Complete Peru in 15 Days, from the Coast to Machu Picchu

Our driver meets you outside customs with a sign and takes you to the hotel. Traffic from the airport to Miraflores runs 45 minutes to well over an hour, so do not plan anything tight.

The afternoon tour starts on the clifftop parks of Miraflores, Parque del Amor and the Larcomar walkway, with the Pacific below. The sky is gray for most of the year, and that is normal for Lima.

Then into the Historic Center (UNESCO, 1988): Plaza Mayor, the Cathedral, the Government Palace from outside, and the bone-lined catacombs under the San Francisco convent. Back at the hotel in the early evening.

Pickup between 04:40 and 05:00 with a boxed breakfast for the road. Paracas is about three and a half hours south.

The boat passes the Candelabra geoglyph cut into the sand, then circles the islands: sea lions on the rocks, Humboldt penguins, and so many cormorants and boobies that you smell the guano before you see them. Nobody lands on the islands. Sit on the left going out for the Candelabra.

A stop at a family winery near Ica to see how pisco is distilled, with a tasting.

Dune buggy ride and sandboarding in the dunes around the Huacachina lagoon. The buggies drive hard over the crests, so hold on and keep your camera strapped. A proper board for experienced boarders costs extra. We drive on to Nazca on the Panamericana and check in late. The Nazca flight is tomorrow morning.

Transfer to the Nazca airfield for the overflight of the lines (UNESCO, 1994), about 45 minutes by the agency's timing. The plane tilts hard on each figure so both sides of the cabin see it. Eat light before you fly.

Coach inland to Arequipa, about 9 hours, first along the ocean cliffs and then up into the desert. We meet you at the terminal and take you to the hotel.

The countryside tour starts at the Sachaca viewpoint, with the Misti, Chachani and Pichu Pichu volcanoes over green farm terraces.

The Mansión del Fundador is a colonial country house tied to the founding of Arequipa. The Sabandía mill, dated 1785, is built of sillar, the white volcanic stone that gives the whole city its color.

Free afternoon in the historic center (UNESCO, 2000). Our tip: the Santa Catalina monastery late in the day, when the sun turns its red and blue walls warm. Entry is not included.

North out of Arequipa through Yura and the Salinas y Aguada Blanca National Reserve, where vicuñas graze beside the road and bofedal wetlands shine after rain.

The road tops out at the Patapampa pass, about 16,109 ft (4,910 m), where people stack stones into small cairns among the volcano views. Move slowly when you get out of the bus.

Down into the Colca valley to Chivay, at 11,926 ft (3,635 m), the main town of the valley. Lunch, then a quiet evening.

Early start for the Cruz del Cóndor viewpoint over the Colca Canyon. Andean condors ride the morning thermals out of the canyon, so we go in the first hours, when they pass closest.

Around 13:00 the bus leaves for Puno across high grassland and lagoons, arriving around 19:00. We meet you at the terminal.

Transfer to the port and a boat across Puno bay to the Uros, islands built of layered totora reed that families renew every few weeks. A family shows how the islands are anchored and sells its own embroidery.

About two and a half more hours by boat to Taquile, whose textile art is on the UNESCO list. The main village sits at 12,960 ft (3,950 m), so walk up from the dock slowly. Lunch with the community, trout or quinoa soup.

Boat back to Puno in the late afternoon. The wind picks up on the lake after lunch, so a windproof layer matters more than a warm one.

Pickup at 06:00 for the tourist bus to Cusco with a guide on board. First stop is the Pukara museum, with carved stone figures older than the Incas.

La Raya, 14,222 ft (4,335 m), marks the line between Puno and Cusco, with a glacier view. Buffet lunch in Sicuani on the way down.

Raqchi, with its tall adobe wall of the temple to Wiracocha, then the painted church of Andahuaylillas. Arrival in Cusco in the early evening.

Morning or afternoon departure (08:45 or 12:45). Qorikancha first, then Sacsayhuamán, Q'enqo, Puka Pukara and Tambomachay, where Inca channels still carry water. By this point your body knows the altitude, so the walking feels easy.

Pickup between 06:20 and 06:50. Pack a small overnight bag for Aguas Calientes and leave the big suitcase at the Cusco hotel, because the train has a luggage limit.

Chinchero, at 12,340 ft (3,762 m), has a colonial church on Inca walls and a weaving cooperative that shows natural dyes. Moray is a set of circular terraces sunk into the ground. At Maras, thousands of salt ponds step down the hillside, white against red earth.

Lunch at a buffet restaurant in the valley, with trout, quinoa and Andean potatoes.

A guided visit to the Ollantaytambo terraces, then the PeruRail Expedition train to Aguas Calientes along the Urubamba river, about 1 hour 40 minutes. The air gets warm and damp as you drop into cloud forest.

Consettur bus up the switchbacks, about 30 minutes. Your entry time is printed on the ticket, under your passport name.

About 2 hours 30 minutes with a licensed guide on Circuit 2, the route with the classic upper view and the main temples. Circuits are one way with no re-entry, so use the restroom at the gate.

Lunch on your own in Aguas Calientes, then the PeruRail Vistadome back to Ollantaytambo, with roof windows and a snack. A van drives you up to Cusco, about 1 hour 45 minutes.

Pickup between 04:00 and 04:30. About three hours by road to the trailhead, with breakfast on the way.

The trail climbs past alpaca herds to the viewpoint at 16,522 ft (5,036 m), with Ausangate's glaciers to the east. Most people stop every twenty steps on the last slope. Horses for most of the way are paid in cash to the community.

Lunch on the way down, back in Cusco between 16:00 and 17:00.

Pickup between 04:00 and 04:30, breakfast in Mollepata, then the dirt road to Soraypampa at about 12,800 ft (3,900 m).

A steep, steady climb to Humantay Lake at 13,780 ft (4,200 m), turquoise water under the Humantay glacier. Your guide explains why the lake is treated as sacred, and many walkers leave a small cairn of stones.

Down to Soraypampa with Salkantay in view, lunch in Mollepata, and back in Cusco in the evening.

A half-day outside Cusco. Apukunaq Tianan is a set of large modern sculptures carved into the rock by a local artist, with faces of Andean deities and animals. It is recent art, not an Inca site, and it photographs well.

The Huasao wetland has wooden walkways and a park of big carved wooden figures that the locals nickname the Forest of the Ents. Back in Cusco for a last afternoon in town.

Free morning. San Pedro market for coffee and dried fruit, or San Blas for the workshops.

Transfer to Cusco airport or the bus terminal for your flight to Lima and your connection home.