A special Cusco vacation package including Lima — the “City of Kings” — the Inca capital Cusco, the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu, and featuring Inti Raymi Festival 2023, Latin America’s premier festival, a spectacle of ancient royal pomp and energy. This annual reenactment of the millenary Inca solstice celebration is an experience that you will never forget!
Several chroniclers, including Juan de Batanzos, José de Acosta, Guaman Poma and Cristóbal de Molina, described a ritual celebration of feasting and dance held each year around the June Solstice in honor of the Sun God Inti.
During the reign of the Inca, only the ruling elite of royal blood were allowed to participate in the great festival known as Inti Raymi.
In the 1940s, the Festival of the Sun celebration was revived as an expression of indigenous culture that all Peruvians could rejoice in. Over the ensuing decades, the event evolved into one of South America’s most important festivals, drawing visitors from all over the world.
We meet you on your arrival at Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima and transfer you to your selected hotel.
After breakfast you embark on a city tour with our private guide and driver to take in the most important and attractive sites in Lima, the “City of Kings.”
The tour includes sightseeing of the Huaca Pucllana, an adobe pyramid structure in the heart of the seaside district of Miraflores, the Paseo de la República, and the neocolonial architecture of the Plaza San Martin.
Passing through the old streets with colonial mansions, and Lima’s intricate wood-carved balconies, we arrive to the Plaza de Armas.
Here each day at noon, visitors can view the spectacular Changing of the Guard ceremony the gates of the Government Palace on the plaza’s northern side.
Along the east side of the plaza are the Cathedral (housing the tomb of Pizarro) the Archbishop’s Palace, and on the opposite side is Lima’s Municipal Palace.
Next stop is a visit to the Convent and Church of San Francisco, which holds the oldest collection of colonial art in the Americas, with an exquisitely carved chorus, a library of ancient manuscripts, and the Sacristy with paintings by Zurbarán and Rivera.
The courtyard of the main cloister is decorated floor-to-ceiling in blue and white Sevillian tiles, depicting scenes from the bible that date back to the 16th century. Moroccan arches lead us to the Catacombs, a subterranean crypt from the colonial period, where the bones of 25,000 colonial-era Lima residents are entombed.
The tour continues through the most traditional residential areas of the city: San Isidro, the Central Park of Miraflores and down to the cliff-side shopping and entertainment complex of Larcomar, a popular symbol of modern Lima.
Hour free to enjoy lunch and/or shop.
Visit the Larco Museum for a guided tour of its magnificent collection of 45,000 artifacts. Discover why Peru has recently been recognized as the world’s Sixth Cradle of Civilization, contemporaneous with Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, Mexico and China.
The Larco’s permanent exhibit offers one of the best overall explanations to put Peru’s myriad ancient cultures into context.
Learn about the continuation of a shared cosmo vision that bound Peruvian cultures together, from the earliest known civilizations on through the later Wari, Mochica and Inca empire, until the Spanish Conquest of the 16th century.
Return to your hotel. (B)
After breakfast, transfer to the airport for the flight to Cusco. Of the many trips from Lima, this one is to one of the most unforgettable destinations.
Upon arrival, check-in at your hotel, and then set out straight away to the Sacred Valley, for a private full-day excursion to Urubamba, the Sacred Valley of the Incas.
Visit the village of Pisac, founded by the Spanish in the late 16th century. On Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, local farmers barter their produce and products, and area artisans come to sell their woven alpaca wool blankets, ponchos, engraved gourds, jewelry and other handicrafts.
After buffet lunch, a visit to Ollantaytambo, the only Inca town which is still inhabited. Explore the ruins above Ollantaytambo before returning to Cuzco. Optional: You can decide with your guide whether you would like to return via the traditional market town of Chinchero. (B/L)
After breakfast, this is the day of the Inti Raymi – The Quechua name for the Inca Festival of the Sun (pronounced: In-tea-rye-me).
This annual reenactment of the millenary Inca winter solstice celebration is Cusco’s largest festival of the year and a “must” experience that you will never forget!
For centuries following the arrival of the Spanish the celebration of the sun was replaced by the Catholic celebrations of Corpus Christi. Inti Raymi was revived in 1944 as a private initiative of the Instituto Americano de Arte del Cuzco.
The festival today on June 24th is one of Latin America’s largest, a spectacle of ancient royal pomp and energy.
The religious ceremony plays out with ritual veneration to the Inti Sun deity and Mother Earth on the esplanade of Sacsayhuaman above Cuzco.
The Inti Raymi ceremony involves hundreds dancers swirling around a central “ushnu” platform as the Inca ruler is carried in on a royal litter with a golden throne.
Attend the festivities with your private guide to experience for yourself this spectacular reenactment of the ancient Inca rituals.
The staging begins in the Koricancha, continuing to the Main Square of the city and ending at the esplanade of Sacsayhuaman.
The central most important character is the Sapa Inca. When the ceremony ends the presentation of folkloric groups begins. Box lunch included. (B/L)
(Note: Details of the Inti Raymi program could be subject to change according to Health & Safety Protocols for Covid-19)
In the afternoon we start to explore Cusco on a tour, in which your private guide will explain the history and significance of our Inca culture and vast changes that took place with the invasion of Spanish forces.
You will visit the main plaza, the Cathedral, and the Inca Temple of the Sun or Koricancha.
We then visit the ruins on the outskirts of the city, stopping at the Inca ritual site of Quenqo, the water temple of Tambomachay, the customs house of Puca Pucara and the impressive Temple Fortress of Sacsayhuaman, built strategically on the hill above city of Cusco.
The vast archaeological complex is famous for its enormous stone blocks, assembled with incredible precision to form the imposing external walls of the complex.
Some of the stones stand nine meters tall and weigh more than 350 tons. We then return you to your hotel. (B)
After breakfast, you are picked up by your driver for transfer either to the train station at Poroy or Ollantaytambo, where you board the train to Machu Picchu, the Lost City of the Inca.
We arrive at the town of Aguas Calientes, and take a bus for about 30 minutes, ascending up a series of switchbacks to reach the incomparable Machu Picchu.
The excursion includes a private tour of the citadel, visiting the main points of interest, including the Guardhouse, the Temple of the Three Windows, the Intihuatana (“hitching post of the Sun), the Sacred Rock and the Temple of the Condor, among others.
You also have some free time to walk around the complex at your own pace. We have lunch at Sanctuary Lodge Restaurant, before you settle in at your selected hotel. (B/L)
After enjoying a buffet breakfast, return to the ruins to explore on your own, in relative quiet before other visitors arrive on the train from Cusco.
(Or you might want to consult with one of our travel experts and plan to climb Huayna Picchu to explore its mountaintop ruins and to experience breathtaking overview of Machu Picchu and the beautiful scenery that surrounds it. Your travel plans can be highly customized.)
Afternoon, board train for return either to the train station Ollantaytambo or Poroy, where you will transfer to the waiting bus back to Cusco and your hotel. (B)
After breakfast, morning at leisure before transfer to the airport for the flight back to Lima and your return flight home.
Our Price Includes:
Our price does not include:
Note: For Cusco tours, it can make a huge difference to spend your first day in the Sacred Valley (9,000 ft./2,400 mts.) to acclimatize and avoid problems with altitude sickness, before ascending back to Cusco city (11,152 ft./3,360 mts.).
Planning the perfect trip around Peru can be difficult given the amount of incredible destinations to choose between, and also as everyone has different particular interests. Here at Fertur Peru Travel we have designed the most exciting and complete trip based on personal travel experience, as well as from many years of customizing tours around Peru for our clients. Whether you are looking to spot wild animals, visit impressive archaeological ruins, or try exquisite Peruvian cuisine, we have all of your interests covered here.
We also pride ourselves on luxurious and comfortable tours, so by booking with us you will be guaranteed deluxe private transportation while exploring all corners of the country as you will with our Peru Cultural Itinerary Tour. As well as this we also use the very best, professional tour guides, who will ensure both the most safe and memorable time possible.
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