Peru offers a huge variety of tours for its historical, cultural and natural wealth!!!
Peru is considered as one of the cradles of civilisation!!!
The first evidence of settlement of the current Peru date back to 17 500 BC and it is related to the Paccaicasa civilization located in the Piquimachay Cave, 12 kilometres north of the today’s city of Ayacucho. First city states were founded in the first half of the 3rd millennium! The most known of them – Caral was a contemporary of ancient civilisations of China, Egypt, Mesopotamia and India! In addition, Caral was surrounded by other ancient cultures such as Vicus, Virú, Chavín and Paracas, which were still formed by tribal unions. In the course of time, the Chavin culture surpassed the others, but its influence gradually fell, which consequently prompted development of civilizations with better knowledge of then newly discovered skills such as the Moche, the Lima, the Nazca, the Wari and the Tiwanaku!. The Wari and the Tiwanaku took control over the area until the end of the 9th century, when Inca civilization began to excel. In the 15th century, the Inca Empire conquered all the Andean nations between the rivers of Maule and Ancasmayo and took an area of about 3,000,000 km²! This area now forms a large part of the territory of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile. The capital of the Inca Empire was Cusco located in Peruvian Andes. In addition to its military power, the Incas excelled in architecture, which best example is Machu Picchu!!!
Peru is divided into 3 north-south areas. There is a dessert coast on the west, the dessert is the widest on the north and involves many sand dunes. Further south, the coast is mostly rocky with continuous range of Andean mountains. Andes are rising toward the inland to a height of over 5,000 meters having Huascaran as the highest mountain (6,768 masl). The two main mountain ranges of the Cordilleras (Andes), which are still active volcanoes with seismic activity, are divided by highland plateau, on which Titicaca Lake (6,900 km²) is located. On the eastern side of the Andes, peaks slowly slope down into the Amazon Basin occupying 62% of the country!
If you like to get to know the country the most, try some larger Peru tours that show you around the capital of Lima. From there, you can go to the nearby Islas Ballestas and/or Nazca to enjoy Nazca Lines over-flight seeing the famous geoglyphs of the Nazca culture! After that, you can continue to Arequipa to see this lovely “White City” made of volcanic stone “sillar” as well as to observe flying condors during a Colca Canyon Tour. Then, you can go to the nearby city of Puno, considered as the “Folkloric Capital of America”, to visit the picturesque islands of Uros (Floating Islands), Amantani and Taquile during a 1 day or a 2 day Titicaca Lake Tour. After that, you should not wait more and continue to the former capital of the Inca Empire – Cusco to start hiking to Machu Picchu included in our Inca Trail tours!
Our Peru tours also involve a visit and exploration of the Amazon Rainforest where you can see its typical wild animals, 500 hundred year old trees and other amazing plants!
If you like to explore more than “only” the southern part of Peru, you can choose one of our Peru tours that start with a flight to the city of Chiclayo where you can enjoy learning about the Moche civilization during our Moche Tour. On the following day, you go to Chachapoyas to visit the overwhelming fortress of Kuelap and learn about this ancient culture of so called People of the Clouds living in high Andes cloud forest! This part is included in our Chachapoyas Tour and you can do either only this part or combine it with the Inca Trail hike and a visit of Machu Picchu afterwards (the Chachapoyas - Inca Trail Tour)! In this case, you can see the most impressive monuments of the country in only tour!!!
Trekking is a great way to see the country. The most widely known route is the classic Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. Other popular routes include Cordillera Blanca - Huaraz, Colca Canyon - Arequipa, Ausangate Trek, Salkantay Trek, Choquequirao trek and Inka Jungle trek to Machu Picchu - an adrenaline trip to Machu Picchu. Trek prices can vary considerably between companies, as can their respective porters' working conditions (no pack animals are allowed, hence equipment is carried by human porters). Although there is a minimum porter wage (PEN42/day, about USD15) and maximum load porters can carry (25kg/55 lb), not all companies keep to their claims! Peru offers a big variety of adrenaline sport such as rafting, kayaking, biking, zip line, horseback riding, surfing, ATV, motocross, paragliding, canopy, canoing, sandboarding, etc. Another popular activity to do in Peru is to visit its wildlife in the Amazon Rainforest that can be also considered as an adrenaline sport thanks to spending time among wild animals. Peru have differents activites and experiences: Travel Tour Group is specialist in holidays to Peru