The Traveling Professor has taken hundreds of travelers to Peru and Machu Picchu on his small group tours. It is truly an amazing travel experience with tremendous natural beauty and cultural traditions. However, when we talk to people about Peru, they have reservations about going there. Most often they think it is a "third world" country, they will get sick, or it is crime-ridden. I have been to Peru and Machu Picchu as many as 4 times a year in recent years. In this blog post, I will try to dispel the most common myths about traveling to Peru and Machu Picchu.
When choosing to travel, I find people tend to go places they are familiar with,or have a good perception of what they can expect. For instance, there is a never-ending supply of people who want to visit Italy or Paris because they have heard so much about these destinations and they know what to expect in terms of sites to see, language, hotels, and culture. Whenever we take people to Peru, the most common comments we hear are, "I didn't expect the hotels to be so nice", "I didn't think the food would be so good", or "It is much more modern than I thought it would be". I understand people might think Peru is a "third-world country", but it is far, far from that. So, when they travel to Peru, it becomes a great surprise when they find the hotels, service, and restaurants to be MUCH BETTER than what they can find in Europe in many cases, and an even greater value. Read the blog post to find out more about our tour to Peru, Machu Picchu, and the Amazon.
For me, I enjoy our small group tours to Machu Picchu in a different way than I enjoy our tours to Europe. Peru and Machu Picchu are more about adventure, physical activity, and immersion into a culture that is so different from what we experience in North America and Europe. A trip to Peru and Machu Picchu is logistically difficult to plan. For instance, other than walking, there is only one way to Machu Picchu. In today's blog post I give a sample itinerary for visiting the best of Peru and Machu Picchu.
The Traveling Professor jumps on the bandwagon and is offering his special "Black Friday" travel deals to everyone on his mailing list. This is your opportunity to get a discount on The Traveling Professor's already affordable small group tours. Check out the blog post to see what the special deals are.
We just got back from a Traveling Professor small group tour to Peru. We took 10 travelers to South America on a tour to ancient Cusco, spectacular Machu Picchu and for the first time, The Traveling Professor went to the Amazon rain forest in what turned out to be a trip that exceeded all expectations. To get a trip report, read The Traveling Professor's blog. There is also a link to view all the photos from The Traveling Professor's small group tour to Peru.
Peru is a wonderful journey. Lima is like Southern California and old Europe mixed together. Cuzco is a cultural experience that all travelers should experience. The train ride from Cuzco to Aguas Calientes at the base of Machu Picchu is one of the most dramatic in the world. It is difficult to describe in words the beauty and thrill of Machu Picchu. The Sacred Valley is a spiritual journey. The Amazon Jungle is one of the great outdoor experiences in this world today, right up there with the Galapagos Islands. Peru is safe. The hotels we stay in are better than anything we stay in Europe. The food is world-class. So, why are we not going to Peru in 2015?
#1 on just about everyone's bucket list is a trip to Peru, especially Machu Picchu. We've done the trip many times and we think we have the best tour to Peru and Machu Picchu out there. Our itinerary is terrific and includes many places no other tour company will take you in Peru and Machu Picchu. We stay in some of the top hotels not only in Peru, some of them ranked in the Top 50 in the world by outfits like National Geographic. We take all of the details to make sure your trip goes smoothly. And, we only travel with small group of adult travelers. Take a look at the details to the best trip to Peru and Machu Picchu in today's blog post.
For the most part, there are two ways to get to Machu Picchu: take the train or walk. Fortunately the train ride to Machu Picchu is spectacular and one of the highlights on The Traveling Professor's tours to Peru and Machu Picchu. However, it is much more involved than buying a train ticket, hopping on and arriving at Machu Picchu. To help make a tour to Peru and Machu Picchu a success, read more in my blog post on how to take the train to Machu Picchu.
Peru, Machu Picchu, Cusco, and the Amazon jungle is one of the most fascinating tours in the world. TripAdvisor.com just ranked Machu Picchu as the #1 destination in the world. The Traveling Professor runs a fully guided small group tour to Peru for adults in November (see HERE). However, The Traveling Professor will also custom-design a tour to Peru for you with the dates you want to go and highlighting the sights you want to see. Peru is exciting, safe, in many ways very modern, and a great travel value. Take a look at the blog post for an example of a tour I just put together for two travelers from California.
The highlight of any tour to Peru is a visit to Machu Picchu. The town at the base of Machu Picchu is actually called Aguas Calientes, so any trip to Machu Picchu will involve getting to Aguas Calientes. There are no roads to Aguas Calientes, so the only way to get there is to walk or take the train. The Traveling Professor has been taking small groups to Peru for about 4 years now, so here is some advice on taking the train to Machu Picchu.