Peru Travel For a First-Time Visitor to South America

Back in December 2015, my parents and I decided to travel to Peru. We booked flights to Lima, Peru for the following spring. Then we sat back and kind of hoped our Peru travel plans would organically fall into place. Spoiler alert: they did not.

With no preconceived Peru itinerary in place, other than maybe visiting Machu Picchu, I started researching our travel options. I quickly grew overwhelmed. We wanted to center our Peru trip in the Sacred Valley and I had a long checklist of accommodations, transportation, and things to do to figure out in a country – heck, a continent – I’d never visited before.

My Google searches about Peru travel just gave me more things to worry about: altitude sickness, drinking water, pickpockets, did I have the right hiking boots? I really wished I’d had this Peru packing list back then to assuage some of my anxiety.

As our departure date inched nearer, I realized I didn’t have to plan every detail of our Peru experience by myself. Instead, I could do what I’d historically done when experiencing a country for the very first time, including England and Ireland. We could join a group tour. It ended up being the absolute best decision for our little travel group of three.

G Adventures Had the Perfect Peru Tour Itinerary For Us

After a little online research, I stumbled upon G Adventures. Our flight schedule gave us eight full days in Peru and their 7-day Inca Trail Adventure looked pretty perfect. In fact, it looked more than perfect. It looked down right familiar.

It sure seemed like a Canada-based travel agent friend had hit the exact same locations as described in the itinerary when she’s visited Peru a couple years earlier. I sent her a quick message: “Hey, we’re looking into tour options for Peru. You didn’t happen to go the G Adventures Inca Trail tour, did you?” She quickly responded yes and oh, would we like one of the travel agents in her office help us book the tour for our Peru trip. Well, yeah. Why not?!

We hadn’t intended to do serious backpacking in Peru during our visit. However the G Adventure itinerary fit our flight schedule so well, we decided to give it a go. It felt a little risky. G Adventures describes this tour as “active” While all three of us are active and outdoor oriented, my parents were in their sixties. To avoid the infamous stone steps of the Inca Trail, we opted for G Adventures’ alternate Lares Trek itinerary.

We also added an additional night in Cusco. G Adventures easily extend our stay at the Hotel Prisma where we spent both the first and last night of our official tour. After seven full days in a tour group, we were ready to explore Incan capital city independently.

Our Peru Travel Experience with G Adventures

We loved G Adventures! G Adventures oversaw all of our Peru details, even airport transfers, for a very reasonable price. All we had to do was get ourselves to Cusco.

Although the hotels were certainly nothing fancy, all our needs were met. G Adventures impressed us with their friendly, knowledgeable at every level. What a relief to sit back and enjoy the trip with folks who knew our Peru itinerary inside out! Hats off to them for creating such an enjoyable and memorable Peruvian experience I’ll never forget.

The Advantages of Backpacking the Lares Trek instead the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

We initially selected the Lares Trek over the Inca Trail because of its shorter length.  On the Lares Trek you only spend two nights camping on the trail. The Inca Trail is a three-night hike ending directly at Machu Picchu. With the Lares Trek option, you spend that third night in Aquas Caliente at the foot of Machu Picchu. 

However, our choice came with other unexpected advantage. We spent the first full day of our Peru tour traveling in a large group of about 30 people to various Sacred Valley attractions, ending in Ollantaytambo. The next morning the majority of those folks headed off on the Inca Trail while the remaining six of us got shuttled to the Lares Trek start. We didn’t realize we’d be in such a small group. Talk about a happy coincedence for a bunch of introverts! We wouldn’t have traded our guide, Gato, and the rest of our group mates for the world.

During our three-day hike it felt like our small group of six tourists, one guide, and three porters had the entire Andes to ourselves. With no other tour groups on the trail, we enjoyed quiet campsites and the ability to move at our own pace. On the Lares Trek we got to interact with local children and get a glimpse of everyday life in the Andes. It felt like a far cry from the experience the rest of our tour group got on the tourist-centric Inca Trail. 

Is the Lares Trek easier than the Inca Trail? 

You might see Lares Trek billed as easier than the Inca Trail, but we found it plenty challenging. We had quite the climb through Peru’s Andes Mountain, eventually crossing a 4800 metre (that’s over 15,500 ft!) pass. While the highest point on the Inca Trail – Dead Woman’s Pass – is 2000 ft lower than the Lares’ high point, conspicously absent from the Lares Trek are any stone steps. We still had to watch our feet pretty carefully, especially on the long downhill after the pass. 

Why Select A Group Tour For A First-Time Visit to Peru

You don’t speak Spanish

Not that I retained any of it, but I studied French in high school and college. Beyond uno, dos, tres, I really can’t speak a word of Spanish. I feel lucky that my first language, English, is so universally used, but I didn’t feel great that we’d be forcing Peruvians to communicate with us in their second language. I didn’t want the language barrier putting us in confusing or vulnerable situations.

Ironically, when our transfer driver at the Cusco airport picked us up, he immediately asked me, “You speak a little Spanish, right?” Sorry, nope!

You’ve enjoyed tours in the past

With so many unknown unknowns when traveling to a brand-new to you part of the world, I kind of like the hand holding a group tour offers. No matter how much research you do ahead of time, there’s always some dissonance between what you were expecting and actual reality. I don’t mind being a tourist when I truly am a tourist. I’ve always enjoyed how tours help you more quickly assimilate to a new setting. While I’ll never exclusively use tours when I travel, that initial introduction to a country through a tour helps me figure out what truly interests me about the country and often gives me the confidence to return independently.

You don’t want to stress out over logistics

Traveling is stressful. Traveling with my parents is especially stressful because I feel responsible for ensuring that everything goes smoothly. If we didn’t use a group tour, I knew I’d be wading through all the internet reviews to figure out which hotel to stay at in Cusco. I’d be figuring out how to get from the airport to the hotel and how to get from Cusco to Ollantaytambo or Machu Picchu. And I didn’t want to spend my vacation worried about those sort of things. I wanted to relax and really enjoy the experience.

Would I Travel in Peru with G Adventures Again

Of course, being on tour instead of traveling independently does mean that you give up some of your freedom. I would have loved to have explored Ollantaytambo and Aquas Caliente more, but there just wasn’t the wiggle room in the tour itinerary to allow for it. If I ever return to the Sacred Valley, I’ll probably forego a tour, although since you must have a guide to hike the Inca Trail, I’d most likely hit up G Adventures again the next time I go backpacking in Peru for the actual hike from Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu. I can’t wait to get back!