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Machu Picchu from above the citadel, the terraces and stone houses on their ridge with Huayna Picchu rising behind under low cloud
The citadel from the upper terrace, Huayna Picchu behind it. Entry is on a timed ticket for one of ten fixed circuits, and this view is on Circuit 1 or 2, not 3.
Country brief · 12.0464°S 77.0428°W · Updated

Peru

Machu Picchu is rationed to 4,500 people a day. The rest of the country is not, and most of it is empty.

How long
Ten daysa fortnight to go wider
Getting around
Fly the long legsand the train to Machu Picchu
When
May to Septemberin the Andes; the coast runs opposite
Language
Spanishand Quechua for one in seven
Money
The soland cash outside the cities
Airports
Lima LIMCusco CUZ for the Sacred Valley
How long

How many days do you need in Peru?

Ten days for Lima, Cusco, the valley and Machu Picchu; a fortnight adds Arequipa, the Colca or Titicaca. Give Cusco two slow days first: it sits at 3,400 metres and about a third of arrivals feel it

Getting around

Do you need a car in Peru?

No. Fly the long legs with LATAM, Sky or JetSMART, take PeruRail or Inca Rail from Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu, and Cruz del Sur along the coast. A hire car makes sense on the coast and nowhere in the mountains

When

When is the best time to visit Peru?

May to September is dry in the Andes and June to August the busiest. The Inca Trail shuts every February. The coast runs the other way: Lima is grey from May to October and bright from December to March. In October the old centre of Lima turns purple for the Señor de los Milagros processions, and on 24 June Cusco holds Inti Raymi, the festival of the sun.

Language

What language is spoken in Peru?

Spanish, with Quechua the mother tongue of 13.9 percent and Aymara of 1.7 percent, on the 2017 census. English is moderate, 52nd of 123 on the 2025 EF index, and lives in the Cusco tourist trade and the Lima hotels

Money

What money does Peru use?

The sol. Cards in Lima, Cusco and Arequipa; cash for markets, taxis and the valley villages, from an ATM inside a bank. Tip about ten percent in restaurants

Airports

Where do you fly into Peru?

Lima Jorge Chávez LIM, in its new terminal since June 2025. Cusco CUZ for the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu, Arequipa AQP for the Colca, Juliaca JUL for Titicaca, Puerto Maldonado PEM and Iquitos IQT for the Amazon

Why you should visit

Ninety seconds on the country

Peru is three countries stacked west to east: a desert coast that never rains, the Andes, and half of it Amazon. The Incas ran all three from Cusco, and the country still does.

4.16 million people visited in 2025, and most of them flew one line, Lima to Cusco and out again. Machu Picchu is now sold in timed circuits with a hard daily cap, which is the correct response to that, and also the argument for going wider.

Wider means the Colca and its condors, the reed islands on Titicaca, a white city built of volcanic stone, a desert oasis, the lines at Nazca, and the highest tropical mountains on earth. None of them is rationed. A fortnight gets three of them on top of the core.

The mistake is altitude. Cusco is at 3,400 metres and the airport is at 3,300, so arrival is straight into thin air; sleep the first nights in the Sacred Valley, 600 metres lower, and come back up for the city. Lima is the other surprise: the best restaurant in the world is here, and so is the best ceviche, at lunchtime, for a tenth of the price.

Six Ways to Travel It

Start with the best of the country, or pick how you want to travel. The towns, the things to do and the map all change with it.

The white salt pans of Maras stepping down a red mountainside towards the Sacred Valley, with a snow peak on the skyline
The salt pans at Maras, above the Sacred Valley. Come in the dry months, roughly May to October, when the pans are at their whitest, and pair them with the terraces at Moray in one half day.

Best of Peru

The Best Places to Visit in Peru

Buy your Machu Picchu entry before you book a flight, and fit the trip around that date. Spend the days before it in Cusco and the Sacred Valley: Sacsayhuamán above the city, the salt pans and Moray in one half day, then the train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes. If you want to climb Huayna Picchu, pick that route from the start, because it has far fewer places.

With two weeks, do the south first and reach Cusco last. Take the bus from Lima to Paracas for the Ballestas boats, stop at Nazca for the lines, then give Arequipa and the Colca Canyon four nights, with an early start for the condors. Lake Titicaca at Puno comes next, and because the road gains height slowly, you reach Cusco already used to the altitude.

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