17-Nights Land of the Incas with Galapagos East Cruise

South America/Galapagos

Trafalgar

Deluxe

Vacation Offer ID 1565366

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From $9,225

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Overview

Trafalgar

Land Of The Incas With Galápagos Legend East Cruise
Explore Incan history like an insider on this epic Peru Tour, visiting Machu Picchu, Ollantaytambo, and Sacsayhuaman, UNESCO-listed Taquile Island and the Lines and Geoglyphs of Nazca. On a guided visit to the Ballestas Islands, you’ll marvel at penguins and blue-footed boobies, and on the Galápagos Islands, walk among giant tortoises and swim with manta rays.Please note that the flight between Lima and Quito is not included.

Dining Summary

7 Dinner (D)
17 Breakfast (B)
8 Lunch (L)
1 Farewell Dinner (FD)

Be My Guest

Sacred Valley: Connect with Locals over a Be My Guest experience lunch, learn about the culture surrounding the production of Giant White Corn. Our hosts will demonstrate the differences between traditional farming techniques and the newer technologies used today.

Dive Into Culture

Lima: Dive into the rich history of Casona San Marcos, an ancient building in Lima now part of the property of a university. Learn to play the "cajón" (meaning "box" or drawer") box-shaped percussion instrument played by slapping the faces with the hands, fingers, or sometimes implements. Continue your musical discovery trying the basic steps of "musica negra", a dance that originated in Chincha (near Paracas) that is popular during over the Christmas season. Over your lesson, try a snack from a "pregonero", a vendor who specializes in selling a typical snack through boisterous advertising in the city streets.
Sacred Valley: We'll Dive into Culture and meet a Quechua Shaman who will perform a ceremony welcoming you to Peru.
Lake Titicaca: Visit the home of Víctor Coila and his wife Mariluz, and their two daughters, Luz Mery and Carla Mercedes. Join the family to try quinoa bread, potatoes with cheese, and chaco - a sauce made with a kind of clay used in cooking and medicine.
Paracas: Stop at the Regional Museum of Ica where we'll explore the centuries-old cultures of the Paracas and Nazca.
Paracas: Visit Bodega El Catador to learn about and taste the finest pisco in the country.

Iconic Experience

Nazca: Take to the skies on your Peru tour to see the iconic Nazca Lines, archaeological enigmas scratched in the ground 500 B.C. and A.D. 500. Gaze down in awe of these massive designs and patterns you can only view from above. Your private flight will show you many of the lines, complete with their names and a bit of history. From above, you’ll observe the different types: straight, geometric (such as triangles, rectangles, trapezoids, spirals, arrows, zigzags, and wavy lines), and pictorial (including a spider, hummingbird, cactus plant, monkey, whale, llama, duck, flower, tree, lizard, dog, and even a mysterious humanoid figure). Some of the animal geoglyphs are up to 1,200 feet long! You’ll also learn why the Nazca culture created these lines in the desert plains of the Rio Grande de Nazca River basin and how the Nazca people were able to carve out such massive designs.
Lima: Take in the highlights of Lima, the 'City of the Kings,' including a panoramic view of the ancient districts. Join a local specialist for a visit to the UNESCO-listed Historic Center. Learn how before it was destroyed by earthquakes in the mid-18th century, observing how the historic buildings display a collaboration between local craftspeople and others from the Old World. Then drive along the coastline as you learn more about the fascinating history of Peru's capital city.
Machu Picchu: Learn how to prepare an authentic Ceviche and pour the perfect Pisco sour.
Cusco: Visit the mystical Incan stronghold of Ollantaytambo. These famous ruins are a massive Inca fortress made of large stone terraces stretching out across a hillside. Walk among the stone platforms, the sun temple of six monoliths and the Princess Baths fountain the Baño de la Nusta at the base of the ruins flowing from carved stone into a pool. Over your exploration, learn how the old town is an Inca-era grid of cobblestoned streets and adobe buildings.
Machu Picchu: Soak in every moment of your Machu Picchu tour in style as you descend to the Lost City in the clouds aboard the Vistadome train. Traveling the Inca Trail, you’ll traverse dramatic landscapes with a panoramic view of the soaring peaks, river, and ruins. Sit back and relax as you enjoy this multi-sensory journey complete with background music, an informative audio commentary highlighting interesting sites, and an included light snack.
Machu Picchu: Take a shuttle to the top of the mountain where you’ll meet your local specialist for a guided hike of Machu Picchu. You’ll learn about Machu Picchu’s history and the use of each section of including ceremonial, storage, agriculture, temples, astronomical, and observatory as well as the possible reasons why the Incas left Machu Picchu.
Machu Picchu: The ruins of Machu Picchu beckon yet again and we enjoy one final opportunity to reconnect with its story. Journey to take in the ruins at sunrise spending some time on your own to explore the hill-top fortress. Soak in every moment at this iconic site, making stops at points of interest while your guide shares their insights on the archaeological sites.
Cusco: Join your Local Specialist for a guided walk through Cusco's colonial center, including the nearby 13th century Incan settlement of Koricancha. Here in Cusco’s Golden Temple of the Sun dedicated to the Sun God Inti, view the trapezoidal and irregular shapes and rounded edges. Note how the stones fit together and were built simply by placing them on top of each other without using any mortar. This staggered placement also enables them to withstand earthquakes.

Cusco: Begin your day at the ruins of the UNESCO-listed Sacsayhuamán fortress overlooking Cusco. With zig zagging walls a

Featured Destinations

Lake Titicaca (Peruvian Coast) Lake Titicaca (Peruvian Coast) Titicaca, the world's highest navigable lake, is a world unto itself—a definite must-see. It's located 560 mi/900 km southeast of Lima, on the Peru/Bolivia border, at an altitude of 12,500 ft/3,812 m. One way to see Titicaca is on the 12-hour train ride from Cuzco to Puno through the Andes, a trip that reaches an elevation of more than 14,000 ft/4,265 m as you pass by farms, people's backyards, waterfalls and bleak but wondrous scenery—clear blue sky, deep blue water and dry, barren landscape. This is an expensive tourist train and runs three or four times a week; the local train, which was notorious for thievery, no longer operates. Tourist buses also cover this route, stopping at major sights en route. They are faster and have English-speaking guides. Peruvians and tourists on a time limit take normal buses between Cusco and Puno, usually a six-hour trip. Don't neglect the attractions on the Bolivian side of the lake. Stop overnight in Puno, an uninspiring town near the border that's one of the best places in Peru to buy Andean handicrafts—alpaca sweaters, rugs, ponchos and tapestries. (The town is also known for its colorful fiestas and folk dances.) Then continue by bus or car to Copacabana, just across the border, for Bolivian customs formalities and to tour the cathedral or take a day trip to the Isla del Sol and Isla de la Luna. With its small-village atmosphere and charm, this town is a nice overnight stay from which you can see more of the lake. From Puno, tours or public transport are available to Taquile Island (small Inca ruins and very nice woven goods), Sillustani on Lake Umayo (to see chullpas, the funerary towers of the ancient Colla people) and the Floating Islands (actually enormous floating reed mats that support the Uros people's villages of reed huts—you can buy reed souvenirs there).	Destination Guide
Isla San Cristobal
Isla Santiago Isla Santiago Also known as San Salvador or James, Santiago is the fifth-largest and one of the most visited of the Galapagos Islands. It is uninhabited, and there was a failed attempt at colonizing it in the 1930s. There are three visitor sites, and the two on the western coast of the island are Puerto Egas and Playa Espumilla. Puerto Egas, on James Bay, offers a black-sand landing beach with impressive wind-carved, tuff-stone layers. The relatively flat, black-lava shoreline is broken up by pools, caves and promenades, where hundreds of marine iguanas sun themselves, seek mates and slither into the sea. Their black skin camouflages them among the lava rocks. Playa Espumilla is a nesting area for sea turtles and, when the lagoon is filled, a place to see white-cheeked pintail ducks and flamingos. The estimated flamingo population on the Galapagos is around 500-1,000. These animals are an endemic subspecies of the flamingos commonly found in the Caribbean region. Dozens of bright red-orange Sally Lightfoot crabs, among the only people-shy creatures on the islands, frolic in the tide pools and scurry on the rocks. The area also has a colony of fur seals, which are endemic to the islands but closely related to fur seals in Antarctica. The snorkeling is good along the rocks, where it's possible to see colorful fish, moray eels and sharks. At the east end of the island is Sullivan's Bay (across from Bartolome Island). A volcano spewed a stream of lava there in 1897, and it still reaches to the sea. Visitors can follow a marked trail over the lava to see fascinating untouched volcanic formations such as pahoehoe lava. Only a few plants have taken hold there, including an unusually shaped cactus and some carpetweed. Sombrero Chino (Chinese Hat) is a popular snorkeling spot 656 ft/200 m off the coast. These beautiful waters are a playground for sea lions, sharks, penguins and manta rays. A series of seven diving sites offer divers the chance to get up close to the best of Galapagos' marine life.	Destination Guide
Isla Bartolome Isla Bartolome This small, barren island offers guests the opportunity to observe firsthand its volcanic formations and moon-like landscape.	Destination Guide
North Seymour North Seymour Located off the northern tip of Baltra, this island is home to the largest colony of frigate birds in the Galapagos, as well as blue-footed boobies and playful sea lions.
Isla Baltra Isla Baltra Today Baltra is the most important airport of Galápagos and a small navy base for Ecuador. Baltra has suffered most from human settling and does not have any visitor sites. Many cruises start from the its harbour and already there pelicans and noddies will welcome you. To the north lies Mosquera, a small sandy bank with a large colony of sea lions. Go swimming and snorkeling on the beach.
Quito Quito Quito is a fantastic place to visit and the best place to start your Latin American journey. Quito is also the entertainment center in Ecuador with new bars and discos opening every week and also the best place to shop, either at the small souvenir shops or at big malls. Quito has many interesting cultural sites, historical sites, museums, private galleries, churches, exhibition centers, and theaters.	Destination Guide
Paracas Bay Paracas Bay The Paracas Bay is best known for the area known as "The Galapagos of Peru" or the Ballestas Islands Wildlife Reserve. The sea bird colonies and marine mammals that inhabit these barren and desolate islands are some of the most spectacular in the world, including the Guanay, Red-legged and Neotropic Cormorants, the Peruvian and Blue-footed Boobies, the Peruvian Pelican, several species of tern and gulls, including the Inca Tern, and several species of petrel. There are also breeding grounds of South American fur seals and sea lion as well as a small colony of Humboldt penguins. Other interesting wildlife less frequently seen on trips to the Ballestas includes sea turtles and albatross. On the way to Ballestas, you will be able to see the candelabra in the coastal sand dunes - one of the many giant petroglyphs that dot the landscape.
Cuzco Cuzco The Cuzco (Cusco) region of Peru combines Inca legacy with Spanish colonial architecture in an atmosphere at once provincial and sublime. The chaotic marketplaces where campesinos barter grain or potatoes for multi-colored fabric belie the mute spirituality of the Lost Cities, where Inca stonework conveys order and balance. Such diversity enhances this inspiring nine-day adventure. The blue sky radiates with an intensity achieved only at high altitudes (the city of Cuzco lies 11,150 feet above sea level), while the landscape offers its unique pattern of exacting agricultural grids and tangled jungle masses.	Destination Guide
Machu Picchu Machu Picchu Machu Picchu is a fortress city of the ancient Incas, in a high saddle between two peaks 50 miles NW of Cuzco, Peru. The extraordinary pre-Columbian ruin consists of five sq. miles of terraced stonework link by 3,000 steps; it was virtually intact when discovered by Hiram Bibghan in 1911.	Destination Guide
Sacred Valley Sacred Valley The Urubamba valley is also named the Sacred Valley. It begins in the Urubamba's village and continues to Macchu Picchu.
Lima Lima Lima, "the City of the Kings," became the effective capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru, established 1560. Today, a visit to Lima may serve as a unique Peruvian experience that offers a glimpse into the Andean world, Spanish tradition and the country's modern aspect. Visit handsome old buildings and baroque churches that testify to the city's religious background and the Plaza de Armas, shared by the realms of the Catholic church, municipality and national government. The pre-Inca ruins of Pachacamac lie a short distance south of the city. Once a ceremonial site, Pachacamac has been the most important religious center of the Andean world since before the age of Christ. Stop and admire The Temple of the Sun and the Moon, Lima's outstanding museums, and Machu Picchu - a "Jewel in the Mist."	Destination Guide

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