Peru DIY ?

[jellybeanteaparty]

Looking at going to Peru with DH and DC (19 and 21) We prefer to not to do an organised tour and usually go deluxe backpacker style. Has anyone done similar and what did you include ? Were internal flights needed or did you use the bus,s or Trains. Any pointers gladly received.

We did, but it was 10yrs ago now so lots of my info may be out of date. We flew BA into Lima and out of Rio de Janeiro, and all our internal travel was by flight as it was so inexpensive. We used LAN airways and flights were discounted as they were partnered with BA (star alliance?)
So we spent two nights in Lima before flying to Cuzco, and we set off with a tour group for a 4day/3 night trek to Machu Picchu. Can’t remember the tour Co we used but could trawl back through emails if necessary. After that, we flew from Cuzco to Puerto Maldonada to stay in an eco-lodge for a few night. This was brilliant, we did trips or hikes every day with a guide in the surrounding rainforest. Then we flew on to Buenos Aires for a few nights, before going to Brazil. We took buses/ferry here as we were travelling from Rio to ilha grande, and it was all very straightforward.
We booked all the parts individually and only used a company for MP. No issues other than a delayed flight which gave us 12 hrs less in Buenos Aires than we’d planned for. Disappointing but not the end of the world.
Hope that’s useful, if you have specific questions, I’ll do my best to recall more info.

Thanks sheriff that's really helpful

We did 18 months ago. We got internal flights from Lima to Arequipa and then at the end back from Cusco to Lima. Then we did a mix of transport. Sometimes we just hired a taxi for a day. It wasn't the cheapest option but wasn't horrendously expensive either and gave us a lot of flexibility. For example, we stayed a few days in the sacred valley and used taxis to travel between the towns and sites. We then got the train up to Machu picchu.

Previously we'd been in Colca Canyon. There was no simple public transport option to get from there to Cusco but a private tourist bus that was very reasonable and went through stunning landscapes.

I booked everything independently. It was really easy to find all the accommodation online. We mostly stayed in small b&b/ guesthouse type places. There's a huge variety of accommodation spanning all budgets so should be easy to find places that suit your style of travelling.

DS was only 5 at the time so we didn't do any longer treks. With older DC i would and probably do that organised, i think if your want to do the Inca Trail it's often booked up a long way in advance but there are alternatives now too.

The only difficulty we had was booking Machu Picchu tickets. They need to be booked in advance but the online system was antiquated and difficult to follow. It was ok in the end but complicated.

We did it a couple of years ago. Flew straight into Cusco via Bogotá and spent a night there, then arranged a driver to take us to Ollantaytambo where we stayed a couple of days to look at ruins, markets,lamas etc.

We had arranged a four day 'jungle Inca trek' via a Peruvian travel agent in Cusco which involved mountain biking, zip lining, walking, white water rafting and hot springs. They picked us up from Ollantaytambo and sorted the next four days out which was amazing and we ended up in Machu Picchu for sunrise on the last day.

We then flew to Lima and hired a car (that was an experience!) to drive down to Huacachina which is an oasis in the desert and spent Christmas there doing dune buggy's and sand surfing. Drove back north stopping along the coast at a small beach place (can't remember the name) and back to spend a night in Lima before flying on to Cuba for an explore of Havana.

Was easy to organise from the UK, we were travelling with our young teenagers so I wanted to book everything up front (apart from a few cars which hotels arranged for us) and I think most of our accommodation was through booking.com which worked well.