This list of tips for traveling to Peru It will help you prepare your trip to one of the most fascinating countries in the world, which we are sure, will make you fall in love and surprise you in equal parts.
Despite being known by Machu Picchu and this is the great crown jewel, we assure you that Peru is much more than that and fortunately, more and more travelers who enter many of its incredible archaeological sites, enjoy spectacular landscapes, travel through cities that seem to be anchored in time and of course, enjoy of its gastronomy, considered one of the best in the world.
After our trip to Peru for free, we want to leave you the ones that are for us, the best tips for traveling to Peru. We start!
1. What is the best time?
The first thing we should consider in a trip to Peru, it is the time in which you can or want to travel, since depending on this, you can enjoy more or less of its most tourist attractions in addition to being essential to be clear that being a country of considerable dimensions, depending on the area you want to visit, One season may be better than another.
- High season (June to August): These months are ideal to visit the area of Cuzco, Puno and Huaraz without forgetting that in the areas of the Andean Highlands and the eastern jungle, it is dry season.
Remember that during these months, prices tend to be much higher, so it is important to make reservations in advance. - Mid season (March to May and September to November): During these months you can enjoy the spring and autumn season in the Altiplano as well as good weather in the jungle.
In addition these dates are usually characterized by having lower prices on both flights and accommodation. - Low season (December to February): This is the worst time to travel to Peru since it coincides with the rainy season in the Altiplano area and the Amazon area. Despite that, it is high season in the coastal area, so depending on your needs, it can also be a good time.
Don't forget that the Inca Trail closes during the month of February, since it is the rainiest month and is used to do conservation and maintenance work. Despite this, access to Machu Picchu is still open, what cannot be done is the Inca Trail.
2. Security
Although in some media you can read otherwise, we can assure you that traveling to Peru is totally safe. In the same way it is also important to take certain precautions, such as those that you would have in any other country, trying not to bring many things of value to the eye, do not go through places that you do not know at night or ask in your accommodation if there is any unsafe area in the city.
Regarding bus transportation, one of the most common ways to get around in Peru, we were recommended to use companies safe such as Cruz del Sur, one of the best known that also covers most of the routes between places to visit in Peru.
In these cases, you will see how safety is very important for them, checking the luggage and even on many occasions, recording with camera all passengers before entering the bus. Do not panic, it is common and as we say, it is a security measure.
Similarly, on some websites, they do not recommend making night trips by bus. We made the one from Puno to Cuzco and we had no problem, taking advantage of the hours and arriving in the morning in the city and for what other travelers have told us, they have not had problems either.
Peru, a safe country
3. Requirements for entering the country
If you are Spanish or from the European Union, You do not need to apply for a visa to travel to Peru, as long as your visit is of a tourist nature. This being the case, you can stay in the country for a maximum of 90 days.
In case your nationality is not from the EU, we recommend you check the procedures at the nearest Consulate of Peru.
As advice for traveling to Peru extra we advise you to always carry a copy of the important documentation such as passport, vaccination card, driver's license, travel insurance ... etc, in the cloud. In this way, in case of loss, it will be much easier and faster to perform any type of management.
Passport
4. Vaccines and travel insurance
The first and most important thing to keep in mind is that depending on the route of your trip to Peru, some vaccines or others may be necessary. For example, if your trip is centered in Lima and Cuzco, in principle it would not be necessary to wear any, but instead, if you are going to make a route throughout the country, it may be necessary to put on typhoid, denge, hepatitis A and B and rabies in addition to other usual vaccines.
Similarly, if you are going to travel to the Amazon, there are some areas where there is malaria, so it is also something to value.
With all this in mind, it is best to go to your nearest vaccination center so that it is a professional who determines, according to your medical history, type of trip and duration, what vaccines are necessary for Peru.
In addition to this, remember the importance of hiring the best travel insurance for Peru.
We always travel insured with Mondo, with whom we carry a totally adequate insurance to the needs that we will have during the trip. Hiring your insurance here with Mondo, just for being a Street Travelers reader, you have a 5% discount.
Do not forget that in Peru, if you are going to visit a place that is above 3000 meters such as Lake Titicaca, you will need to hire extra coverage for adventure sports, which includes assistance on that altitude and that of course, you can also hire with Mondo.
5. How to start the trip
The first and most important thing is to determine how much time is needed to travel to Peru. After our experience, if you want to know the most tourist places, we would recommend a minimum of 3 weeks to include the Amazon area or 15 days excluding the latter.
Once you are clear how many days you are going to travel, we recommend you look at the different flight options that exist in the market. For this we advise you to use a search engine like Skyscanner, in which you can also search for internal flights to move around the country.
The most common way is to fly to the capital, where you can make a route through the places to visit in Lima and from there go to the Paracas National Reserve by bus, where you can enjoy some of the most beautiful landscapes in the country.
From here the route can continue approaching the Ballestas Islands and the Huacachina Oasis, very famous in recent times thanks to the internet, where you can also arrive perfectly by bus.
The next stop on the route would be the impressive Nazca Lines and the Chauchilla Cemetery, which you can meet on a day and from where you can continue, approaching by bus to one of the most beautiful cities in the country where you can make a route through Arequipa in One day to take a tour of the Colca Valley, which we assure you, is one of the experiences you will not forget.
Completed this stage of the trip, the next stop can not be other than Lake Titicaca, where we advise you to tour the Uros and Taquile Islands, from there go to Cuzco, where you can make a route through Cuzco in a day including all the places to visit in Cusco, visit Tambomachay, Pukapukara, Qenqo, Cristo Blanco and Sacsayhuaman in addition to making an exit to Pisac and Ollantaytambo from Cuzco.
Visit Cuzco, one of the best tips for traveling to Peru
The next stage of the trip cannot be other than the great icing on the cake, which is none other than visiting the city of Machu Picchu in one day to the next day to know the Salinas de Maras, Moray and Chinchero by car.
After this and whenever you have 5-7 more days, it is very advisable to end the trip flying to Iquitos from Cuzco, where you can enter the incredible Amazon and where, after the experience, we can only recommend you stay in the impressive Muyuna Lodge in the Peruvian Amazon.
6. Money exchange
Peru's currency is the Peruvian sun and currently equals 0.26 euros. Currently and after many trips around the world and always according to our experience, it is most advisable to get money at ATMs and pay as much as possible with a card to avoid high fees from banks and exchange agencies.
We always recommend using the N26 card to pay and the Bnext and Revolut cards to get money at the ATMs. They are the ones we use, They are free and will save you a lot.
You can find more information in this article about the best cards to travel without commissions.
Although we commented that the ideal is to pay everything that can be done with a card, it is also very important to always carry something effective, especially in places where the use of the card is less widespread such as Lake Titicaca or the area of the Amazon.
Titicaca lake
7. How to have internet in Peru?
If you want to have internet in Peru, something very necessary today, especially considering the amount of applications we use in our trips and the need to be in contact with our family and friends, you can choose several options:
- Buy a SIM card at the airport or at a phone shop in the city.
- Buy one Holafly SIM card, with which you will have internet from the moment you land, saving you all the time of the negotiations and making the whole process to have internet in Peru much more comfortable, fast and easy.
In this case, with the Holafly SIM you will have several Gb to surf the Internet (depending on the option you choose), they will send it to you for free at home, you will keep your WhatsApp number and you will have assistance service in Spanish. You can buy your Holafly prepaid SIM card here with a 5% discount for being our reader.
More information on the Holafly post, the best prepaid SIM card for travel
8. Travel to Peru by free or with agency
As we mentioned before, Peru is a country where you can travel perfectly for free, since it currently has a good public transport infrastructure that reaches the most tourist places.
Although we know travelers who have traveled the country by rental car, we after verifying that the buses work perfectly, we believe that this is the best option for travel to Peru in the most comfortable and safe way.
Despite this we tell you and if you want to make the trip to Peru organized, there are hundreds of options in the market, including some in which you can visit some areas of the country in an organized way, for convenience such as those you we leave next.
Plaza de Armas in Cusco
9. Excursions in Peru
In addition to the multi-day organized tours discussed above, one of the best tips for traveling to Peru It is to book the activities or excursions that you want to do in advance, especially if you travel in high season and want to save time and money.
Although there are hundreds of them, we want to leave you the ones that have been the most interesting for us and, above all, those that visit the most important places in the country.
Paracas and Ballestas Islands National Reserve
Located in one of the most privileged areas of Peru, the Paracas National Reserve offers some of the most impressive landscapes in the country, such as the Red Beach, Lagunillas, Yumaque, La Catedral or even a fossil site.
The Ballestas Islands, very close to Paracas and Pisco, are a group of islets in which you can see a lot of marine fauna in addition to being able to see, during the excursion, the incredible Candelabra, a geoglyph that can be seen on a wall Rocky north coast of the Paracas Peninsula.
Excursion to the Paracas National Reserve
Excursion to the Ballestas Islands
Nazca Lines
This impressive group of geoglyphs of pre-Columbian origin, which are engraved in the desert, with known to be one of the most incredible mysteries of Peru and the world.
Although some of them can be seen from the ground, see the lines from the air, we assure you that it is one of the most incredible experiences you can have when traveling to Peru.
Flight over the Nazca Lines
Nazca Lines
Titicaca lake
Famous for being the highest navigable lake in the world, at some of its points it reaches almost 4000 meters, this lake is one of the most incredible landscapes in the country as well as being one of the most recommended excursions.
Excursion to the Uros and Taquile Islands
Colca Valley
This canyon, one of the deepest in the world, is another of the most famous excursions in Peru, where in addition to seeing infarct landscapes you can enjoy its viewpoints, such as the Cruz del Condor, from which you can see the flight of the Awesome Andean condor.
2-day tour to the Colca Valley and the Cruz del Cóndor
Rainbow Mountain
Also known as the Mountain of Seven Colors, this incredible landscape of Peru has become incredibly famous thanks to Instagram and the impressive photos that many travelers upload in their profiles. Despite being so famous, it is not easy to reach, as you face a difficult trekking and an altitude of 5200 meters.
Rainbow Mountain Trekking
sacred Valley
Undoubtedly, the Sacred Valley, located in the Peruvian Andes, is another place you can not miss on a trip to Peru, being the perfect place to know some of the most important archaeological sites in the country and enjoy some of its most beautiful landscapes.
Excursion to the Sacred Valley of the Incas
Macchu Picchu
One of the 7 wonders of the modern world and how could it be otherwise, one of the essential when traveling to Peru. Whenever you can, we recommend you dedicate a full day to this visit, as it is one of the most impressive places in the world.
Excursion to Machu Picchu
Many more excursions and tours in Peru here.
Moray in the Sacred Valley
10. Machu Picchu
As we mentioned before, Machu Picchu is undoubtedly one of the reasons why many travelers arrive in Peru.
Although initially your visit may seem difficult, mostly because of the complexity and amount of the transfer, after our experience, we want to leave what is for us, the best way to get to Machu Picchu.
- From Poroy station in Cusco (3: 15h ride), Urubamba (2: 30h ride) or Ollantaytambo (2h ride) take a train to Aguascalientes.
- There are two companies that make this journey: Peru Rail and Inca Rail, depending on which one you choose, you will have services, a schedule and of course, different prices.
- We recommend you look at both official websites to compare the options and evaluate which one best suits your needs.
- Once in Aguascalientes, you must take a bus to Machu Picchu.
You can book your round trip tickets here.
It is highly recommended to buy tickets to Machu Picchu in advance as there are currently limited places. You can book the official ticket for the lost citadel of Machu Picchu here.
In case you want to get to know Machu Picchu to the fullest, in a comfortable way, without worrying about anything and with a guide in Spanish, we recommend you book this excursion to Machu Picchu from Cuzco or this excursion that includes transportation, guide and tickets from Aguascalientes.
For more information you can read this post on how to get to Machu Picchu.
Machu Picchu, a must when traveling to Peru
More tips for traveling to Peru
Other of the best tips for traveling to Peru They are:
- One of the best things to do in Peru is to try some of the best dishes of Peruvian cuisine such as ceviche, guinea pig, grilled chicken, stuffed cause, chicken chili, Huancaine potatoes, antiquated or the loin skipped.
- Remember that in Peru the common voltage is 220V and the frequency is 60Hz and the plugs are Type A / B / C.
- If you are going to travel in high season, it is well worth reserving the accommodation in advance, especially in the most tourist places. We use this search engine and the truth is that we are doing great.
- In some tourist places, such as Lake Titicaca or the Mountain of the Seven Colors, you may suffer from altitude sickness, since you will be above 3200-3500 meters of altitude. In these cases it is advisable to take precautions, observing your body, not making any unnecessary effort besides chewing coca leaves or drinking triple mate, which will make your body gradually adapt to the altitude. For any unusual symptoms, see a doctor.
- If you are going to do some trekking or you are going to the Amazon, wear comfortable clothes and above all, a suitable footwear.
Do you want to organize this trip to Peru for free?
Get it here:
The best offers of Flights to Peru here
The best hotels at the best prices in Peru here
Get € 35 for your reservation with AirBnb here
Book your travel insurance with a 5% discount here
Book the best tours and excursions in Peru in Spanish here
Book your transfer Airport⇆Lima here
Rent your car in Peru at the best price here
The best offers of Flights to Peru here
The best hotels at the best prices in Peru here
Get € 35 for your reservation with AirBnb here
Book your travel insurance with a 5% discount here
Book the best tours and excursions in Peru in Spanish here
Book your transfer Airport⇆Lima here
Rent your car in Peru at the best price hereIf you feel like helping us expand the list 10 essential tips for traveling to Peru, add yours in the comments.
