Machu Picchu - Lake
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(14 days/13 nights)
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Lake Titicaca
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Archaeological & Ecological
Treasures
Galapagos - Machu Picchu
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(10
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(13 days/12 nights)
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Enchanted Isles of the Galapagos
Galapagos
(11
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Historic Haciendas of the Andes
Cotopaxi - Antisana
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Inka's Empire Corporation.
All rights reserved.
Luxury Lake Titicaca Tours & Travel
Puno - Lake Titicaca - Corridor Quechua - Corridor Aymara - Lima
Flamingo on the Uros
Islands, Lake Titicaca.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel. Luxury Lake Titicaca
Tours & Travel.
Land Price (6 days/5 nights)
Royal US$ 2,700 Imperial US$ 2,580 De Luxe US$ 2,550
The land price includes escorted transfers, private excursions with professional guides and chauffeurs, entrance fees, 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 price.
Intra-Tour Air Flights & Fares shows South American air flights needed for this tour and the fares.
Boatman, Uros Islands, Lake Titicaca.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel. Luxury Lake Titicaca Tours & Travel.
... the worship of the Sun constituted the peculiar care of the Incas,
and was the object of their lavish expenditure.
The most ancient of the many temples dedicated to this divinity
was in the Island of Titicaca,
whence the royal founders of the Peruvian line
were said to have proceeded.
-- William H. Prescott, The History of the Conquest of Peru, 1847
After a spectacular rail adventure on the Orient-Express Andean Explorer through magnificent mountains towering over the deep valleys of the meandering Huatanay River, and across the gentle, rolling Altiplano, where vicuña and alpaca are often seen; your tour will continue on and around Lake Titicaca. First, cruise on your private yacht to the floating Islands of the Uros, traditional Llachon and Taquile Island. Then, drive north to the enigmatic archaeological site of Sillustani; Lampa, with its Church of the Immaculate Conception; the Great Temple of Pukara, the oldest ceremonial site of the Altiplano; and the capricious geological formations of Tinajani. Finally, drive south along Lake Titicaca to ancient and mysterious monuments, such as the phallic temple "Inka Uyo", the millennia-old pilgrimage site of Ccopa Amaya, the anciently carved rockface known as the Puerta de Amaru Muru and the funerary towers of Molloko.
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.
Woman unloading totora reeds. Uros Islands, Lake Titicaca.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel. Luxury Lake Titicaca Tours & Travel.
Highlights
Lake Titicaca
Day 1: Cuzco - Orient-Express Andean Explorer - Puno. Transfer to the train station. First Class service on the Orient-Express Andean Explorer to Puno. Three-course lunch, followed by coffee in the observation car. Scenic stop at La Raya, the highest point on the route. Reception and transfer to your hotel. Dinner and overnight in the Hotel Libertador Puno.
Day 2: Puno (Uros Islands - Llachon - Taquile Island). Transfer to the port. All-day cruise to the floating islands of the Uros, the traditional pueblo of Llachon and Taquile Island. Typical lunch. Return to port and transfer to your hotel. Dinner and overnight in the Hotel Libertador Puno.
Day 3: Puno - Corridor Quechua (Sillustani - Lampa - Pukara - Tinajani). All-day, overland excursion to Sillustani; Lampa, with its colonial mansions, Church of the Immaculate Conception and immense forests of "Queñuales" trees; the Great Temple of Pukara, the oldest ceremonial site of the Altiplano; and the capricious geological formations of Tinajani. Box lunch. Return to Puno. Dinner and overnight in the Hotel Libertador Puno.
Day 4: Puno - Corridor Aymara (Chucuito - Ccopa Amaya - Puerta de Amaru Muru - Juli - Pomata - Molloko). Drive south along Lake Titicaca to ancient and mysterious monuments, such as the phallic temple "Inka Uyo", the millennia-old pilgrimage site of Ccopa Amaya, the anciently carved rockface known as the Puerta de Amaru Muru and the funerary towers of Molloko. On the way, visit the poetic pueblos of Chucuito, Juli and Pomata, whose churches are jewels of colonial architecture. Box lunch. Return to Puno. Dinner and overnight in the Hotel Libertador Puno.
Lima
Day 5: Puno - Juliaca - 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 6: Lima - Home. Flight and arrival home.
Orient-Express Andean
Explorer railway, Meseta de Collao, Lake Titicaca.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel. Luxury
Lake Titicaca Tours & Travel.
Day 1: Cuzco - Orient-Express Andean Explorer - Puno
Breakfast. Early transfer to the Orient-Express Andean Explorer. This spectacular rail adventure begins in Cuzco and runs south to the historic city of Puno, on the shores of Lake Titicaca. The gentle climb is breathtaking. The first half of the journey is dominated by magnificent Andean mountains, towering over the deep valleys of the meandering Huatanay River. It then reaches the gentler, rolling Andean Plains, where vicuña and alpaca are often seen. Sightseeing while on board the train is enhanced by a glass-walled observation car. Excellent dining includes a three-course lunch, followed by coffee served in the observation car. The journey is broken by a scenic stop at La Raya, the highest point on the route.
The banks of Lake Titicaca were the meeting place of three cultures: the Aymara, the Quechua and the Spanish, the combination of which becomes evident in their artistic and cultural expressions. This unequaled legacy has resulted in Puno being recognized as the Folkloric Capital of Peru.
Festival of Candelaria,
Puno, Lake Titicaca.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel. Luxury Lake Titicaca
Tours & Travel.
The city of Puno perches in the southeastern highlands of Peru, or Altiplano, at a breathtaking 12,550 feet above sea level. It is situated on the shores of Titicaca, an ancient inland sea thrust high into the Andes. The area, cold and uninviting by some standards, is rich with spectacular landscapes and imposing archaeological ruins.
Around Puno's main square, or the Plaza de Armas, are the 18th century Cathedral; La Casa del Corregidor, a traditional Puno manor house of the 19th century; and La Casa del Conde de Lemos, a colonial mansion in which, according to tradition, Viceroy Conde de Lemos stayed when he founded the city on November 4, 1668. Early evening arrival, reception and transfer to your hotel. Dinner and overnight in the Hotel Libertador Puno.
Boatman sailing a traditional reed boat, Uros Islands, Lake Titicaca.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel. Luxury Lake Titicaca Tours & Travel.
Day 2: Puno (Uros Islands - Llachon - Taquile Island)
Breakfast. Early transfer to your private yacht for a day-long cruise on Lake Titicaca to see the living culture of the Incas. First, visit the Islands of the Uros, forty island-like packs of floating totora reeds. Legend has it that Manco Capac, the first Inca, and Mama Ocllo, his sister-consort, rose from the waters of the lake to found the Inca Empire. The royal pair are said to be the forebears of the Uros, whose descendents now inhabit the lake's famous floating islands. These lake dwellers continue to live like their ancestors did, preserving their customs and idiosyncracies but, above all, their own system of communal life.
Floating houses, Uros
Islands, Lake Titicaca.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel. Luxury Lake Titicaca
Tours & Travel.
Continue by yacht to Llachon, on the tip of the Capachica Peninsula. In this pristine village, the indigenous people still observe Inca traditions and laws -- gaining subsistence from the land, practicing ancient weaving techniques and wearing their traditional clothing. Llachon rewards the visitor with its native culture, charming scenes of country life and glorious prospects across the lake.
Shepardess, Capachica
Peninsula, Lake Titicaca.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel. Luxury Lake Titicaca
Tours & Travel.
Finally, visit Taquile Island. "This is an indigenous community of some 350 families which continues to live within the traditions of the 14th century, according to the principles of Inca life. Here, without noting the passing of time, the three golden rules of the Empire of the Sun have been kept: Ama suwa, Ama quella, Ama llulla (do not steal, don't be idle, and do not lie). The contact with other civilizations has not been able to destroy the profound identity of the Inca way...
Chillora, on the shore
of Lake Titicaca.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel. Luxury Lake Titicaca
Tours & Travel.
On Taquile there are no planes, no trucks, no cars, no motorcycles. It is on foot, following the little pathways of ordered stones, that the visitor allows himself to be infused with this surprising atmosphere that envelops the island. The principal characteristic of the island resides in the fact that it has conserved, across the centuries, a great many of the customs of the old lake population, such as a comunitarian life where everything is shared, exceptional handcrafts, and -- unique of their kind -- dances and traditional music, maintained in all their purity."
-- Hernan Cornejo & Christian Nonis, Rumbos Magazine, Volume II, No. 10, 1997
After a lunch of typical cuisine, cruise back to the port of Puno and your hotel. Dinner and overnight in the Hotel Libertador Puno.
Chullpas of Sillustani, on the shore of Lake Umayo, Lake Titicaca.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Day 3: Puno - Corridor Quechua (Sillustani - Lampa - Pukara - Tinajani)
Breakfast. All-day, overland excursion, beginning with an early morning drive to Sillustani. Its necropolis, which is one of the largest in America and one of the most impressive in the world, stands over a peninsula-like esplanade, surrounded by the beautiful Umayo lagoon. The chullpas found here are large funerary monuments built by the Collas about 2,000 years ago. These quadrangular and circular buildings are more than 40 feet high and their architectural design is a real challenge for balance, as the diameter of the base is less than the top. The site, surrounded by a landscape that has given rise to diverse and mysterious legends, seems imbued with a magical quality.
Woman with her llamas,
Malkini, Lake Titicaca.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Afterward, visit Lampa, one of the most attractive towns of Puno, because it retains its ancient colonial design. Its mansions conserve their original appearance, having an exterior finish of a natural red paint, the reason the town is called the "Rose City". It is also known for the Church of the Immaculate Conception and its immense forests of "Queñuales", trees native to this altitude.
Great Temple of Pukara,
Lake Titicaca.
Photo:
Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Proceed to the Great Temple of Pukara and other ruins, which constitute the most important and oldest ceremonial site of the Altiplano, pre-dating Tiwanaku. The temple is characterized by a series of stepped platforms, similar to the Kalasasaya pyramid at Tiwanku, culminating in a plane ceremonial center. There are also sinister stone sculptures, steles, or tombstones, that seem to evidence a war-like civilization. It is here that the origins of Andean culture in the Altiplano are discovered.
Canyon of Tinajani,
Lake Titicaca.
Photo:
Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Not only man but nature has been sculpting stone marvels around Lake Titicaca since before the dawn of history, as seen in the capricious geological formations of Tinajani. Box lunch. Return to Puno. Dinner and overnight in the Hotel Libertador Puno.
Inka Uyo temple of fertility,
Chucuito, Lake Titicaca.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel. Luxury Lake Titicaca
Tours & Travel.
Day 4: Puno - Corridor Aymara (Chucuito - Ccopa Amaya - Puerta de Amaru Muru - Juli - Pomata - Molloko)
Breakfast. Early morning drive south along Lake Titicaca to ancient and mysterious monuments. On the way, visit the poetic pueblos of Chucuito, Juli and Pomata, whose churches are jewels of colonial architecture. Chucuito was occupied by the Pukaras, Lupakas and Incas, who left constructions ranging from rustic to extremely fine. It is rich in archaeological remains, such as the phallic temple "Inka Uyo", devoted to the cult of fertility. A sundial suggests use as a solar and astronomical observatory.
Doorway of Amaru Muru,
Vilca Uta, Lake Titicaca.
Photo: Edwin Harkness Spina. Luxury Lake Titicaca
Tours & Travel.
Ccopa Amaya is a millennia-old pilgrimage site with panoramic views of the lake and nearly all of its islands. The Incan ceremonial altars that overlook the immensity of Lake Titicaca still receive offerings for Pachamama (Mother Earth) and Mamacota (Mother Water) from Aymara natives and spiritually-minded visitors. Natural rock sculptures enhance the sacred feeling of this sanctuary, which could well be considered the Gothic catedral of its age. Near Juli is a remarkable and anciently carved rockface known as the Puerta de Amaru Muru. Lacking a better explanation of its mysterious appearance, some claim it to be a doorway to other dimensions of the Universe. You'll have a chance to conduct your own investigation.
Weaver in front of Juli's Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion, Lake Titicaca.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel. Luxury Lake Titicaca Tours & Travel.
Juli, "The Little Rome of America", was once a great cultural and religious center of the Altiplano. In the 17th and 18th centuries, it was occupied by the Dominicans and, later, the Jesuits who, in their zeal to persuade the native population, constructed beautiful churches in the mestizo style: San Pedro, San Juan de Letran, Santa Cruz and La Asuncion, in which are found impressive examples of painting and sculpture in that style.
Pomata, called the "Philosophic Balcony of the Altiplano" because of its sublime geographic location on the banks of Lake Titicaca, is a propitious place for contemplation and inspiration. Its principal attraction, the 17th century, mestizo-style Temple of Santiago Apostol de Pomata is, perhaps, the most beautiful in the south of the country, because of its rich interior decoration, augmented by the architectural expression of its pink granite construction. Beautifully carved pink granite and gold-leaf altars also distinguish the 18th century church of Nuestra Señora del Rosario.
Chullpas of Molloko,
Lake Titicaca.
Photo:
Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel. Luxury Lake Titicaca Tours & Travel.
Molloko, in the foothills of the mountain of the same name, is a necropolis with beautiful "chullpas", square and circular funerary towers. Denoting its great religious importance in the past, the stones have convex faces and perfect joints. High-relief carved elements can be seen, such as vipers, pumas, frogs, monkeys and other animals. Box lunch. Return to Puno. Dinner and overnight in the Hotel Libertador Puno.
House of the Virgins of the Sun, Pachacamac, c. 1500 AD.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel. Luxury Lake Titicaca Tours & Travel.
Day 5: Puno - Juliaca - Lima
Breakfast. Transfer to the airport for the 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, dating back to 200 AD. It was originally devoted to the worship of the earth god Pachacamac: "he who sustains or gives life to the universe". Upon returning to Lima, lunch at the extraordinary Huaca Pucllana restaurant, located on the grounds of a 1,500-year-old adobe pyramid built by the original inhabitants of Lima. The cuisine is a reinterpretation of the Peruvian Criollo tradition by chef Marilú Madueño (Le Cordon Bleu Paris).
Afterward, visit the Museum of Archaeology. The Museo Nacional de Arqueologia, Antropologia e Historia del Peru exhibits evidence of all ancient cultures of Peruvian civilization in a chronological and didactic way, the most interesting being the collections of Chavin, Paracas, Nazca, Mochica, Huari, Chimu and Inca. Masterpieces include the Raimondi Estele and the Tello Obelisco. Paintings, objects, documents and relics of the colony, emancipation, independence process and republican period are exhibited in the adjoining manor house, which was the residence of the viceroys Pezuela and La Serna and Peru's liberators Jose de San Martin and Simon Bolivar. For details, see descriptions of the archaeological museums. Arrival at your hotel, dinner of Peruvian or international cuisine 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.
A Paracas Necropolis "manto", c. 500 BC.
Museo Nacional de Arqueologia, Antropologia e Historia del Peru.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
The Magic of Barranco
Upon returning to Lima, lunch at the extraordinary Huaca Pucllana restaurant, located on the grounds of a 1,500-year-old adobe pyramid built by the original inhabitants of Lima. The cuisine is a reinterpretation of the Peruvian Criollo tradition by chef Marilú Madueño (Le Cordon Bleu Paris).
Afterward, continue to Barranco for a visit to one of the country's finest crafts shops: Mari Solari's Las Pallas. Once Lima's beach resort, this district is now the home of Peru's most prestigious artists and writers. Among its colorful, colonial mansions is the Palacio de Osma, now the Museo de Arte Colonial Pedro de Osma, which focuses on colonial Peruvian art from the country's cultural centers of the day. La Puente de los Suspiros (The Bridge of Sighs) is a romantic outlook over the ocean in the loveliest part of the quarter, said to inspire artists. Next to it is La Iglesia de La Ermita (The Church of the Hermitage), built on the spot where legend has it that a glowing image of Christ appeared. Arrival at your hotel, dinner of Peruvian or international cuisine 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.
Malecon de la Reserva, above La Costa Verde, Miraflores, Lima.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel. Luxury Lake Titicaca Tours & Travel.
Day 6: Lima - Home
Flight and arrival home.
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