Machu Picchu - Lake
Titicaca
(11
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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)
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Luxury Galapagos Cruises, Machu Picchu Tours & Travel
Quito - Galapagos - Lima - Sacred Valley - Machu Picchu - Cuzco
Marine iguanas, Galapagos Islands.
Photo: Kleintours. Luxury Galapagos Cruises, Machu Picchu Tours & Travel.
South America's ecological and archaeological splendors...
-- Kimberly Fay, LuxuryLink.com, August 2005
Land & Cruise Price (15 days/14 nights)
Royal US$ 10,680 Imperial US$ 9,580 De Luxe US$ 8,515
Royal and Imperial include a Junior Suite; De Luxe a Moon Cabin aboard the luxurious yacht Coral I or Coral II. The prices and itinerary shown are typical but vary by yacht. Please select a yacht to view details about each vessel and its itinerary. Also available with a 7-night Galapagos cruise, instead of 4 nights.
When considering a Galapagos cruise, note that the islands are distinct in their flora and fauna. Certain islands provide a greater or unique opportunity for observing certain species. Thus, landings on more islands reveal more species and, importantly, the amazingly different adaptations each species has made to its own insular world. Accordingly, a 7-night cruise is preferable. It also offers a greater choice of luxury vessels.
The land and cruise price includes escorted transfers, private excursions with professional guides and chauffeurs on the mainland and semi-private excursions with a certified naturalist in the Galapagos Islands, entrance fees except Galapagos National Park, indicated category of accommodations, all meals except beverages, all transportation except air flights, and travel insurance for guests through the age of 59 years. Over that age, there is a supplementary fee. All prices are per person based on two people sharing a guest room. For a detailed description of our services, see About Our Tours.
Intra-Tour Air Flights & Fares
Air fares are in addition to the land and cruise price.
Quito - Galapagos - Guayaquil, Guayaquil - Lima & Lima - Cuzco - Lima: US$ 1,315
Select a Yacht
4-Night Luxury Galapagos Cruises
Coral I and Coral II, Galapagos Islands.
Photo: KleinTours. Luxury Galapagos Cruises, Machu Picchu Tours & Travel.
As a prelude to discovering the archaeological treasures of the Inca Empire, you'll explore one of its greatest ecological treasures on a cruise of the Galapagos Islands. Then, in the imperial city of Cuzco, fabled Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley; you will experience the glory of the Inca Empire. Archaeology, art, architecture, folklore and cuisine compose a cultural adventure to forever cherish.
Upon arrival in Quito, you'll be escorted to the Villa Colonna, a charming colonial home in the historic district, then dine at chef Rafael Osterlicht's Blu. Walking the next morning along the cobblestone streets of Ecuador's capital, founded in 1534, through centuries-old parks and plazas to churches filled with gold; you'll contemplate Gothic, baroque, Moorish and neo-classical art, all blended with the mestizo sentiment, and imagine you've gone back in time to the astonishing colonial world. In the evening, take a horse-drawn carriage past the beautifully illuminated facades of the Spanish monuments, and savor fusion cuisine at La Belle Epoque.
A flight the next morning takes you from the peaks of the Andes to the Galapagos Islands. Cruising for five days aboard an intimate luxury yacht and making twice-daily landings with a naturalist, you'll encounter the animals that inspired Charles Darwin. On Bartolome, whose volcanic formations create a moonlike landscape you'll never forget, hike among marine iguanas and lava lizards, and have the rare opporunity to snorkel among penguins and marine tortoises. As you sail to other, unique isles in this magnificent archipelago, you'll see the adaptations of the wildlife to their differing environments that led Darwin to his theory of evolution by means of natural selection.
Typical 7-night itinerary, Galapagos Islands.
Map: Quasar Nautica. Luxury Galapagos Cruises, Machu Picchu Tours & Travel.
From the Galapagos, fly to Lima, a five-century-old Spanish colonial city and home to the country's major museums. The next morning, enter the historic district's crown jewels. After a lunch of Peruvian Criollo cuisine next to a 1,500-year-old adobe pyramid, spend the afternoon discovering the treasures of the Incas at the Museo Amano and the Museo Larco.
A morning flight into the Andes takes you to Cuzco, the ancient capital, where you'll have one day to explore its Inca and colonial monuments, two days in the "Lost City" of Machu Picchu, with a chance to hike a part of the Inca Trail, and two days for the reknowned archaeological sites and native markets of the Sacred Valley of the Incas.
Return to Lima to explore the Pachacamac archaeological site and either the Museum of Archaeology or the artists' quarter of Barranco. Afterward, transfer to the airport for your overnight flight home, completing your tour of the treasures of the Inca Empire.
What Luxury Link has to say about Galapagos Islands & Machu Picchu.
What You Could Add: Two or three extra days on Santa Cruz Island.
What You Could Add: An Extra Day in Cuzco.
Facade, La Iglesia y Convento de San Francisco, Lima.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel. Luxury Galapagos Cruises, Machu Picchu Tours & Travel.
Highlights
Quito
Day 1: Flight to Quito, Ecuador. International arrival in the afternoon or evening, reception and transfer to your hotel. Dine at chef Rafael Osterlicht's Blu. Overnight in the Villa Colonna.
Day 2: Quito. As you drive to the historic district, La Basílica is a striking sight to behold. Morning walking tour in the colonial quarter, highlighted by La Plaza de la Independencia, the Cathedral, La Compañia de Jesús, La Iglesia de San Francisco and La Iglesia y Convento de la Merced. At the City Museum, see what daily life was like in colonial Quito.
Lunch of Ecuadorian-European fusion cuisine at Octava de Corpus. To complete your insight into the country's archaeology, history and cultures; investigate the Central Bank Museum. Continue to El Panecillo. Return to your hotel. Early this evening, board a horse-drawn carriage for a romantic ride through the narrow streets of Old Quito. Arrive at La Belle Epoque to savor gourmet fushion cuisine. Afterward, return to your hotel. Overnight in the Villa Colonna.
Optionally, you may select the Intiñan Museum for your afternoon excursion:
Lunch of Ecuadorian cuisine at La Choza. Afterward, visit the Museo Intiñan. An Inca monument marking the Equator was discovered on the site, and is more exact than the position determined by the French Geodesic Mission in the mid-1700s. The museum features interactive exhibits on how the Incas located the "middle of the world", and science experiments. Return to your hotel. Early this evening, board a horse-drawn carriage for a romantic ride through the narrow streets of Old Quito. Arrive at La Belle Epoque to savor gourmet fushion cuisine. Afterward, return to your hotel. Overnight in the Villa Colonna.
Galapagos
Day 3: Quito - Galapagos Cruise. Transfer to the airport. Flight to the Galapagos. Entrance into the National Park, reception and transfer to your yacht. Afternoon island landing and excursion with a naturalist. Back on board. Guides' briefing on the next day's activities. Overnight on the Coral I or Coral II.
Days 4, 5 & 6: Galapagos Cruise. Morning and afternoon island landings and excursions with a naturalist. Back on board. Guides' briefing on the next day's activities. Overnight on the Coral I or Coral II.
Lima
Day 7: Galapagos Cruise - Lima. Morning island landing and excursion with a naturalist. Transfer to the airport. Flight to Guayaquil and connection to Lima. Reception and transfer to your hotel. Dinner at the Perroquet Restaurant. Overnight in the Country Club Lima Hotel.
Day 8: Lima. Morning walking tour in the colonial quarter, visiting the Plaza de Armas and entering La Iglesia y Convento de Santo Domingo, La Catedral and La Iglesia y Convento de San Francisco. In contrast to the religious structures, the Torre Tagle Palace is the city's best surviving example of secular colonial architecture. Lunch at the Café del Museo. Afternoon at the Museo Larco and the Museo Amano. Dine on Criollo cuisine at Astrid & Gastón, one of the highest notes in the Peruvian culinary scene. Overnight in the Country Club Lima Hotel.
Sacred Valley
Day 9: Lima - Cuzco - Sacred Valley (Chinchero - Maras - Moray). Transfer to the airport. Flight to Cuzco. Reception and drive to the Sacred Valley of the Incas. Visit to the Chinchero market and church. Private weaving demonstration. Continue to the Moray archaeological site and the ancient salt pans of Maras. If you like, walk down rural paths to the Urubamba River. Gourmet lunch of fusion cuisine in the patio of chef Pio's El Huacatay. Arrival at your hotel in the Sacred Valley. Dinner and overnight in the Sol y Luna Lodge.
Day 10: Sacred Valley (Pisaq - Hacienda Huayoccari - Ollantaytambo). Hike in the Pisaq ruins. Afterward, a short visit to the Pisaq market. Typical lunch at Hacienda Huayoccari. Tour of the Ollantaytambo ruins. Return to your hotel. Dinner and overnight in the Sol y Luna Lodge.
Machu Picchu
Day 11: Sacred Valley - Orient-Express Vistadome - Machu Picchu. Transfer to the train station to meet your guide. Vistadome to Machu Picchu. Transfer to the ruins. Day entrance. Private guided tour in the morning. Buffet luncheon in the hotel. Afternoon exploration with your guide or own your own. Dinner and overnight in the Orient-Express Sanctuary Lodge.
Cuzco
Day 12: Machu Picchu - Orient-Express Vistadome - Cuzco. Day of exploration with your guide or on your own. Entrance into the ruins. Sunrise over Machu Picchu. Lunch in the hotel. Transfer to the train station. Vistadome to the Poroy Station, on the outskirts of Cuzco. Reception and transfer to your hotel. Dinner and overnight in the Orient-Express Hotel Monasterio.
Day 13: Cuzco. Morning walking tour in the colonial quarter. Inca monuments include Qorikancha (Temple of the Sun), the fine Inca walls of Inti Q'ijllo, Ajlla Wasi (House of the Virgins of the Sun), the Stone of Twelve Angles and Huacaypata (Leisure Square), now dominated by the Spanish colonial Cathedral. Traditional lunch at Pachapapa before a visit to the Church of San Blas. Afternoon excursion to the nearby Inca monuments of Saqsaywaman, the Temple of the Moon, Puka Pukara and Tambomachay. View pre-Inca and Inca art at the Museo de Arte Precolombino, with a dinner of nouvelle Andean cuisine in the courtyard. Overnight in the Orient-Express Hotel Monasterio.
Lima
Day 14: Cuzco - Lima. Transfer to the airport. Flight to Lima. Arrival, reception and transfer to your hotel. Morning drive to Pachacamac, the most reknowned pre-Inca and Inca pilgrimage site of the coast. Upon returning to Lima, lunch at the extraordinary Huaca Pucllana restaurant, which reinterprets the Peruvian Criollo tradition. Afterward, visit the Museum of Archaeology. Arrival at your hotel, dinner in its Perroquet Restaurant and transfer to the airport tonight for your Overnight Flight Home. Day Room in the Country Club Lima Hotel.
Optionally, you may select The Magic of Barranco for your afternoon excursion:
Upon returning to Lima, lunch at the extraordinary Huaca Pucllana restaurant, which reinterprets the Peruvian Criollo tradition. Afterward, continue to Barranco for visits to one of the country's finest crafts shops, the Museo de Arte Colonial Pedro de Osma, La Puente de los Suspiros and La Iglesia de La Ermita. Arrival at your hotel, dinner in its Perroquet Restaurant and transfer to the airport tonight for your Overnight Flight Home. Day Room in the Country Club Lima Hotel.
Note: During December through April, the restaurants used for lunch and dinner are reversed.
Home
Day 15: Lima - Home. Flight and arrival home.
Exceptions to the itinerary:
The Galapagos cruise itinerary described and illustrated below is typical but varies by yacht. Therefore, it should be used only as a guide for learning about the different islands and their wildlife.
Royal Class travel to Machu Picchu is aboard the luxurious, 1920s style Hiram Bingham Orient-Express. This rail excursion requires a late afternoon return from the Sacred Valley to Cuzco, dinner in the Restaurante Illariy and an overnight stay in a De Luxe Suite in the Orient-Express Hotel Monasterio. In the morning, you'll board the train and depart for the "Lost City of the Incas". Royal Class accommodation in Quito is a Royal Suite in the Hotel Plaza Grande.
The 1535 La Iglesia
de San Francisco, Quito, Ecuador.
Photo: David Bate. Luxury Galapagos
Cruises, Machu Picchu Tours & Travel.
Day 1: Flight to Quito, Ecuador
International arrival this afternoon or evening in Quito. Reception and escorted transfer to the Villa Colonna, a charming colonial home in the historic district. Dine at Blu, where chef Rafael Osterlicht creates a fusion of Peruvian and Mediterranean cuisine. Overnight in the Villa Colonna.
Colonial Quito with
El Panecillo in the distance, Ecuador.
Photo: Dan Heller. Luxury Galapagos Cruises, Machu
Picchu Tours & Travel.
Day 2: Quito
Breakfast. Quito, the capital of Ecuador and a world heritage site, is located at an elevation of over 9,000 feet in the Andes mountains. Founded by Spaniards in 1534, it is one of the oldest cities in South America and has the largest colonial quarter. Walking along its cobblestone streets through centuries-old parks and plazas to churches filled with gold, you'll imagine you've gone back in time to that astonishing world.
As you drive to the historic district, the neo-Gothic La Basílica is a striking sight to behold. Though not of colonial vintage, it's the place to see bizarre and fascinating gargoyles in the form of giant tortoises, iguanas, anteaters, monkeys, pumas, condors and other Ecuadorian fauna. Begin in La Plaza de la Independencia, where the country's history was written. On one side is the Cathedral (begun in 1640), considered to be the oldest in South America. Down the Calle de las Siete Cruces (Street of the Seven Crosses) is La Compañia de Jesús (begun in 1605), one of the great baroque masterpieces of the continent. The oldest of Quito's and South America's colonial churches is the baroque La Iglesia de San Francisco (begun in 1535). It was constructed over an Inca temple and decorated with images of the sun to lure in the native people to their conquerors' religion. The Moorish style of La Iglesia y Convento de la Merced (begun in 1538 and rebuilt in 1737) is most likely explained by artists seeking refuge in South America after the expulson of the Moors from Spain in 1492. At the City Museum, see what daily life was like in colonial Quito.
La Plaza de la Independencia, Quito, Ecuador.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel. Luxury Galapagos Cruises, Machu Picchu Tours & Travel.
This afternoon at Octava de Corpus, a lunch of Ecuadorian-European fusion cuisine served in a colonial home. To complete your insight into the country's archaeology, history and cultures; investigate Ecuador's ancient past in the pre-Inca, Inca and colonial galleries of the Central Bank Museum. Continue to El Panecillo, overlooking the colonial quarter. The significance of this hill dates back to Inca times, when it was known as Shungoloma ("hill of the heart"). Before the Spanish arrived, the local people used it as a place to worship the sun. Now, its summit is crowned by a graceful statue of the Virgin. Return to your hotel.
Early this evening, drive to La Basílica for a magnificent view of the colonial quarter. Continue along ancient Calle de las Siete Cruces (Street of the Seven Crosses) to La Plaza de la Independencia, admiring the beautifully illuminated Spanish monuments. Enjoy the night view of the historic plaza and the Cathedral, before boarding a horse-drawn carriage for a romantic ride through the narrow streets of Old Quito, past the splendid facades of La Compañia de Jesús, La Iglesia de San Francisco, La Iglesia y Convento de la Merced and traditional Calle Cuenca. Arrive at La Belle Epoque to savor gourmet fushion cuisine. Afterward, return to your hotel. Overnight in the Villa Colonna.
Traditional, horse-drawn carriage, Quito, Ecuador.
Photo: Hotel Plaza Grande. Luxury Galapagos Cruises, Machu Picchu Tours & Travel.
Optionally, you may select the Museo Intiñan for your afternoon excursion.
Lunch of Ecuadorian cuisine at La Choza. Afterward, visit the Museo Intiñan ("Path of the Sun"), which presents the cosmic vision and customs of Ecuador's indigenous people. An Inca monument marking the Equator was discovered on the site, and is more exact than the position determined by the French Geodesic Mission in the mid-1700s. The museum features interactive exhibits on how the Incas located the "middle of the world", and science experiments, such as balancing an egg on a point and seeing the effects of the Coriolis force. Return to your hotel.
Early this evening, drive to La Basílica for a magnificent view of the colonial quarter. Continue along ancient Calle de las Siete Cruces (Street of the Seven Crosses) to La Plaza de la Independencia, admiring the beautifully illuminated Spanish monuments. Enjoy the night view of the historic plaza and the Cathedral, before boarding a horse-drawn carriage for a romantic ride through the narrow streets of Old Quito, past the splendid facades of La Compañia de Jesús, La Iglesia de San Francisco, La Iglesia y Convento de la Merced and traditional Calle Cuenca. Arrive at La Belle Epoque to savor gourmet fushion cuisine. Afterward, return to your hotel. Overnight in the Villa Colonna.
Land iguana and opuntia cacti, Galapagos Islands.
Photo: Ron Dahlquist. Luxury Galapagos Cruises, Machu Picchu Tours & Travel.
... we seem to be brought somewhat near to that great fact
-- that mystery of mysteries --
the first appearance of new beings on this earth.
The natural history of these islands is eminently curious, and well deserves attention. Most of the organic productions are aboriginal creations, found nowhere else; there is even a difference between the inhabitants of the different islands; yet all show a marked relationship with those of America, though separated from that continent by an open space of ocean, between 500 and 600 miles in width. The archipelago is a little world within itself, or rather a satellite attached to America, whence it has derived a few stray colonists, and has received the general character of its indigenous productions. Considering the small size of the islands, we feel the more astonished at the number of their aboriginal beings, and at their confined range. Seeing every height crowned with its crater, and the boundaries of most of the lava-streams still distinct, we are led to believe that within a period geologically recent the unbroken ocean was here spread out. Hence, both in space and time, we seem to be brought somewhat near to that great fact -- that mystery of mysteries -- the first appearance of new beings on this earth.
-- Charles Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle, 1845
Male frigate bird displaying,
Galapagos Islands.
Photo: Marco Robalino. Luxury Galapagos Cruises, Machu
Picchu Tours & Travel.
... from so simple a beginning
endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful
have been, and are being evolved.
Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved.
-- Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, 1859
Sea turtle, Galapagos Islands.
Photo: Bonnie Pelnar. Luxury Galapagos Cruises, Machu Picchu Tours & Travel.
Northern Islands
Day 3: Quito - Galapagos Cruise (Baltra Island & Santa Cruz Island)
Breakfast. Early morning transfer to the airport for the flight to Baltra Island (27 sq. km.). The flora on this small island include introduced species of cacti and the native species of palo santo, susevium and mangrove. Fauna include land iguanas, marine iguanas and sea turtles. There are no visitors' sites. Arrival, reception and transfer south to your yacht in Puerto Ayora, on Santa Cruz Island. Briefing on the ship and the Galapagos Islands by your guides and staff of the Galapagos National Park.
Giant tortoise, Galapagos
Islands.
Photo:
David Bate. Luxury Galapagos Cruises, Machu Picchu Tours &
Travel.
Afternoon excursion to the Santa Cruz Highlands, where you will observe Los Gemelos, twin volcanic craters, and Cerro Chato. Chances are good for sighting the famous giant tortoises that gave these islands their name. Additionally, you can walk inside the dormant lava tubes. Overnight on the Coral I or Coral II.
Red-footed booby, Galapagos
Islands.
Photo:
David Bate. Luxury Galapagos Cruises, Machu Picchu Tours &
Travel.
Day 4: Galapagos Cruise (Rabida Island & Santiago Island)
Rabida Island (5 sq. km.) is small with red-hued beaches and volcanic formations. Its color is due to the high content of oxidized iron in the lava. Dry landing at the red beach frequented by sea lions. A short trail leads to a saltwater lagoon, where we will find small colonies of flamingos feeding. The brown pelicans nest in the mangroves found on the far side of the lagoon. Other island fauna include white-cheeked pintail ducks, boobies and nine species of Darwin's finches. A 750-meter trail leads to a volcanic peak covered with aromatic but bare-branched palo santo trees and ends at a great snorkeling spot. Hike, snorkel and ride out in a dingy to the reefs.
Goldrimmed surgeonfish, Galapagos Islands.
Photo: Bonnie Pelnar. Luxury Galapagos Cruises, Machu Picchu Tours & Travel.
Santiago Island (585 sq. km.) is the fourth largest in the archipelago. The eroded shapes on its black lava shoreline form pools that house a variety of wildlife and are wonderful for snorkeling. Wet landing on the dark-sand beach at Puerto Egas. Most of the landscape is tuff-stone layers and lava flows; the surroundings are prime for observing Darwin's finches, Galapagos doves, Galapagos hawks, hunting herons, great blue herons, lava herons, American oyster catchers and yellow-crowned night herons. You'll enjoy the sight of marine iguanas grazing upon algae beds at low tide, sharing space with red Sally light-foot crabs. There is a colony of fur seals swimming in deep pools of cool water, called "grottos". This is an excellent place for swimming and snorkeling in search of octopuses, sea horses, starfishes and other sea life caught in the small tidal pools. In the ocean, you can admire moray eels, hammerhead, white-tip and Galapagos sharks, golden and white-spotted eagle rays, jacks, wahoos, tunas, groupers, red-tailed and dog snappers, sea lions, sea turtles (November to May), black and yellow-black Galapagos corals, sea fans and sponges. Overnight on the Coral I or Coral II.
Juvenile seal lion,
Galapagos Islands.
Photo: David Bate. Luxury Galapagos Cruises, Machu
Picchu Tours & Travel.
Day 5: Galapagos Cruise (Fernandina Island & Isabela Island)
Fernandina Island (642 sq. km.) is the third largest, youngest and westernmost in the archipelago. Many eruptions have been recorded since 1813, making Fernandina the island most likely to become volcanically active. After a dry landing at Espinoza Point, you'll see the largest colony of marine iguanas in the islands, mingling with Sally light-foot crabs. Other fauna include Galapagos penguins, Galapagos hawks and sea lions. There are also nesting sites of flightless cormorants. These birds have adapted to their environment by perfecting their ability to hunt for food in the ocean -- their wings, tails and feet have evolved for swimming. To see these birds is to witness evolution in action. Among the volcanic formations, observers will note "pa-hoe-hoe", other unusual lava formations and recent lava flows. Flora include brachycereus cacti and mangroves, whose beds extend into the sea, indicating a healthy and thriving ecosystem.
Swimming Galapagos penguin, Galapagos Islands.
Photo: Bonnie Pelnar. Luxury Galapagos Cruises, Machu Picchu Tours & Travel.
Isabela Island (4,588 sq. km.) is the largest in the archipelago. It is formed by five young, active volcanoes, of which Volcano Wolf is the highest point in the Galapagos (1,707 meters, or 5,599 feet). On a panga ride along the cliffs of Tagus Cove, look for Galapagos penguins and other sea birds before making a wet landing at Urbina Bay. The bay, at the foot of the Alcedo Volcano, was uplifted from the sea in 1954. Flightless cormorants and pelicans nest along the coast, and sea turtles and manta rays can be seen in the bay. The highlands include large and colorful land iguanas. Other fauna include the largest population of giant tortoises (about 4,000 but difficult to spot), Galapagos hawks, magnificent frigate birds, marine iguanas, hammerhead, white-tipped and Galapagos sharks, eels, groupers and snappers. Continue to Punta Vicente Roca for dinghy sightseeing, snorkeling and scuba diving. Enjoy the high cliffs with tuff-stone, ash and other lava formations; caves; nesting sites for brown noddies and blue-footed boobies; and up-close encounters with sea lions, fur seals and the occasional dolphin. Overnight on the Coral I or Coral II.
Galapagos penguin, Galapagos
Islands.
Photo:
David Bate. Luxury Galapagos Cruises, Machu Picchu Tours &
Travel.
Day 6: Galapagos Cruise (Bartolome Island & Santa Cruz Island)
Bartolome Island (1.2 sq. km.), small and moonlike, has one of the most famous sights in the archipelago: Pinnacle Rock. After a dry landing, you will see volcanic formations, including lava bombs, spatter and cinder cones. Hike to the summit for an impressive panorama of Sullivan Bay, including the eroded tuff cone of Pinnacle Rock, and the surrounding islands. The exotic flora of red mangroves, tiquilias and cacti all add to the experience. During the ascent, you'll see a large colony of marine iguanas and lava lizards. Snorkeling will give you a chance to cool off and see marine fauna, such as Galapagos penguins, nesting sea turtles (January to March) and white-tipped sharks.
Sea turtle, Galapagos
Islands.
Photo:
David Bate. Luxury Galapagos Cruises, Machu Picchu Tours &
Travel.
Santa Cruz Island. On an excursion to Black Turtle Cove, located near Las Bachas Beach in the north of the island, take a panga ride though the mangroves, during which the outboard motor of the small boat is turned off, allowing close observation of sea turtles, white-tipped reef sharks, spotted eagle rays and yellow rays. Overnight on the Coral I or Coral II.
Giant tortoise, Galapagos
Islands.
Photo:
David Bate. Luxury Galapagos Cruises, Machu Picchu Tours &
Travel.
More about the distinct islands of the Galapagos
Day 7: Galapagos Cruise (Santa Cruz Island & Baltra Island) - Lima
Morning visit to the Charles Darwin Research Station, staffed with international scientists conducting biological research and conservation projects. Here, you can admire giant tortoises, part of the program to breed, rear and reintroduce different subspecies of tortoises back into their natural habitat. Surrounding the station is an impressive giant prickly-pear cactus forest with many land birds. Afterward, some free time to walk around the town of Puerto Ayora. Transfer to the Baltra Island airport for the flight to Guayaquil and your connection to Lima.
Arrival in the five-century-old colonial city of Lima, "City of the Kings" and the capital of Peru. Reception and escorted transfer to your hotel in the garden district of San Isidro, high above the Pacific Ocean and home to the city's grand 19th century mansions. The swanky, 1927 colonial-style Country Club Lima Hotel maintains that tradition. Dinner of international or Peruvian cuisine at the Perroquet Restaurant. Overnight in the Country Club Lima Hotel.
Wooden balcony of the Torre Tagle Palace, Lima.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel. Luxury Galapagos Cruises, Machu Picchu Tours & Travel.
At ancient Peru's most exalted pilgrimage site, eroded adobe temples speak of the pre-Columbian cultures that flourished in the Lima Valley, worshipping the earth god Pachacamac ("he who gives life to the universe"). When the Incas arrived, they respected the temples and religion of those people, allowing them to worship that god alongside the Incas' own god, the Sun, for whom they erected a great stone temple on a cliff above the sea. When the Spaniards arrived, they destroyed the holiest place in their lust for gold but found that the only treasure it contained was spiritual.
The nearby city of Lima was founded by the conquistador Francisco Pizarro in 1535 and reached its grandest splendor in the 17th and 18th centuries, when it came to be the capital of the New World for a period of three centuries. The principal attractions are the colonial quarter and the archaeological museums, whose vast collections display gold, ceramic and textile masterpieces of Peru's ancient civilizations. The country's independence movement was led by Jose de San Martin of Argentina and Simon Bolivar of Venezuela. San Martin proclaimed Peruvian independence from Spain on July 28, 1821, marking the end of the colonial period and the beginning of the republican era.
Entry door of the Casa Aliaga, Lima.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel. Luxury Galapagos Cruises, Machu Picchu Tours & Travel.
Day 8: Lima
Breakfast. This morning, walk with your guide in the heart of the city, which preserves its Spanish colonial heritage of the 16th-18th centuries. It was Francisco Pizarro, the founder of Lima, who determined the area for the Plaza de Armas as well as the location of the structures around it. In the center of the plaza is a splendid bronze fountain of 1650. Around the plaza and originally dating back to the city's beginnings in 1535 are the Cathedral, destroyed in the earthquake of 1746 and rebuilt in 1758; the Archbishop's Palace, rebuilt in 1924; the Government Palace, rebuilt in 1937; and, surviving intact from the beginning, the 1535 Casa Aliaga, built by Don Jeronimo de Aliaga, a member of Pizarro's conquering forces and co-founder of the city.
17th century library, La Iglesia y Convento de San Francisco, Lima.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel. Luxury Galapagos Cruises, Machu Picchu Tours & Travel.
On your walking tour, enter the 1599 La Iglesia y Convento de Santo Domingo, Lima's oldest convent; the 1758 La Catedral; and the 1674 La Iglesia y Convento de San Francisco, the most spectacular of Lima's colonial-era churches. It features cloisters and interiors of Spanish tiles; Moorish-style, carved-wood ceilings; a fine museum of religious art; a 17th century library of twenty-thousand books, many dating from the first years of the city's founding; and catacombs begun in 1546. In contrast to the religious structures, the 1735 Torre Tagle Palace, with its gorgeous baroque stone doorway and carved-wood balconies, is the city's best surviving example of secular colonial architecture.
"Huaco" depicting a fisherman in a reed boat.
Lambayeque culture, c. 500 AD, Museo Larco, Lima.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel. Luxury Galapagos Cruises, Machu Picchu Tours & Travel.
Lunch of traditional Peruvian cuisine at the Café del Museo, directed by Peru's most prestigious chef, Gastón Acurio, and located in the gardens of the Museo Larco. Founded in 1926, the Museo Larco is the world's largest private collection of pre-Columbian art; with an astonishing array of gold, silver, semi-precious stones and textiles. The collection's predominant strength is in Mochica ceramics, of which the erotic ones are the most famous. Their notariety ought not to obscure the fact that the museum presents a complete view of the cultural development of ancient Peru through a selection of its 45,000 pieces, housed in a colonial building of the 18th century. For a preview, see Inka's exclusive online exhibition, Art of the Ancient Peruvians, courtesy of the Museo Larco.
Museo Amano, Lima.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel. Luxury Galapagos Cruises, Machu Picchu Tours & Travel.
Spend the rest of the afternoon at the Museo Amano, which features a collection of artifacts belonging to a single collector, representing some of Peru's most important coastal civilizations, including the Chimú, Chancay and Nazca. The textiles and ceramics are among the best displayed in Lima. A donation to the museum will be made in your name.
Return to your hotel to relax. This evening, dine at Astrid & Gastón. When the restaurant was founded a decade ago by Gastón Acurio and Astrid Gutsche, the restaurant's cuisine was largely French. Both chefs had studied in Paris' Le Cordon Bleu. Gradually, though, as they rediscovered Peruvian flavors and culinary traditions, the kitchen began to incorporate local dishes and ingredients, moving towards the current sophisticated Criollo concept that characterizes the restaurant today and makes it one of the highest notes in the Peruvian culinary scene. Overnight in the Country Club Lima Hotel.
Terraces of Pisaq, Sacred Valley.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel. Luxury Galapagos Cruises, Machu Picchu Tours & Travel.
But the favorite residence of the Incas was at Yucay, about four leagues distant from the capital. In this delicious valley, locked up within the friendly arms of the sierra, which sheltered it from the rude breezes of the east, and refreshed by gushing fountains and streams of running water, they built the most beautiful of their palaces. Here, when wearied with the dust and toil of the city, they loved to retreat, and solace themselves with the society of their favorite concubines, wandering amidst groves and airy gardens, that shed around their soft, intoxicating odors, and lulled the senses to voluptuous repose. Here, too, they loved to indulge in the luxury of their baths, replenished by streams of crystal water which were conducted through subterraneous silver channels into basins of gold. The spacious gardens were stocked with numerous varieties of plants and flowers that grew without effort in this temperate region of the tropics, while parterres of a more extraordinary kind were planted by their side, glowing with the various forms of vegetable life skilfully imitated in gold and silver! Among them the Indian corn, the most beautiful of American grains, is particularly commemorated, and the curious workmanship is noticed with which the golden ear was half disclosed amidst the broad leaves of silver, and the light tassel of the same material that floated gracefully from its top.
-- William H. Prescott, The History of the Conquest of Peru, 1847
Weaver of Chinchero, Sacred Valley.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel. Luxury Galapagos Cruises, Machu Picchu Tours & Travel.
Day 9: Lima - Cuzco - Sacred Valley (Chinchero - Maras - Moray)
Early transfer to the airport for the flight to Cuzco, the capital of the ancient Inca Empire, called Tawantinsuyo. The name of Cuzco is a Spanish version of the native word Q'osqo, which means the "Navel of the Universe". Arrival, reception and drive to the Sacred Valley of the Incas. On the way, visit