first third of the trip made our way along the coast with unique Martian views at Paracas national park and bountiful wildlife at Las Ballestas Island. Arequipa, Puno and the Colca Valley provided a beautiful way to acclimatise to the higher altitude. Lake Titicaca was definitely a highlight - such a unique way of life. This part of our trip allowed to learn about the history of Peru through its customs, architecture and landscape.

Finally the Inca Trek was the pinnacle of the trip. A once in a lifetime opportunity and definitely a challenging but rewarding opportunity. Special Thank you to the team of porters, who made this possible. Chef Julian and Mario provided such delicious food that fuelled us to the end! Thank you too to all the guides and drivers that got us from place to place and gave us a great introduction to each region. Thank you above all else to our tour leader Darwin who not only managed the group from start to end and made sure we got to all our activities and locations but also provided entertainment and friendship along the way!

Overall our trip was filled with otherworldly views and scenery, unique culture, rich history, amazing pisco sours and even better people!

A very full and comprehensive trip with an array of interesting guides contributing their local knowledge along the way, and a nice small friendly group of people. The trip is very well planned to acclimatise and prepare participants for the highlight Inca (trekking/camping) Trail at the end which was tremendous - and excellently lead and presented by explore leader Darwin. Other highlight for me was the stay on tranquil and remote Taquile Island on lake Titicaca ( where my phone registered Bolivian time!). In order to explore the depth and breadth of the country, the trip does include some long stretches by bus. There are not many group evening meals which might not suit every solo traveler. In the itinerary notes, the option to climb Machu Picchu mountain is a little bit incidental and does need to be pre-booked so it would be good if that was made more aware to people at time of booking the Inca Trail pass. Otherwise a wonderful and recommendable trip.

The Peru In Depth and the Inca Trail felt like several separate trips all in one. This required a lot of organization of our Leader Darwin to keep the tour on the right track, and all of us at the right place at the right time, while always keeping us entertained.

By the time we got to the Inca trail, all of us were well acclimatized to manage the walking. The support from our leader and the porters made it possible for the team. A special mention to the amazing cooks that provided us with the excellent food that gave us the energy and morale to keep going when it got tough (best food on the trip in my opinion).

I am amazed at the porters speed and stoicism while carrying unbelievable weights over such long distances. It is a humbling experience watching these porters work. Together with Darwin, who kept the overall logistics of the trip, they make the perfect team.

Our tour leader was also very knowledgeable, with a well informed answer to almost any question about Peru geography, geology, modern politics, modern history and ancient history. He was very kind, and gentle when we needed support. He was very humorous when we needed a laugh (he seems to be very well understood with our type of "English" humor). I left thoroughly impressed with the number of hats he wears, and to such an expert level.

Just back from a wonderful trip to Peru, made extra special by our amazing tour leader, Darwin. So much packed into this trip....would have loved to have stayed even longer.

We had two tour leaders. Fabian in Ecuador was excellent. Informative, engaging and willing to expand on the itinerary to include information about the country, people, culture etc. The guide in Peru, Neilson was unfortunately not the same. He was very knowledgeable about the inca's and their history but seemed uninterested in the people in the group, didn't tell us anything about peru and the current political and social situation. It was almost that he had his script and couldn't or wouldn't expand beyond that.

such a varied trio from a feography pov. expertly led by Darwin the Explore leader