Machu Picchu - Lake
Titicaca
(11
days/10 nights)
Machu Picchu - Lake
Titicaca
(12 days/11 nights)
Machu Picchu - Lake
Titicaca
(14 days/13 nights)
Colca Canyon - Machu
Picchu
Lake Titicaca
(16 days/15 nights)
Archaeological & Ecological
Treasures
Galapagos - Machu Picchu
Lake Titicaca (or Amazon)
(18 days/17
nights)
Colca Canyon - Amazon
Machu Picchu - Lake Titicaca
(22 days/21 nights)
Machu Picchu
(10
days/9 nights)
Machu Picchu
(13 days/12 nights)
Machu Picchu - Galapagos
(15 days/14 nights)
Galapagos - Machu Picchu
(18 days/17 nights)
Manu National Park
(8 days/7 nights)
Enchanted Isles of the Galapagos
Galapagos
(11
days/10 nights)
Galapagos & the Kingdom of Quito
Galapagos - Andes
(16 days/15 nights)
Galapagos - Amazon
(16 days/15 nights)
Historic Haciendas of the Andes
Cotopaxi - Antisana
- Otavalo
(7 days/6 nights)
© 2008
Inka's Empire Corporation.
All rights reserved.
The Road Less Traveled
Fortress of Kuelap.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
As the world grows smaller, fewer destinations remain untouched by tourist crowds.
You need only imagine a journey to one of those rare corners for Inka's Empire Tours
to make it an irresistible reality...
-- Kimberly Fay, LuxuryLink.com, August 2005
Been there? Seen that? Inka's can bring you to the rare corners of Peru, among them Caral, the oldest civilization of America; Choquequirao, the other "Lost City" of the Incas; or the Weavers' Way, an ancient trail between remote Inca hamlets in the Sacred Valley of the Incas. Other unique excursions include a chance to view the elaborate mating dance of the Andean cock-of-the-rock in the Manu Cloud Forest, the Andean Condor in the Colca Canyon, pre-Inca civilizations in the Northern Kingdoms, the Chachapoyas fortress of Kuelap and the colonial city of Cajamarca, once the spa of the Incas.
Luxury Peru Travel
The Oldest Civilization of America
Caral is the oldest civilization in the Americas, having developed almost simultaneously with the civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, India and China. The inhabitants of Peru were ahead of those of Mesoamerica, the other center of civilization (of the six recognized worldwide) by at least 1,500 years. The Sacred City of Caral is located in the Supe Valley, province of Barranca, 182 km north of Lima, in the north-central area of Peru. Because of its size and its architectural complexity, this is the most outstanding urban settlement of all that have been identified on the American continent from 3000 to 2000 B.C.
Luxury Peru Travel
Choquequirao: the Cradle of Gold
The Other "Lost City" of the Incas
Choquequirao has been called "Machu Picchu's sacred sister", because of the striking similarities of design and ceremonial architecture to its famous counterpart above the Urubamba Gorge. Yet it remains an enigmatic place whose history is a matter of speculation. One theory of its origins holds that it was a royal estate built for the emperor Topa Inca, perhaps in an attempt to rival his father Pachacuti's spectacular domain at Machu Picchu.
Luxury Peru Travel
The living culture of the Incas...
This short trek in the Sacred Valley of the Incas begins at the colonial village of Lares, with its delightful hot springs baths, and ends with a road journey to the famous "living Inca settlement" of Ollantaytambo. In between, we follow a hiking route that skirts the northern slope of the Cordillera. Here, the Quechua people maintain an ancient way of life, herding alpacas and llamas, farming the Andean slopes and practicing a tradition inherited from their Inca ancestors: the making and wearing of superb textiles.
Luxury Peru Travel
Land Price (3 days/2 nights)
Private US$ 800
Set off from Cuzco for the cloud forest, passing over two Andean chains of almost 13,100 feet in elevation and descending the eastern slope of the Andes. After passing pre-Inca ruins and one of Peru's most colorful pueblos, we plunge downward through swirling mist and clouds to emerge in a forest of dwarf, evergreen trees before arriving at the display ground of the blazing-red Andean cock-of-the-rock. Witness these birds' elaborate mating dance and explore the forest trails to see high-elevation cloud-forest birds, common woolly monkeys, brown capuchin monkeys or even a spectacled bear.
Luxury Peru Travel
I realized that we were witnessing a once-in-a-lifetime experience...
"Not only did we see the huge condors soaring past on their 9-foot wingspan, but two young birds decided to land about 10 meters from us and proceeded to perch and preen for our cameras." Your private, overland expedition sets out from the colonial city of Arequipa, under the inspiring Misti Volcano in southern Peru. As you pass through a remote terrain of vicuñas and volcanoes, you note pueblos all but forgotten since Spanish days and vestiges of a culture that dates back two millennia. At last, you reach the rim of one of the world's deepest canyons, the Colca, on whose sheer cliff face live the magnificent Andean Condors.
Luxury Peru Travel
Temples and palaces adorned with geometric friezes in brilliant hues of color,
elaborate ceremonies captured forever on painted ceramics,
and gold masterpieces that later became the treasures of the Incas...
The north coast of Peru boasts a rich archaeological legacy of pre-Inca civilizations that occupied its valleys from the 1st to the 14th century AD. Some of the important archaeological sites include the sprawling adobe city of Chan Chan, capital of the Chimu Empire; the Moche's frieze-covered Pyramids of the Sun and Moon; Sipan, the world-famous tomb of a Mochica ruler; their Tucume, also known as the Valley of the Twenty-Six Pyramids; and the Sican's Batan Grande.
This magnificent megalithic construction was discovered in 1843...
its volume is three times that of the Great Pyramid of Cheops...
To the east, in the Amazon, lies the realm of the Chachapoyas, which means "People of the Clouds", a civilization that fought from high forest strongholds in resistance to Inca expansion and Spanish invasion. One of the last kingdoms to succumb to the Inca, its legacy includes one of South America's archaeological wonders -- the defensive fortress of Kuelap. Perched on the shoulder of a 10,000-foot mountain, this 9th century citadel comprises an urban complex of more than 400 stone edifices -- homes, palaces and temples enclosed by a 70-foot-tall stone wall.
Luxury Peru Travel
Spa of the Incas...
Cajamarca is a city of colonial charm, rolling Andean countryside, and home to the important archaeological sites of Ventanillas de Otuzco and Cumbemayo. It is a place of great historical significance -- in this city, Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro captured, imprisoned, ransomed and executed Inca Emperor Atahualpa, unleashing the destruction of Inca civilization. Travelers may stroll in the town square -- site of the first and decisive battle between the Spanish and the Inca -- and visit the ransom rooms that were filled with gold and silver by legions of loyal Inca subjects in the attempt to buy the freedom of their doomed regent.
Come to Peru, land of the Incas...
© 2008 Inka's Empire Corporation, Luxury Peru Tours & Travel. All rights reserved.
