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.
House of the Virgins of the Sun, Pachacamac, c. 1500 AD.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Inka's: Everything you want to see and do...
As an experiment, we asked an international tour company (name and correspondence upon request) to propose a luxury tour to the Galapagos Islands and Machu Picchu. Below, we compare it to our own tour, Galapagos Islands & Machu Picchu.
La Merced Suite, Villa Colonna, Quito, Ecuador.
Photo: Villa Colonna.
Our competitor:
For accommodation in Quito, where the tour begins, our competitor uses the JW Marriott, a high-rise located in the modern part of the city and one of nearly 2,900 properties operated by an American hotel chain.
Inka's Empire Tours:
Inka's provides the antique-furnished, luxury boutique Villa Colonna (De Luxe and Imperial) or the Hotel Plaza Grande (Royal Class), the finest in Ecuador. Both are located in the colonial quarter, the place you'll want to be.
La Plaza de la Independencia, Quito, Ecuador.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Our competitor:
No excursion is included for Quito, the largest colonial quarter in all of South America and a World Heritage Site.
Inka's Empire Tours:
Inka's provides a full-day private excursion with a guide and chauffeur, including a lunch of Ecuadorian-European fusion cuisine at Octava de Corpus and a dinner of gourmet fushion cuisine at La Belle Epoque.
M/S Alta, Galapagos Islands.
Photo: Quasar Nautica.
Our competitor:
Our competitor's itinerary is poorly-conceived and risky. By not providing the day in Quito, a missed connection on your international flight could cause you to miss two days of your Galapagos cruise and incur additional expenses. That's because you probably wouldn't arrive in Quito until the next night. You'd then have to pay for an extra hotel night, take a flight to the Galapagos the following morning and charter a boat to catch up with your yacht. Total extra cost: about one thousand dollars for two people.
Inka's Empire Tours:
Inka's provides the needed day in Quito before your cruise begins. You have the peace of mind of knowing that a missed connection will not cause you to miss your Galapagos cruise. To us, it only makes sense, but surprisingly our competitor hasn't taken precautions to avoid a bad beginning to their tour.
Museo Amano, Lima.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Our competitor:
Our competitor schedules a needless return to Quito and a flight departure to Lima the next day. Because of that poor planning, an entire day is lost in Lima (the only activity is a massage). On the following afternoon, only one museum is visited.
Inka's Empire Tours:
Our efficient itinerary is from Galapagos to Guayaquil to Lima, with arrival on the same evening. Not only does Inka's itinerary save a day, but instead of one museum, we provide two on the afternoon in Lima: the Museo Larco, the world's largest private collection of pre-Columbian art, and the Museo Amano, a collection of artifacts representing some of Peru's most important coastal civilizations. The textiles and ceramics are among the best displayed in Lima.
Terraces of Pisaq, Sacred Valley.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Our competitor:
Our competitior includes only one day in the Sacred Valley of the Incas.
Inka's Empire Tours:
Inka's provides An Extra Day in the Sacred Valley (remember the day we saved in Lima?). That means you won't be missing important places like the weavers' pueblo of Chinchero, the ancient salt mines of Maras, the sunken terraces of Moray or the magnificent Pisaq ruins (a site most of our competitiors skip). You also won't be missing a traditional meal served in the garden of the Hacienda Huayoccari.
Your private guide at Machu Picchu.
Photo of Julio Cesar Camacho.
Our competitor:
While appearing to offer the more luxurious choice, the Orient-Express Hiram Bingham train to Machu Picchu, a private guide is not included. Therefore, the only excursion at the citadel is two hours long and in a group of the train's passengers.
Inka's Empire Tours:
With Inka's, you'll travel with a private guide on the Orient-Express Vistadome train, which allows for a more efficient itinerary and a more gradual acclimatization to the high altitude of the Andes. Whenever you wish, your guide will be available to hike with you in Machu Picchu or to nearby sites, such as Huayna Picchu, the Temple of the Moon, the Inca Drawbridge and the Intipunku (Sun Gate). At other times, you may choose to explore on your own.
Fountains of Tipon, the water garden of Inca Wiracocha.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Our competitor:
Our competitor provides the standard tour of colonial Cuzco and the major Inca sites, but skips the Temple of the Moon, unique for its animal sculptures.
Inka's Empire Tours:
With Inka's, your visits of the "must-see" Inca monuments, such as Qorikancha (the Temple of the Sun), the fine Inca walls of Inti Q'ijllo, the Ajlla Wasi (the House of the Virgins of the Sun), the Stone of Twelve Angles, Huacaypata (Leisure Square), the fortress of Saqsaywaman, the Temple of the Moon, Puka Pukara and Tambomachay will be more thorough and leisurely. Our tours with an extra day in Cuzco offer an afternoon to stroll in the artisans' quarter of San Blas and a morning to follow the route of travelers who arrived in the imperial city of the Incas on the Collasuyu Road, from the southern quarter of the empire. You'll pass through the ancient gate of Rumicolca, gaze at the pre-Inca ruins of Pikillaqta, taste the traditional bread of Oropesa and admire Tipon, a royal garden of Inca Wiracocha.
A Paracas Necropolis "manto", c. 500 BC.
Museo Nacional de Arqueologia, Antropologia e Historia del Peru.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Our competitor:
Returning to Lima on the last day of the tour, our competitor includes no excursions at all, in spite of the fact that the entire day is available until late at night, at which time guests need to depart for the airport.
Inka's Empire Tours:
In contrast, Inka's provides a drive to Pachacamac, a pre-Inca and Inca pilgrimage site on the Pacific coast; lunch at La Gloria, the preferred restaurant of most Limeño connoisseurs; a visit to the Museum of Archaeology or the artisans' quarter of Barranco; and dinner of Peruvian or international cuisine at the Perroquet Restaurant.
Thank you for choosing Inka's Empire Tours.
© 2008 Inka's Empire Corporation, Luxury Peru Tours & Travel. All rights reserved.
