For those who like an adventure type of holiday, Peru is a hard destination to beat. The difficulty isn’t in finding something to do, it’s in choosing between all the options that are available. Which is best will depend on your personal preferences in terms of climate and activity.
It may also depend on the amount of time that you have for traveling. As the country is large, if you want to combine more than one activity, you’ll need to consider the locations and the times for traveling between them. Hiring professional tourist agency, such as Peru Amazon tours can be certainly helpful. That being said, here are six of the best Peru adventures to choose from.
Salkantay Trek
Peru is definitely amazing trekking country. There are so many trail possibilities, it’s hard to pick just one. That being said, since you probably want to include a visit to Machu Picchu in your vacation plans, one of the best is the Salkantay trek. This 5 day, 4 night trek has you arriving at Aguas Calientes, the town near Machu Picchu on the 4th day where you will overnight and have your tour of the site the following morning.
Salkantay was named one of the world’s best treks by National Geographic and gives you the chance to see so much diverse scenery, including fauna and flora nad you make your way through high jungle and snowy mountains. This is a great chance to experience the country outside of the typical tourist locations on a trail that is still not widely traveled.
Choquequirao Trek
Although the landscape is not quite as varied as you will get on the Salkantay trail, what awaits you at the end is well worth the trip. That is not to say that you will be disappointed by the mountains and valleys that you will pass through by any means.
Sprawling across the mountain over several levels, Choquequirao is an archaeological site that some think is just as impressive as Machu Picchu. What makes it even more spectacular is that, due to the difficulty of the hike, not many people make this trek. Therefore, you may find that you are able to wander about the ruins alone, something it’s not possible to do at Machu Picchu.
Always acclimate to the altitude and be sure that you understand that this is a difficult trek which you are advised to only attempt if you are in good shape. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can add on days and continue on to Machu Picchu as well.
Manu Jungle
If you’ve got the time, you can’t go wrong with a trip to Manu National Park. The longer a tour you can book, the deeper into the jungle you can get and, therefore, see more of the native flora and fauna. Tours are typically in lengths of 5, 7 or 9 days. Tours shorter than 5 days are not ideal because of the travel time necessary to get to the location.
The park provides a home for thousands of plants and insects, more than 1000 species of birds and more than 200 mammal species. Among the animals are included the giant otter, anteater, jaguar, anteater, tapir and several species of monkeys. In addition to the flora and fauna, there are beautiful landscapes of gorges, waterfalls and even pre-Inca archaeological sites. Keep in mind that if you are traveling to or from the jungle in light plane, there are sometimes delays and this needs to be taken into account when planning your itinerary.