We had wanted to visit Peru and Machu Picchu for some time and decided to take the plunge in 2026. We are in our early to mid-70s and travel a lot. This was out third Caravan tour. This was a strenuous trip due to many factors including the 7-hour flight from Atlanta to Lima, dual Peru domestic flights to get from Lima to and from Cusco, multiple van and bus rides, and a two-way train trip from Urabamba to Machu Picchu. Traffic in Lima is horrible (13 million population) and the airport trip often took 1.5 hours. The Miraflores sector of Lima where we stayed was very walkable and safe. The hotels were very good to excellent (Courtyard in Lima, Rustic Hotel in Urabanba, J.W. Marriott 5-star in Cusco). Most meals were included with this reasonably priced trip. Our guide Edgar is a 10 year seasoned tour director whose home is in Cusco. Make no mistake, this trip is strenuous and not for sissies. Breakfast opened at 6 am many days and the bus often left at 7:30 am. Some days we started out on a bus and had to transfer to 16-passenger vans due to the ability of a venue to handle the large busses. PeruRail was great on the trip out to Machu Picchu. Groups no larger than 16 can enter Machu Picchu so Caravan hired additional guides to accompany us. Once the train reaches the village at the foot of the mountain busses take you up the mountain to the ruins. You are only allowed two hours on the site. We broke down twice on the return rail trip and no reason was given (two hour trip became a 5.5 hour trip). Many roads are bone-jarring. Paved roads are often like US county roads, and we traveled on MANY dirt roads that were washboard. Our Urabamba hotel was about four miles off the nearest paved road on a washboard dirt road. Alpacas roamed the property at our Urabamba hotel. Most venue admission fees were included with the exception of the catacombs in Lima. Once you leave Lima the altitude ranges from 8,000 feet to 12,250 feet. We strongly recommend that you consult your doctor and get a prescription for altitude sickness medications before leaving the US. We did fine until we stopped taking the altitude medications on our fifth day so we recommend that you take them for the duration for the trip. Our farewell dinner was on a Friday night, but many were leaving on early Friday night flights back to the US, so the tour director moved our farewell dinner back to 4:30 pm to accommodate our travel schedules. He also arranged to have a Saturday shuttle moved to Friday 7 pm. so a large group of us could leave together for the airport on provided transportation. This was an excellent tour and we recommend it!

Caravan Tours did a masterful job with a very complicated journey to Peru and Machu Picchu. There are lots of moving parts including flights within Peru, different size buses and shuttles, and the train to Machu Picchu. The hotels were excellent for the most part and the tour included most meals. This was a very high end experience for a very reasonable price. Please go on this trip while you are physically able to participate in all of the strenuous days because the altitude and the amount of travel involved are significant. And of course, Machu Picchu was magnificent, but all of the places we visited were inspiring.