Peru Honeymoon: How Many Days, Where to Stay, What It Costs

Short answer: Give a Peru honeymoon ten to twelve days. Two nights in Lima to arrive and eat well, three in the Sacred Valley with Machu Picchu entered at a quiet hour, two or three in Cusco once you have adjusted to the altitude, and two on Lake Titicaca if you want the trip to end somewhere silent. Sleep in the valley rather than the city for the first highland nights, upgrade the hotels rather than the tour count, and budget from about US$900 per person for a 7-day Lima to Machu Picchu package in 3-star hotels, up to US$2,220 in 5-star, with flights extra.

How many days

Ten to twelve, and not fewer than eight. The altitude sets the floor: Cusco at 3,400 m (11,150 ft) gives most people a rough first day, and a honeymoon with a headache in it is a waste of a honeymoon. The fix is to come up slowly and to put the easy, beautiful days first. The Sacred Valley at about 2,870 m (9,420 ft) is lower than Cusco, has the resort hotels with gardens and spas, and is the base for Machu Picchu, so it goes before the city rather than after. Lake Titicaca at 3,812 m (12,507 ft) goes last, when your bodies are ready and you want quiet.

A sample twelve days: Lima two nights (the cliffs, the old center, two long dinners), fly to Cusco and drive straight down to the Sacred Valley for three nights (Pisac market, Moray and the Maras salt ponds, an afternoon doing nothing by a pool), the train to Aguas Calientes with a night below the citadel, Machu Picchu early the next morning, back up to Cusco for three nights (the city, San Blas, one day trip), the tourist bus or the train to Puno, and two nights on the lake with a day on the islands. Eleven nights in all. Our Peru itinerary guide has the 7, 10 and 14 day versions of the same logic for any traveler, and the honeymoon version simply slows each one down.

Machu Picchu at a calm hour

The citadel takes thousands of visitors a day in timed slots, and the honeymoon trick is to be there when the fewest of them are. Two ways. Sleep in Aguas Calientes the night before and take the first buses up for the earliest entry slot, when the mist is still in the valley and the terraces are empty for an hour. Or take a late-morning train, check in, and enter in one of the afternoon slots, when the day-trippers have left for their trains and the light is low on the stone. Either way, two days with a night in the town beat the day trip from Cusco, which puts you at the gate with everyone else at midday. Our Machu Picchu by train in 2 days is that plan: Vistadome train, a night in Aguas Calientes, guided visit the next morning, from US$597 per person with a 3-star hotel and US$751 with a 5-star one. Read how the circuits work before you book, because Circuit 2 is the one with the postcard view.

If the train is part of the celebration, the Belmond Hiram Bingham runs from Poroy near Cusco with brunch, dinner, drinks and a guide included, at fares that start around US$500 each way (as of June 2026, per our Hiram Bingham guide). It is a day out more than a transfer, and couples who take it one way and the Vistadome the other get the best of both.

Where to stay

Peru's honeymoon hotels are in three places, and our hotel guides rank them by public review scores with the date of the check, so we quote those rather than our own taste.

The Sacred Valley

The valley has the resort hotels: gardens, pools, spas, and views of the terraces from bed. Our Sacred Valley hotel guide lists the highest-rated on Tripadvisor as of October 2026, led by Tambo del Inka in Urubamba at 4.9 of 5, with Sol y Luna, Belmond Rio Sagrado, Aranwa and Inkaterra Hacienda Urubamba at 4.8. Urubamba gives you the resort space, Ollantaytambo gives you the early train from your door. For a honeymoon, three nights here is the center of the trip.

Cusco

Cusco's special hotels are the converted convents and colonial houses within a few blocks of the plaza. Our Cusco hotel guide lists Monasterio at 9.8 on Booking.com as of October 1, 2026, then Casa San Blas at 9.5 and a group at 9.4. Pick a hotel on the flat streets near the plaza rather than up the San Blas hill, because you will walk home after dinner at 11,000 ft. Some of the high-end hotels pipe oxygen into rooms, which the guide notes per hotel.

Aguas Calientes and the lake

Below Machu Picchu, our Aguas Calientes hotel guide puts Tierra Viva and Casa Andina Standard at 8.9 on Booking.com as of October 1, 2026, with the Sanctuary Lodge at the citadel gate at 9.3 and over US$2,100 a night, which is the splurge couples ask us about most. On Lake Titicaca, our Puno and lake hotel guide covers the lakeside hotels outside town, where the night is black and the morning is all water. A night with a family on Amantaní is the other option, and more memorable than any hotel if you can do without your own bathroom for one night.

What it costs

Our packages are priced per person in a double room, and the tier changes only the hotels, which is exactly the lever a honeymoon wants. Peru in 7 days, from Lima through Nazca to Machu Picchu, runs from US$900 per person in 3-star hotels, US$1,100 in 4-star and US$2,220 in 5-star, with flights extra. The complete Peru in 15 days, which climbs slowly from the coast through Arequipa, the Colca Canyon and the lake to Cusco, runs from US$2,084 to US$4,391 per person by tier. Add international flights, the domestic flights, dinners and the tips, and a comfortable twelve-day honeymoon for two in 4-star hotels lands in the low five figures in dollars. Our Machu Picchu trip cost guide breaks down the Machu Picchu days line by line.

Every package can start on your date, and groups who want their own departure get a quote through the free quote form, which is how most honeymooners travel with us. The honeymoon-ready packages in the Peru itineraries hub are the ones to start from, and the custom trips page is where you tell us what to change.

Small things that make the difference

Tell the hotels it is a honeymoon when you book, since the better ones do something about it. Put a rest day in the valley with nothing planned. Book the earliest Machu Picchu slot and go to bed early the night before, which is easier than it sounds in a town with one street. Ask your guide about a small offering ceremony on the lake or in the valley if that interests you, described honestly on our despacho ceremony guide. And carry the altitude advice from the Cusco altitude guide seriously: no alcohol the first night at altitude is the least romantic rule on this page and the one that saves the trip.

Sources

• Hotel scores and dates: our guides to the best hotels in Cusco, the Sacred Valley, Aguas Calientes and Puno, each with the platform, score and check date per hotel
• CDC Yellow Book, High Altitude Travel and Altitude Illness
• Ministerio de Cultura, Machu Picchu tickets (timed entry slots and circuits)