The Ultimate 10 Day Peru Itinerary

Who says travel to wondrous places, such as Peru, is only for the people that are willing to quit their jobs just to get the time?

Contrary to what you might think, you don’t need to quit your 9 to 5 to see Peru, and it’s possible to see the highlights in just 10 days.

We understand the rencontre of only having a few vacation days in a year, and we’re here to help you find a way to make it work.

In this guide, we have shared the ultimate 10 day Peru itinerary for those who only have a short vacation time and want to get the most out of their trip.

At A Glance: Our Peru Itinerary For 10 Days

All Smiles At Machu Picchu

For those who are short on time, here is a rough overview of our 10-day Peru itinerary. This should requite you an idea of what to see and expect.

• Day 1 – Arrive in Lima. This day will be well-nigh recovering from the flight and relaxing.
• Day 2 – Explore Lima, including unshut top bus tour of the municipality sights.
• Day 3 – Reservation an early flight to Puerto Maldonado. This is the first day of a 4 day venture with Wasai. Spend the evening walking the streets and relaxing by the Madre de Dios River.
• Day 4 – Wake up at 4am to see a Parrot soil lick, then late morning take a 4 hour wend ride to the Wasai Tambopata Eco lodge where you will journey deep in the Amazon Rainforest.
• Day 5 – Spend in the Amazon. See the Macaw soil lick, hiking and kayaking.
• Day 6 – Spend in the Amazon. Go zip lining, tree climbing and hiking.
• Day 7 – Reservation an early wend ride when to Puerto Maldonado and reservation an afternoon flight to Cusco. Spent the rest of the day exploring Cusco and adjusting to the altitude.
• Day 8 – Tour of the Sacred Valley including the Pisaq Market, hiking the Sacred Valley and Ollantaytambo. Reservation a late afternoon train ride from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes.
• Day 9 – Visit Machu Picchu! Late evening, return to Cusco.
• Day 10 – Reservation a morning flight to Lima, spent the day at one of the parks, and depart home in the evening.

10 Day Peru Itinerary

Now let’s swoop into the 10-day itinerary in full detail.

Day 1 & 2: Lima

Stunning Lima Architecture

When searching for flights to Peru, you will likely fly into the wanted municipality of Lima arriving late at night.

This municipality is a vibrant, rented and crowded wanted and I wouldn’t plan on too many days here.

If you plan your very first day in Lima, you will have plenty of time to reservation up on some sleep from your late inrush the night surpassing and hit the highlights of the city.

From Lima, you can reach the Nazca Lines, Ballestas Islands and Huacachina Sand Dunes by bus.

Huacachina Sand Dunes

• Nazca Lines: These are intriguing warmed-over geoglyphs etched into the desert floor of southern Peru, depicting various animals, plants, and geometric shapes, believed to have been created between 500 BCE and 500 CE.
• Ballestas Islands: Moreover known as the “Poor Man’s Galapagos,” these islands off the tailspin of Peru are a oasis for diverse marine wildlife, including sea lions, penguins, and numerous bird species, offering fantastic opportunities for wildlife observation and photography.
• Huacachina Sand Dunes: A stunning desert oasis near the municipality of Ica in Peru, surrounded by towering sand dunes that vamp thrill-seekers for adrenaline-pumping activities such as dune buggying and sandboarding.

To visit these areas you need to plan a minimum of 2 days with an overnight, which would midpoint skipping Lima off your itinerary, but it really depends on what you prefer to do.

Nazca Lines, Peru

A day trip to the Nazca lines can be washed-up if you are really short on time and can’t live without them. It will be a long day.

It isn’t feasible to combine Ballestas Islands and Huacachina with the Nazca Lines on a day trip, so you will need to segregate which of these day trips sound increasingly enticing to you.

Day 3: Puerto Maldonado

Relaxing in Our Bungalow in Puerto Maldonado

After your time in Lima, you’ll want to throne to the next destination. For us, it was Puerto Maldonado to spend 4 days in the Amazon Rainforest.

The flight time from Lima to Puerto Maldonado is only 1 hour and 40 minutes, so if you reservation an early flight you have plenty of time to explore Puerto Maldonado in the afternoon.

We wanted to visit the Amazon Rainforest for four days, but you can opt for three days and two night options, which requite you an uneaten day in your itinerary.

If you decide to spend less time in the Amazon, you could throne to either Lake Titicaca, one of the largest lakes in South America and the highest navigable soul of water, or Colca Canyon, the deepest pass in the world known for its trekking.

It really depends on what you want to see and do.

Day 4-6: Amazon Rainforest

Witnessing the Macaws Descend On A Soil Lick in the Amazon Rainforest

We chose to take a transformative four-day Amazon venture with the Wasai Tambopata Lodge in Peru, which takes you into the heart of the world’s largest rainforest, The Amazon.

This immersive wits offers a harmonious tousle of eco-tourism, wildlife observation, and cultural exploration.

The itinerary included trekking through the lush jungle trails, visiting the largest Macaw’s soil lick, camping in the Bahuaja Sonene National Park, and embarking on a motorboat trip up the Tambopata River, as well as sitting virtually Lake Sandoval.

Amazon Basin Jungle | Yay Images

Throughout the wits we were surrounded by the diverse flora and fauna of the Amazon while moreover enjoying the repletion and hospitality of the trappy Wasai Amazon Lodges, which were little eco-friendly treehouses.

Of course, there are many Amazon tours from Puerto Maldonado, but we recommend you typesetting one in whop to stave thwarting as they are quite popular.

Day 7: Puerto Maldonado to Cusco

Cusco city, Peru | Yay Images

After spending time in the Amazon, throne when to Puerto Maldonado and reservation a flight to Cusco. The flight time is less than one hour, but do try to reservation an early flight so you can spend time relaxing in Cusco and adjusting to the altitude.

If you normally live at sea level, you’re going to need to take it easy. Cusco sits at 3,399 meters whilom sea level, and upland sickness is not uncommon here.

Day 8: Sacred Valley, Pisac, and Ollantaytambo

Hiking in the Sacred Valley

Spend the day exploring Peru’s Sacred Valley of the Incas, where warmed-over history and trappy landscapes converge. The ride out to the Sacred Valley is roughly virtually 1.5 hours from Cusco, so you can hands fit all these attractions into one day.

We started our day by exploring the Pisaq Market, a popping hub of local crafts, textiles, and produce, where we picked up some souvenirs and learned well-nigh the traditions of the Andean people.

Pisac Ruins

While in Pisac, wander through the intricate Pisaq ruins, an archeological site that once belonged to the Inca polity and was built in 1440. The Inca ruins are wieldy by a steep hike from town, but it only takes virtually 90 minutes.

Afterwards, throne to the weird Ollantaytambo, flipside warmed-over village in the Sacred Valley, where imposing terraces and stone structures stand as a testament to the ingenuity of Incan engineering.

After all that exploring, take some time to soak in the scenic vistas of the Sacred Valley, where emerald fields and jagged peaks create a trappy backdrop.

Day 9: Machu Picchu

Perhaps the most important site to see on any trip to Peru is Machu Picchu, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Most people opt to visit Machu Picchu by one of the treks, most famously the Inca Trail or the Salkantay Trail. Both of these treks take between 5 and 10 days, so you don’t have time to do these famous treks, but you can opt for a 2 day, 1 night hike if you’re timing allows.

Alternatively, take a full-day tour from Cusco. You used to be only worldly-wise to visit with a guide, but they reverted the law and you can go without a guide and just buy the archway ticket.

However, we highly recommend you get a guide so you have someone there to tell you what you’re looking at.

Day 10: Lima and Home

Lima

On the final day, fly when to Lima surpassing transmissible your flight home. If you have time between flights, you can leave your luggage at a locker at the airport and explore increasingly of Lima surpassing you leave.

Or you could simply sit in a bar at the airport and enjoy some last Pisco Sours surpassing your long journey home.

Tips for Planning A Peru 10 Day Itinerary

The weightier way to plan Peru travel is to create a list of attractions, or skillet list items, that you want to see, and plan outwards from there.

Your items represent the things you are not willing to miss on during your Peru trip. It’s not possible to see everything in 10 days in Peru, so identifying your Peru must-sees is very important in the planning process.

Some attractions that people often put on their skillet list are:

• Lima
• Nazca Lines
• Lake Titicaca and the Floating Islands
• Machu Picchu
• Sacred Valley
• Cusco
• Amazon Rainforest
• Colca Canyon
• Ballestas Islands
• Rainbow Mountains
• Arequipa
• Chinchero, Moray, and Maras Salt Mines
• Uros Islands
• Urubamba River
• and Huacachina Sand Dunes.

The Sacred Valley and the Inca ruins of Pisac

My biggest piece of translating is to winnow that you can’t see it all and trying to WILL lead to a rushed, unpleasant travel to Peru.

Some other things to alimony in mind while planning:

• What time of year are you going? Remember that Peru is the Southern Hemisphere, and the weightier time to visit is during the winter (May – September) which is the dry season in Peru.
• What will the weather be like? The rainy season in Peru is December until March, and when it rains, it rains.
• Should you plan for upland adjustment? If you haven’t been over 2,500 meters before, prepare for upland sickness and bring towardly meds, just in case.

Getting Virtually Peru

Amazon Transportation

Due to your limited number of days, flying becomes your most logical option. The only exception is taking the bus to visit to the Nazca lines, Ballestas Islands and Huacachina Sand Dunes.

Bus rides are misogynist throughout Peru that will get you to and from Cuzco, Lake Titicaca and Colca Pass but they take many hours, think 30 , due to the terrain. Those trappy mountains you came to see make navigate country travel difficult and slow.

With only 10 days in Peru, that leaves flying as your weightier option.

Luckily, Peru operates a few variegated airlines within the country that you can pick up for unseemly prices if you plan ahead. The three airlines to search are:

• Star Peru
• TACA
• LAN

We used Star Peru for all of our inter-country flights which included: Lima-Puerto Maldonado, Puerto Maldonado-Cuzco and Cuzco-Lima.

When we arrived in each new place we utilized the local transportation. Taxis in Lima and Cuzco, Tuk Tuk’s in Puerto Maldonado and put many miles on our feet.

Local prices are pretty reasonable and easy to find while you are out and about. If we needed to get from a major place like the airport to the municipality center, we hailed a taxi but if we wanted to see flipside site nearby, we walked.

Guided Tour of Peru

If you don’t want to travel Peru independently, there are group tour companies that offer unconfined deals and itineraries on Peru escorted tours.

See avalaible Peru tours on Globus, and Cosmos and use our special unbelieve below.

Where to Stay in Peru

With only 10 days in Peru, choosing your accommodation’s location is really important.

You want to make sure you are in the thick of things and tropical to the main attractions to maximize your days.

This vacated will help you to not finger rushed and despite what you may hear from people, it is possible to find reasonably priced walk-up in the main areas of each municipality in Peru.

Speaking from our experience, I would recommend the pursuit places to stay in Peru (all private rooms with bath):

Lima: Miraflores is a wipe zone with many attractions. You can get a room at a guesthouse or hostel for virtually $20 per night.

Puerto Maldonado: We stayed at a property near the Madre de Dios as part of the venture package we booked for the Amazon. However, we researched many self-sustaining hostels that were in good locations, near the river for virtually $10-$25 per night.

Cusco: We stayed at the Hostal Inti Wasi and the location was amazing. We were right next to the Plaza de Armas. You will be in the heart of Cusco if you stay here, within easy walking loftiness to many shops, supplies and sights. They moreover stored our glut stuff when we went to Machu Picchu. Cost was $35 per night.

Aguas Calientes: This little town is loaded with places to stay on any budget. You are at the foot of Machu Picchu and that comes with a price. We ended up at a small hotel near the train station for $50 per night. Your other option is hiking the Inca Trail. You would have time to do the 2 day / 1 night hiking tour, which includes lodging when you book.

What Does it Cost to Travel in Peru?

How much you spend on your 10-day trip to Peru will largely depend on how much you are willing to skimp on luxuries. Everyone has variegated tastes, but you can save drastically by foregoing nice hotels and choosing a hostel bed instead.

Our upkeep was $4,000 USD total for 2 people over 10 days. You could hands do it in $1,000 USD per person, if you typesetting cheaper walk-up and segregate buses over flights – though you won’t be worldly-wise to fit in as much into your itinerary this way.

To help you estimate your costs, we spent:

• $1,020 getting to Peru
• $700 on inter-country flights
• $115 on 4 nights of accommodation
• $1,279 on tours that included 4 nights of accommodation
• We spent our last night in the airport and when it was all said and done, we came home with $500
• Our total spent was $3500, $1750 per person.

Final Thoughts

So there you have it, this is how you can spend 10 days in Peru. As you can see, you can still tick off a lot of skillet list items on this itinerary, plane if you do need to make some sacrifices.

Of course, you can transpiration things out to how you see fit. We love nature and wildlife, so we opted to spend increasingly time in the Amazon, but you may decide to spend less time in the Amazon to visit increasingly places.

We hope this guide helped you plan your itinerary and gave you some inspiration for why you should visit Peru for 10 days.