Machu Picchu and Galapagos Itineraries

We just returned from a trip to Peru and the Galapagos Islands. We visited Lima, the Amazon, the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu, and Cusco, with an overnight stay in Quito.

The Zicasso-recommended travel agency created the perfect itinerary for us. All of the transitioning from place to place was seamless, the hotels were beautiful, the recommendations for restaurants were great, and the guides we had were amazing. They were so enthusiastic and willing to share their knowledge about past and current history. We were so impressed with our travel agency that we are already considering our next journey with them.

We were extremely happy with every aspect of our trip to Peru and the outstanding assistance and support by Stuart, Satish and others at our Peru travel agency. We flew directly to Cusco and spent two nights there seeing the various sites in and around the city with a private guide, then a private guided tour to the Sacred Valley by van spending the night in Ollantaytambo. The next morning we took the train to Machu Picchu and had a private tour of the ruins followed by a stay in the wonderful Inkaterra MP Pueblo. The following day we took the train from Aguas Caliente to Cusco - a very pleasant and comfortable way to travel. The next morning we were off to the airport traveling to Puerto Maldonado for a three night stay in the Inkaterra Amazonica Reserva. We had wonderful guides with a special hats off to Jorge in Cusco and SV. Our MP guide was also excellent. We had terrific support getting around in all the locations and would highly recommend this travel company to not only our friends but to all who consider traveling to and about Peru!

We had a wonderful time on out recent vacation with our travel agency to Peru and Ecuador. The Sacred Valley is amazing. Those Incans really knew how to build. We were met by guides at the airports in Lima and Cusco. Natalie showed is the Sacred Valley and was very knowledgeable. We had a guide on our hike on the Incan Trail from mile 104 to the Sun Gate at Machu Picchu. He was an excellent guide. He, also, was really informative.  He kept a very reasonable pace.

Then we flew to Quito where we were met by our guides. We spent the next week exploring the highlands of Ecuador with them. It was a pleasure getting to know our guides and their culture.  They took us to several cities, some Incan ruins, and the equator. We drove to Guayaquil on the coast for our flight to the Galapagos.

There we stayed on a catamaran and sailed to many islands in the Galapagos. We snorkeled, hiked, kayaked, and rode in zodiaks exploring the flora and the fauna. The staff on the catamaran saw to our every need. The food was delicious, the ship was spotless, and the staff was friendly and courteous.

Our South America travel agency made sure we were taken care of and had a wonderful trip.

We just returned from a 10 day trip to Peru with 15 family members. Our agent worked with me to plan every detail of the trip.   Everything went according to schedule and without a single hitch!  Our agent lined up a trip to satisfy every single member in our group ages 71 to 10.  We will never forget this trip of a lifetime!  The trip was planned so that we could adjust to the elevation appropriately.  We started with 3 days, 2 nights in the Amazon jungle.  The resort we stayed at and the activities planned were awesome!  The food was good too.  The kids, ages 10-18 loved that part of the trip the best.  We moved on to the Sacred Valley for 4 days, day 1 full day touring at Pisac ruins, Ollantaytambo ruins, day 2 full day touring included Chincero weaving demonstration, Moray ruins & Mara salt mines, day 3 was horseback riding for 11 in our group and the other 4 went whitewater rafting on the Urubamba river, and day 4 was our trip to Machu Picchu.  We moved on to Cusco for 2 nights.  Our first full day in Cusco, we did a 1/2 day tour, and a late afternoon chocolate making event for 1 hour at the Choco Museo.  The next morning we left for Lima, spent 1 night in Lima and did a 1/2 day city tour.  We had the afternoon free and headed to the airport by 7:00 pm for our flights back to the U.S.  We were met by representatives at every location at the times stated.  All our tours were private for our group and the guides were awesome.  The food was so tasty throughout our trip.  Our agent made reservations in advance for our dinners.  Be flexible.  We are used to eating lunches around noon, but while touring, most lunches were around 2-3 pm in the afternoon.  We did have protein bars that we packed in our backpack.  Bonus item working with this agent....my husband had requested a surprise birthday cake for me at the restaurant in our Sacred Valley hotel. Our agent personally ordered a cake from a known bakery in Cusco and drove 1.5-2 hours to our hotel to personally deliver it with a nice birthday present!  That is going way above and beyond!  It was a pleasure meeting him in person!  I would not hesitate to recommend this agent and his company for any travel in South America!  

Our trip to South America had been in the pipeline for several years so when it came to putting it into actuality we wanted to make sure that it was just right. We hunted around to find a travel agent who could tailor a package to suit our needs. We came up with a list of 4 travel agents in 4 different countries but eventually we chose this travel agency. Our decision was based on  the the travel agency's approachability (whenever we emailed a question we always received an immediate and comprehensive response); also our agency's flexibility in being able to add or alter different options, and their friendly and helpful advice.Our contact was with Heather who made herself available to chat on Skype at all times. (It is very reassuring to be able to personalise travel arrangements - it makes it seem less like dealing with an anonymous organisation and more like chatting with a friend and mentor.)Our agent provided us with a comprehensive written itinerary which left nothing in doubt. She organised all transfers, internal flights, tours with local operators (some private, some group). At one stage when demonstrations in Cusco interrupted train and bus services, Heather immediately stepped in to organise suitable alternatives. We understand that other tourists did not fair so well and were stranded on train platforms or forced to pay for exorbitant hotel accommodation.Our 43-day tour included visits to 6 countries -  Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Brazil. Right from the onset in Quito we were met by a wonderful guide who shared his knowledge of Ecuador - its geology, its history, its politics and its food. Our agent marked the beginning of a series of friendly, well informed and entertaining tour guides from the different regions we visited.We had an amazing holiday visiting all the well known tourist sites - Galapagos, Machu Picchu, Colca Canyon, Lake Titicaca, Iguasu Falls and Rio de Janeiro. And a few maybe a little less touristy such as Paracas and the Ballestas Islands, the Peruvian Amazon basin, Nazca lines and the Bolivian Salt Lake of Uyuni.When we used bus transport it was reasonably comfortable, hotel accommodation was always clean and comfortable and airport transfers were always on time. All hotels included breakfast which naturally varied from one hotel to another but it was always quite adequate and healthy. At different times when other meals were provided such as on the Galapagos cruise, in the Amazon Basin, on Lake Titicaca and during the Sacred Valley tour the quality of the food was quite impressive.We are now considering another visit to South America - this time to Patagonia and we will definitely be looking at involving this travel agency again with our trip arrangements.Muchas gratias!