Peru
Traveling Peru on a Budget:
Arrive by plane in Lima (1 day depending on when you get there, I personally would leave as soon as possible, but then again, I dislike big cities alot) (overnight bus to Huaraz)
Huaraz (2 days; 1 day to acclimatize, 1 day to hike to Laguna 69) (overnight bus back to lima, then straight to paracas)
Paracas (2 days; one day to do boat tour to poor man galapagos and bike ride through the desert, one day to relax on the beach and take in the culture)
Huacachina (2 days; one day to get here and do dune buggy/sandboarding tour, 1 day to do wine tour)
Nazca (2 days, one day to get here and book tour, one day to fly over Nazca lines) (overnight bus)
Arequipa (4 days; one day to book tour, 3 days to hike through Colca canyon) (overnight bus)
Cusco (6 days; 4 days for Machu Picchu Trek, One day to rest and see city, 1 day to do rainbow mountain hike)
Fly back to Lima to go home
If this is too many days, you could unfortunately skip Huaraz and the laguna 69 trek, but it is super beautiful. You could also skip the Nazca lines if you do not like sketchy planes, or could skip Arequipa if you want to save your hiking legs for Cusco.
I would highly recommend taking buses everywhere in Peru, as they are extremely comfortable and super cheap ! There is a company called PeruHop which arranges all the transportation for you, but personally, I think it would be a waste of money, as the buses are very easy to arrange on your own. As well, since everyone seems to go on the same path, it is easy to travel with a group and you are never really alone.
Now that you have an idea of a sample itinerary, lets look at what there is to do in each place, in more detail!
Huaraz: In Huaraz, there is so much great hiking to be done! I took a bit of a different path and ended up here after I had just finished a ton of hiking in Cusco, so I only did one hike called Laguna 69, which can be seen below. However, I had friends who did the 4 day hike and fell in love with it! It is one of the least touristy filled hikes in Peru, and the scenery day after day is suppose to be to die for. However, if you are short on time, or just want to hike for only one day, Laguna 69 is a beautiful choice which leads you to snow covered mountains and a bright blue lagoon.
Paracas: In the adorable little town of Paracas, you can visit the poor mans Galapagos on a half-day boat ride. You'll see thousands of different birds, possibly a penguin or two, and tons of sea-lions! (as seen in image 2). You can also take either a bike ride or bus tour through the National Park, seen in image 3. What we didn't know was that the National Park was actually a desert... After a cold boat tour in the morning, this was the last thing we expected... Make sure you lather up in TONS of sunscreen if you plan on biking through here. We learned the hard way, and peeled 3 times from the burns we got that day. However, it was still worth it, and the views we biked through were spectacular. We did talk to a lot of people who did the bus tour instead, and they said it was pretty boring and hard to take in
the scenery.
Huacachina: This is a small town that is completely a desert, with an oasis in the middle of it, in the middle of nowhere, as seen in image 4. However, the locals have taken advantage of this, and it has become a tourist hot-spot. There are now many hostels and various tour companies. But the dune buggying over the sand-dunes and the sand-boarding down the desert hills was well worth the visit. As well, you can do a wine tour in the nearby town of Ica, which is well worth the price. You get tons of wine and Pisco included, and the second winery has a great atmosphere of friends.
Arequipa: This is a bustling, small city with a lot to offer. There are tons of museums, walking tours, cafes, and restaurants, but the best thing to do here is a 2-3 day hike of the canyon. Its called Colca Canyon and its so cool to walk in and out of! You can opt for the 2 or 3 day hike, and the same amount is covered. However, I liked the 3 day option as it allows you to walk less each day, as well as enjoy the oasis in the middle of the canyon for the afternoon rather than getting there at dark and leaving early the next day. In case you realize you aren't quite the hiking kind of person like you may have thought, there is the option to pay to ride a donkey up out of the canyon on the last day, otherwise just enjoy the 3 hour steep hike out! It may be tiring but its also quite rewarding. As you can see in the photos below, we had some spectacular views.
Cusco: Finally you'll hit the famous city of Cusco. This town has so much charm and atmosphere you're never going to want to leave! Its streets are all cobblestone, and there's never a dull moment, whether you're in the heart of the city or exploring the surroundings. The first thing to do, is decide what kind of tour you want to do in order to see Macchu Picchu. You can opt for the famous Inca Trail, like I did, but you need to book this MONTH's in advance, and its super expensive. Other options include the adventure trek, which is also a 4 day hike but includes white water rafting and canopying, or the Salkantay trek which again is 4 days but doesn't need to be booked until you get there, or even just a day venture. Day ventures include taking the train the whole way there, or hiking up the train tracks yourself. Whichever way you choose to go, just know the views are 100% worth it, as seen in image 9 below! Once you've crossed Macchu Picchu off your list, and you've taken a day off to recover your legs, you can now go and try to see Rainbow Mountain! This hike is less well-known but definitely gaining popularity. It is a single day hike that goes there and back, but it reaches altitudes of 5200m above sea-level, so you'll want to be acclimatized in Cusco before heading out. Once you reach the top, there is apparently a mountain with different coloured stripes all throughout the rock ! I say apparently, as unfortunately, as we reached the summit we hit a snow storm and couldn't see a thing. We were too tired of hiking to try again, but friends told us it really is spectacular, as you can see in image 10.
That's all for now, for my advice on traveling Peru on a budget. We spent a total of about $1700 each for 2 months while here, but we opted for the expensive Inca Trail, and definitely drank our moneys worth. If needed, I think it would be fairly easy to cut this cost down, but we also love to do everything there is to do while visiting a country. As well, it would be extremely easy to spend more if you stayed at high end hostels and didn't eat the local food. If anyone wants to know more in depth about a certain place or way to get there, let me know! I'd love to chat or help you out, as well as hear of any adventures you've had in Peru!
Much love, Miss Sydor
So unlike Colombia, which I talked about in my last post, Peru has a very distinct Tourist Trail. It is much harder to go off the beaten track and you will likely be surrounded by other tourists at most points of your trip. BUT it is an extremely beautiful, cheap and easy to travel country, especially for first time travelers. A typical budget here is only around $30-$40/day, and includes all your excursions, food, transportation, and of course beer.
A typical Itinerary would be similar to the one seen below. It would take about 20 days, but things can be skipped or you can stay in places even longer.
Arrive by plane in Lima (1 day depending on when you get there, I personally would leave as soon as possible, but then again, I dislike big cities alot) (overnight bus to Huaraz)
Huaraz (2 days; 1 day to acclimatize, 1 day to hike to Laguna 69) (overnight bus back to lima, then straight to paracas)
Paracas (2 days; one day to do boat tour to poor man galapagos and bike ride through the desert, one day to relax on the beach and take in the culture)
Huacachina (2 days; one day to get here and do dune buggy/sandboarding tour, 1 day to do wine tour)
Nazca (2 days, one day to get here and book tour, one day to fly over Nazca lines) (overnight bus)
Arequipa (4 days; one day to book tour, 3 days to hike through Colca canyon) (overnight bus)
Cusco (6 days; 4 days for Machu Picchu Trek, One day to rest and see city, 1 day to do rainbow mountain hike)
Fly back to Lima to go home
If this is too many days, you could unfortunately skip Huaraz and the laguna 69 trek, but it is super beautiful. You could also skip the Nazca lines if you do not like sketchy planes, or could skip Arequipa if you want to save your hiking legs for Cusco.
I would highly recommend taking buses everywhere in Peru, as they are extremely comfortable and super cheap ! There is a company called PeruHop which arranges all the transportation for you, but personally, I think it would be a waste of money, as the buses are very easy to arrange on your own. As well, since everyone seems to go on the same path, it is easy to travel with a group and you are never really alone.
Now that you have an idea of a sample itinerary, lets look at what there is to do in each place, in more detail!
Huaraz: In Huaraz, there is so much great hiking to be done! I took a bit of a different path and ended up here after I had just finished a ton of hiking in Cusco, so I only did one hike called Laguna 69, which can be seen below. However, I had friends who did the 4 day hike and fell in love with it! It is one of the least touristy filled hikes in Peru, and the scenery day after day is suppose to be to die for. However, if you are short on time, or just want to hike for only one day, Laguna 69 is a beautiful choice which leads you to snow covered mountains and a bright blue lagoon.
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| Image 1, Laguna 69 |
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| Image 3: National Park |
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| Image 2: Sealions |
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| Image 4: Sand-dunes in Huacachina |
Nazca: This is a locals only kind of town, where people tend to only stop by for a day or so to see the lines, and move on. I found it a nice change from the tourist towns though, and the food and accommodation was super cheap. While here, you need to try and find a group to go together to bargain down a price for a flight over the geo-glyphs. Once this is accomplished, make sure you haven't eaten breakfast as the flight is quite topply! As you can see in image 5 below, its a small airplane that doesn't handle the air very well. But the views are so worth the potential sickness, as you can see in image 6 below.
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| Image 5: Small plane we took |
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| Image 6: Geoglyph of hummingbird |
Arequipa: This is a bustling, small city with a lot to offer. There are tons of museums, walking tours, cafes, and restaurants, but the best thing to do here is a 2-3 day hike of the canyon. Its called Colca Canyon and its so cool to walk in and out of! You can opt for the 2 or 3 day hike, and the same amount is covered. However, I liked the 3 day option as it allows you to walk less each day, as well as enjoy the oasis in the middle of the canyon for the afternoon rather than getting there at dark and leaving early the next day. In case you realize you aren't quite the hiking kind of person like you may have thought, there is the option to pay to ride a donkey up out of the canyon on the last day, otherwise just enjoy the 3 hour steep hike out! It may be tiring but its also quite rewarding. As you can see in the photos below, we had some spectacular views.
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| Image 7: View before we headed in |
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| Image 8: View of the cliff I climbed |
Cusco: Finally you'll hit the famous city of Cusco. This town has so much charm and atmosphere you're never going to want to leave! Its streets are all cobblestone, and there's never a dull moment, whether you're in the heart of the city or exploring the surroundings. The first thing to do, is decide what kind of tour you want to do in order to see Macchu Picchu. You can opt for the famous Inca Trail, like I did, but you need to book this MONTH's in advance, and its super expensive. Other options include the adventure trek, which is also a 4 day hike but includes white water rafting and canopying, or the Salkantay trek which again is 4 days but doesn't need to be booked until you get there, or even just a day venture. Day ventures include taking the train the whole way there, or hiking up the train tracks yourself. Whichever way you choose to go, just know the views are 100% worth it, as seen in image 9 below! Once you've crossed Macchu Picchu off your list, and you've taken a day off to recover your legs, you can now go and try to see Rainbow Mountain! This hike is less well-known but definitely gaining popularity. It is a single day hike that goes there and back, but it reaches altitudes of 5200m above sea-level, so you'll want to be acclimatized in Cusco before heading out. Once you reach the top, there is apparently a mountain with different coloured stripes all throughout the rock ! I say apparently, as unfortunately, as we reached the summit we hit a snow storm and couldn't see a thing. We were too tired of hiking to try again, but friends told us it really is spectacular, as you can see in image 10.
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| Image 9: View of Macchu Picchu |
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| Image 10: My friend at Rainbow Mountain |
That's all for now, for my advice on traveling Peru on a budget. We spent a total of about $1700 each for 2 months while here, but we opted for the expensive Inca Trail, and definitely drank our moneys worth. If needed, I think it would be fairly easy to cut this cost down, but we also love to do everything there is to do while visiting a country. As well, it would be extremely easy to spend more if you stayed at high end hostels and didn't eat the local food. If anyone wants to know more in depth about a certain place or way to get there, let me know! I'd love to chat or help you out, as well as hear of any adventures you've had in Peru!
Much love, Miss Sydor
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