Signature Peru and Colombia – Andean Wonders to the Caribbean Coast

You will be met at the airport and escorted to your hotel by one of our local representatives. The scenes from your window on the drive to the hotel through Lima encapsulate the invigorating bustle of this modern-day Latin American capital. Arrive at your hotel in the middle-class neighbourhood of Miraflores, which spreads down to the Pacific coast.

Spend today exploring the historic heart of Lima. This ‘City of Kings’ has a wealth of colonial architecture. Plaza San Martín, with its colonial churches, promenades and palaces marks the beginning of a guided tour that unearths much of the country’s turbulent past. En route, visit several palaces including the Torre Eagle Palace, one of the most striking of Lima’s 18th century mansions. Another building which borrows its architectural style from Baroque and Moorish Spain is the Monastery of San Francisco with its fascinating library and catacombs.

The final stop is the private Larco Museum with its collection of beautiful pottery, unique gold and silver work, mummies, and ceramics from pre-Inca civilisations.

Lima is renowned for its flourishing food scene, with some of the finest restaurants in Latin America, so in the evening check out the bars and restaurants of Miraflores and neighbouring Barranco.

This morning, take a transfer to Lima Airport and fly into the Andes to Peru’s cultural capital Cusco. Transfer by road to the Sacred Valley, which lies at a more comfortable altitude, allowing for some gentle acclimatisation.

Once the bread-basket of the Inca Empire, the fertile Sacred Valley was heavily populated in pre-colonial times and scores of well-preserved ruins bear witness to the highly developed society that the Incas created. The drive passes by several villages and temple fortresses that pepper the valley. You’ll be staying in Urubamba, which has a pleasant main plaza and cathedral, centrally located for exploring some of the best sites in the region.

Today, you will visit the Pisac complex, one of the greatest Inca sites in the region. Pisac features all types of Inca architecture – agricultural, hydraulic, military, residential and religious. Set high above the eponymous village, the site is famous for its steep terraces. You can clamber among the ancient walls and explore ruins of temples, residences and storehouses. It takes about 1.5 hours to explore the site, after which you stop off in the town where an arts and crafts market spreads across the main square, with stalls laden with tapestries, weavings and clothing crafted in the surrounding villages.

Enjoy another day exploring the stunning surroundings of Peru’s Sacred Valley. There are various optional tours to choose from. You could visit Chinchero, an attractive Indian village with a colourful Sunday market, or journey to Moray, an Inca experimental agricultural centre, and the Maras saltpans, a series of terraces with a natural source of saline water.

Continue along this picturesque patchwork valley with the snow-capped Andean cordillera as a stunning backdrop. Arrive in the town of Ollantaytambo; the Inca fortress towering above the adobe village is well preserved and there are wonderful views over the surrounding valley.

From Ollantaytambo, take a spectacular train ride to Machu Picchu. As the river Urubamba enters its narrow gorge between thickly-forested granite hills, there is room only for a single track, which hugs the right bank and passes through tiny hamlets.

The majestic ruined city of Machu Picchu, reclaimed from tropical cloud forest, is reached from its namesake town by a winding road up through the cloud forest. The American explorer Hiram Bingham discovered the ruins in 1911, completely buried beneath jungle vegetation. The location of Machu Picchu, on a ridge spur amid forested peaks and above a roaring river canyon, is truly spectacular. Enjoy a richly informative guided tour of the ruins, completing one of the set circuits around the stone buildings and the grassy ledges where llamas roam. There will be endless breathtaking photo opportunities at one of the world’s most photogenic sites.

Head down to the foot of the mountain to stay in the bustling town of Machu Picchu, formerly known as Aguas Calientes, filled with artisan markets, bars and restaurants.

If you would like to experience some of the Inca Trail without interrupting your tour, we can organise for you to walk the mini Inca Trail on this day, but still have a guided tour of the ruins. Please ask us for more details.

This morning, you can choose to get up early and take one of the first buses up to the ruins of Machu Picchu for a second visit. There is also the chance for the more challenging hike to Huayna Picchu, the conical peak which juts out behind the ruins for wonderful views over the site. If you’d like to re-visit the site or climb Huayna Picchu, book with us in advance as spaces are limited. Alternatively, enjoy the thermal baths and wander the narrow vehicle-free streets of Machu Picchu village, lined with souvenir shops and cafés.

In the afternoon, take the train back to Cusco and check into your hotel and enjoy a dinner of fine Peruvian cuisine in one of the city’s excellent restaurants.

The name Cusco derives from the Quechua word for navel, reflecting its status at the centre of the former Inca Empire, which reached its zenith in the 15th century, at around the same time as England was fighting the Wars of the Roses. Today, the city’s many impressive original Inca walls display extraordinary craftsmanship, while the bustling squares are overlooked by ornate baroque Spanish colonial churches. It’s an alluring city, where shoeshine boys and postcard sellers jostle for your attention in the main square in the shadow of the stunning cathedral. In the evening, the town centre fills with people flocking to restaurants, bars and cafés.

Enjoy a guided tour of the city. Visit Q’oricancha, once the principal Inca Sun Temple with extraordinarily intricate stonework. Then explore the colossal walls of the former fortress of Sacsayhuamán, brooding on a hillside above Cusco. In 1536, the Spanish won a desperate and defining three-day battle against the Incas here. The first conquistadores to see this fortress were awestruck, and centuries later it remains an extraordinary and imposing sight.

Enjoy a second day at leisure in Cusco to continue exploring the city’s wealth of historical and archaeological wonders, or take another excursion into the nearby Sacred Valley.

Arrive in Bogotá, a vibrant city filled with colonial churches, fascinating museums, futuristic architecture and lively universities. You’ll notice the huge contrast with Cusco – the Colombian capital is vast and modern, and its residents are famously outgoing and friendly, with more European influence evident than in the Peruvian Andes.

You’ll be staying in historic La Candelaria district close to the main Plaza de Bolivar. Enjoy dinner at the hotel’s rooftop restaurant or explore the eateries within walking distance.

On your first full day, there is a guided exploration of the city with a walking tour of La Candelaria district.

Set off from Plaza de Bolivar, where the Cathedral and Congress buildings are located. Continue on foot through steep colonial streets towards the Gold Museum to see this extraordinary, well-displayed collection of pre-Columbian artefacts housing more than 34,000 gold pieces. It’s arguably the most impressive museum of its kind in the world.

You then ascend a steep hill towering over Bogotá, with a white church at its peak. The path up is quiet throughout the week, but on Sundays city dwellers depart en masse to climb or take the funicular railway or cable car to visit this place of pilgrimage. From here, at 3,152m, you can enjoy sweeping views. You’ll be driven to the funicular railway station at the base of the mountain. Visit the church, the 14 stations of the Cross, then take the funicular to return to the city.

Fly to Pereira, the gateway city to Colombia’s coffee region. On the western slopes of the Cordillera Central, La Zona Cafetera has a pleasant, warm climate and lovely bucolic scenery, with mountainous, lush landscapes of coffee bushes interspersed with bamboo jungle and banana plants.

Spend a couple of days in this beautiful, relaxing region to explore some of the many walking trails, colourful flora and fauna and of course, enjoy plenty of the world’s finest fresh coffee.

The Cocora Valley is undeniably one of the most picturesque landscapes in a country endowed with so much beautiful countryside. Sunlit slopes are blanketed in coffee bushes, sprinkled with lofty palms and speckled with farms, or fincas, some dating back to colonial Spanish times. Mist-shrouded forest is filled with hundreds of wax palms – the national tree of Colombia – whose spindly trunks tower as high as 60m.

You will also visit the delightful town of Salento with its paint-box-bright colonial houses with wooden balconies overhanging narrow lanes. A popular weekend spot, it has a bunch of craft shops and restaurants for visitors. Climb 250 steps lined by the Stations of the Cross for sweeping river valley views.

The following day is a day at leisure to further explore or relax in your hotel. Other good options for excursions include day hikes, bike rides and birdwatching. About 45 minutes’ drive south of Pereira is the picturesque town of Filandia, renowned for its traditional buildings painted with bright colours and a beautiful church, Iglesia Maria Inmaculada.

Take your private transfer north (3-4 hours) to Medellín, the capital of Antioquia department. Known as the ‘City of Eternal Spring’, Medellín enjoys a year-round temperate climate. With a population of 3 million, it is the second-largest city in the country.

Once a place to avoid, Medellín is now Colombia’s most exciting, innovative and creative city, and barely recognisable from the anarchic days of Pablo Escobar and the Medellín cartel. Lively, enterprising, optimistic and forward-looking, the city’s government and people have, since the turn of the century, succeeded in engineering an extraordinary transformation for the better.

Today, enjoy a city tour of regenerated Medellín. Nowhere is the transformation of the city more apparent than in Comuna 13, formerly a very deprived and dangerous neighbourhood wracked by drugs and gang violence, but now a relaxed, peaceful and enterprising place which welcomes visitors. Accompanied by a local guide, discover amazing works of street art created by Comuna 13’s inhabitants, and enjoy performances by dance troupes and musical groups.

Leaving Comuna 13 behind, ride on some of the gleaming escalators which take you down to the centre of the city, and finish your tour at the Casa de Memoria, a sobering but important museum devoted to the experiences of the people in Medellín during the civil war, and the devastating consequences they suffered.

Fly to Colombia’s Caribbean coast for the final leg of your tour, based in the country’s most romantic, well-preserved colonial city.

Cartagena was founded in 1533, quickly blossoming to become the main Spanish port in the Caribbean and gateway to the north of the continent. Treasure plundered from native inhabitants was stored here until galleons could ship it back to Spain, and it became a tempting target for pirates. In order to protect their booty, the Spanish constructed an elaborate system of ramparts, which still encircle the town. Today, while Cartagena has expanded dramatically, the walled centre has changed very little, allowing a glimpse of the original 16th and 17th-century Spanish architecture and town planning.

A guided tour will help you soak up the atmosphere of this unique city. Enjoy the shade provided by the buildings in labyrinthine, cobbled streets, and explore monasteries, palaces, churches, plazas and imposing mansions with overhanging balconies brimming with flowers. Beyond this, the city opens up: an eclectic and seductive mix of Caribbean and African influences with a vibrant street life, fruit stalls lining the roads and pulsating rhythms.

Enjoy an unforgettable Caribbean excursion today, visiting the idyllic Rosario Islands, a group of 30 offshore islets with white, coral sand and dense mangrove vegetation.

Make your way independently by foot or taxi to the dock and continue by boat (1 hr) to the archipelago of El Rosario, 35km south of the Bay of Cartagena. The surrounding reefs have a huge variety of marine life, and the whole area has been declared a national park. Spend your time swimming and snorkelling in the warm, turquoise waters, then sip coconut milk from the husk beneath the shade of a palm tree before returning for one more evening in Cartagena.

Take your transfer to Cartagena airport and fly back to Bogota as your tour ends.