Machu Picchu & S America Planning + India?

[Jacques Vert]

Im just going to add that while youre at SCL, what about a visit to Easter Island? Waiting for dawn, while sitting in front of a row of Moai is one of the spectacular memories of my life.

We will look into it; how many days/nights would you suggest?

 

[amaroo]

I think you've selected a great time to visit MP. We went in May and the weather (and small crowds) were simply awesome... endless blue sky. Don't forget to book your MP tickets early and remember only 400/day can climb Wayna (Huayna) Picchu...

I followed advice from others here and went straight from Cusco airport to the Sacred Valley for a few days. We had no issues with altitude and it put us in good stead to cope with the altitude of Lake Titicaca. Sacred Valley is just fantastic - right up there with MP, IMHO.

 

[Jacques Vert]

I think you've selected a great time to visit MP. We went in May and the weather (and small crowds) were simply awesome... endless blue sky. Don't forget to book your MP tickets early and remember only 400/day can climb Wayna (Huayna) Picchu...

I followed advice from others here and went straight from Cusco airport to the Sacred Valley for a few days. We had no issues with altitude and it put us in good stead to cope with the altitude of Lake Titicaca. Sacred Valley is just fantastic - right up there with MP, IMHO.

We decided on May following the advice on here and a couple of google sites, all suggesting the end of the wet season and before the worst of the crowds.

I am assuming that there is no reciprocity fee in Peru, was that your experience?

 

[amaroo]

We decided on May following the advice on here and a couple of google sites, all suggesting the end of the wet season and before the worst of the crowds.

I am assuming that there is no reciprocity fee in Peru, was that your experience?

Correct. We only had to pay the fee for Chile .... we had a night in Santiago either end of the trip.

 

[Denali]

We will look into it; how many days/nights would you suggest?

I think RooFlyer was there only the one night, on his way to Tahiti but we were there for 6 nights as hubby enjoys his photography so he was all over the place in the middle of the night, dawn, sunset ect.

You need at least one dawn at the large moai of 15 and one sunset at the beach, I would say 2 nights at a min. Rent a car and do the drive around yourself. You will need to buy your park ticket on arrival at the airport so have USD on hand. I would also suggest the quarry late afternoon, I saw it sun blazing middle of the day and again later that afternoon (our guide got hubby in at night/after closing).

Edit and note the Fee is valid for 30 days so you can fly in/out of SCL multiple times with the one payment/fee

 

[RooFlyer]

Two nights, with two full days (Tahiti flight leaves after midnight )and we thought that was OK, not having any specialist must-dos. I'll disagree a bit with Denali here, as I think a (private) tour would be beneficial. If you take yourself, all you'll see are moai and they might all look much the same whereas in detail, they aren't. We did two single day tours, just three of us and driver/guide and it worked well. You could get away with one day and take yourself for the second or third days.

If you go in May, arrange your accommodation early ...

Easter Island bit from a recent TR ... although if your miles are tight in the RTW, this will only exacerbate that 'problem' ?

Oh, in Peru and Chile look out for ceviche ... hope you'll love it. And pisco sours ... I've started making my own at home and they are a hit! (Having a lime tree covered in 'em helps)

 

[Jacques Vert]

Correct. We only had to pay the fee for Chile .... we had a night in Santiago either end of the trip.

Thanks for confirming that.

 

[Jacques Vert]

I think RooFlyer was there only the one night, on his way to Tahiti but we were there for 6 nights as hubby enjoys his photography so he was all over the place in the middle of the night, dawn, sunset ect.

You need at least one dawn at the large moai of 15 and one sunset at the beach, I would say 2 nights at a min. Rent a car and do the drive around yourself. You will need to buy your park ticket on arrival at the airport so have USD on hand. I would also suggest the quarry late afternoon, I saw it sun blazing middle of the day and again later that afternoon (our guide got hubby in at night/after closing).

Edit and note the Fee is valid for 30 days so you can fly in/out of SCL multiple times with the one payment/fee

Two nights, with two full days (Tahiti flight leaves after midnight )and we thought that was OK, not having any specialist must-dos. I'll disagree a bit with Denali here, as I think a (private) tour would be beneficial. If you take yourself, all you'll see are moai and they might all look much the same whereas in detail, they aren't. We did two single day tours, just three of us and driver/guide and it worked well. You could get away with one day and take yourself for the second or third days.

If you go in May, arrange your accommodation early ...

Easter Island bit from a recent TR ... although if your miles are tight in the RTW, this will only exacerbate that 'problem' ?

Oh, in Peru and Chile look out for ceviche ... hope you'll love it. And pisco sours ... I've started making my own at home and they are a hit! (Having a lime tree covered in 'em helps)

Thanks Denali and RooFlyer; all good information.

And nice to know that one reciprocity fee covers us for multiple entries over a 30 day period; I'm sure that we can make that work for us.

And yes, Easter Island will exacerbate the mileage "challenge"!

 

[Jacques Vert]

Thanks to everyone who has responded so far. We have been blown away by the number of responses and quality of information.

 

[JohnM]

Varanasi is a must-do in India, while Delhi is nothing special and with vile air pollution to boot, IMO. Take an overnight train in India - but allow for delays.

A couple of days at Easter Island is sufficient IMO.

Santiago offers nothing special IMO, so I wouldn't linger long there.

Climb Huayna Picchu .

 

[amaroo]

The one regret we have from our trip was not pushing into Bolivia and visiting the salt flats .... we were so close and (more importantly) acclimatised to the altitude. If I had my time again - I would have pushed the envelope and extended the trip.

The salt flats look amazing.... bolivia salt flats

 

[Milboo]

Don't know if you came across my TR in your reading but it includes a section on Peru, which we combined with the Galapagos. Until we found a spot on a boat there we had plans to go to the Atacama Desert in Chile.

In a nutshell, the Belmond in the Sacred Valley was an amazing place to stay and I could have stayed longer easily. I had wanted to stay at the Belmond in Cuzco but they were booked
http://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/trip-reports-and-trip-photos/tr-galapagos-peru-july-aug-70596.html

As for India - I'd instead highly recommend Sri Lanka - especially the Resplendent Ceylon properties.

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....os/sri-lankan-getaway-march-2016-a-75438.html

 

[JohnM]

Don't know if you came across my TR in your reading but it includes a section on Peru, which we combined with the Galapagos. Until we found a spot on a boat there we had plans to go to the Atacama Desert in Chile.

The Atacama is one of the more extraordinary places I've been to (http://www.australianfrequentflyer....gh-dry-breathless-atacama-desert-64967-2.html). Highly recommended if you can work it in.

 

[bsb]

Patagonia is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. Torre de Paine is breathtaking. Depending on budget, there are some really special places to stay from inexpensive to $$$. But the scenery is free

The Andes lakes crossing is amazing too.

 

[JohnM]

Patagonia is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. Torre de Paine is breathtaking. Depending on budget, there are some really special places to stay from inexpensive to $$$. But the scenery is free

The Andes lakes crossing is amazing too.

Absolutely agree with that.

Chile, being so long N-S (ie. covering so many climatic zones - plus the mountains) really is best done in lots of bite-size chunks (that's partly what's taken me there almost yearly for a decade or so.... Love the place.

 

[Jacques Vert]

Don't know if you came across my TR in your reading but it includes a section on Peru, which we combined with the Galapagos. Until we found a spot on a boat there we had plans to go to the Atacama Desert in Chile.

In a nutshell, the Belmond in the Sacred Valley was an amazing place to stay and I could have stayed longer easily. I had wanted to stay at the Belmond in Cuzco but they were booked
http://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/trip-reports-and-trip-photos/tr-galapagos-peru-july-aug-70596.html

As for India - I'd instead highly recommend Sri Lanka - especially the Resplendent Ceylon properties.

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....os/sri-lankan-getaway-march-2016-a-75438.html

I was certainly aware of, and subscribed to, the first TR which I'll be re-reading with renewed interest, but missed the second. Thanks for the links.

 

[Jacques Vert]

The Atacama is one of the more extraordinary places I've been to (http://www.australianfrequentflyer....gh-dry-breathless-atacama-desert-64967-2.html). Highly recommended if you can work it in.

Thanks for the link. We may need to add a few weeks to fit in all these wonderful suggestions.

 

[Milboo]

I was certainly aware of, and subscribed to, the first TR which I'll be re-reading with renewed interest, but missed the second. Thanks for the links.

I fell down a rabbit hole last night re-reading my TR from SA and reliving the experiences etc and remembering what an amazing trip it was.

 

[Fifa]

We visited SA (and walked the Inca Trail) last April...

Fellow AFFer, KPC had recommended going to the Sacred Valley as soon as we arrived in Cusco and I am glad we took his advice.

I pre-booked a taxi online through Taxidatum to meet us at Cusco Airport and take us to the Sacred Valley. They even offer a senior discount!
We had arranged to drop our luggage at our Cusco hotel for storage on our way through and just took small bags to Ollantaytambo (it is difficult to wheel luggage along the cobblestone streets although a lot of the accommodation places seemed to have little wagons to meet the taxis and buses in the main square).
Our B&B, Kamma Guest House was perfect - it has recently been refurbished, is run by two lovely girls who completed their hotel training in the US and breakfast on the roof overlooking Ollantaytambo was a highlight! The location was excellent and they even provided walking poles to help you get around the nearby Inca sites.

We caught the tourist bus from Cusco to Puno and stayed a night in a hotel in the centre of town. On arrival we shopped around for a 2 day/1 night Lake Titicaca boat and homestay tour leaving next day and it was a bargain!

Look at doing the Andean Explorer from Puno to Cusco as it is often substantially cheaper in that direction. The train trip was a highlight and was so luxe.

I wish we had time to go to Bolivia but we'll have to leave it to next time... Our daughter and her fiancé agreed that Bolivia was their favourite country during their recent 6 months of travel in South America.

 

[Jacques Vert]

We visited SA (and walked the Inca Trail) last April...

Fellow AFFer, KPC had recommended going to the Sacred Valley as soon as we arrived in Cusco and I am glad we took his advice.

I pre-booked a taxi online through Taxidatum to meet us at Cusco Airport and take us to the Sacred Valley. They even offer a senior discount!
We had arranged to drop our luggage at our Cusco hotel for storage on our way through and just took small bags to Ollantaytambo (it is difficult to wheel luggage along the cobblestone streets although a lot of the accommodation places seemed to have little wagons to meet the taxis and buses in the main square).
Our B&B, Kamma Guest House was perfect - it has recently been refurbished, is run by two lovely girls who completed their hotel training in the US and breakfast on the roof overlooking Ollantaytambo was a highlight! The location was excellent and they even provided walking poles to help you get around the nearby Inca sites.

We caught the tourist bus from Cusco to Puno and stayed a night in a hotel in the centre of town. On arrival we shopped around for a 2 day/1 night Lake Titicaca boat and homestay tour leaving next day and it was a bargain!

Look at doing the Andean Explorer from Puno to Cusco as it is often substantially cheaper in that direction. The train trip was a highlight and was so luxe.

I wish we had time to go to Bolivia but we'll have to leave it to next time... Our daughter and her fiancé agreed that Bolivia was their favourite country during their recent 6 months of travel in South America.

I've been wondering when we would hear from you! Hope you enjoyed your latest sojourn.

I've checked out the taxi link and it looks good. But you have outdone yourself with that guesthouse! That's extremely good value, even by your standards.