Combine your Spanish classes in Cusco with a tour of the
sacred valley, hiking trips, walking the famous Inka trail, rafting, city
tour, a visit to lake Titicaca or a jungle trip.
For some trips, like the Inca Trail, you need to reserve well in advanced.
You can book various travel activities through the school, also when you
are not a student. We work directly with established tour operators in
Cusco, cost efficiency and quality are guaranteed.
On this page you will find some suggestions what you can do in Cusco.
You will also find price and contact information with each activity.
The Inca Trail is Peru's best known trek,
combining Inca ruins, mountain scenery, cloud-forest and rich subtropical
jungle. Over 250 species of orchid have been counted in the Machu Picchu
Historic Sanctuary, as well as numerous birds such as hummingbirds, waterfowl
and the majestic Andean Condor.
The 45 km trek is covered in 4 days, arriving at Machu
Picchu in the morning on the final day before returning to Cusco by train
+ bus in the afternoon.
You can
also choose to do a 2 day hike to Machu Picchu. You will leave Cusco
around 5:30 am. The first day you will visit the Wiñayhuayna
ruins. Then walk to Inti Punku, to see the sunfall over MachuPicchu. The second day you will stay in Aguas Calientes and visit the site.
It is an ideal trail for trekkers wanting to experience at least a part
of the Inca Trail, but who haven't got the time to complete
the full 4 day trek.
It is possible to visit MachuPicchu (MP) 1 day or 2 days, with 1 night in Aguas Calientes.
When you visit for 1 day you will leave Cusco 5 am and go by bus to ollantaytambo, to take the train
to Agua Calientes, the little village at the foot of MachuPicchu. You
will arrive there at about 10:00 am. From Aguas Calientes you will take
the bus up to the ruins. A guide will be waiting for you there. After
the tour of about 2 hours you'll return to Aguas Calientes by bus, where
you'll take the train + bus to Cusco at around 4pm or a bit later.
This
trek goes around the original Inca Trail.
Located northwest of Cusco, the Salkantay mountain rises up to 20,500
feet or 6271 meters above sea level.
The Salkantay to Machu Picchu trek normally takes 5 days, although it is also possible to do a 4 day trek,
and is less popular than the Inca Trail, which means that the trek is
a quieter, less trodden route. During the trip you will be surrounded
with a magnificent scenery.
The trek is a little more difficult than the Inca Trail.
Horses will be used to carry food and equipment.
Choquequirao is called the other Machu
Picchu, although its discovery took place far before the famous Inca Citadel.
The "golden cradle" is protected by amazing stone walls, mountains
and surrounded by rich green land shelves. Arriving at Choquequirao is
a demanding adventure which starts with a road trip from Cusco to the
town of Cachora beginning the zigzag 30 kilometres trail to arrive at
the historical building.
The Cordillera Vilcanota
is an impressive range of mountains which include the massive Nevado de
Ausangate (6,385m). It offers you spectacular mountain scenery, snow-capped
peaks, hot springs, turquoise lakes, glaciers, herds of llamas and alpacas,
picturesque villages and traditionally dressed Indians. It's also high,
tough and cold, so be prepared.
This trek starts and finishes at the small Andean village
of Tinqui and takes you around the massif of Ausangate and over three
high passes, two of them over 5000m.
A sacred valley tour includes visits to the Pisac market and nearby
ruins, the ruins of Ollantaytambo and the Chincero market and ruins. A
tour departs every day, however on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday the Pisaq handycraft market is bigger. The tour leaves at 8 am.
The city tour of Cusco contains a visit to
the Cathedral, the Q'oricancha complex (both have an extra entrance fee), the Sacsayhuaman complex, Q'enqo,
Pucapucara and Tambomachay ruins. You can join a city tour every day. Departure is at 1:30 pm.
For this tour we need to check if there is a group leaving.
You would leave at 9:00 a.m. by bus towards the
Huayco lagoon. Here you will mount your bike and cross the towns of Chequereq
and Cruzpata, where you'll have a view of the ruins of Moray (see photo).
Afterwards you'll bike to the village of Maras towards the salineras
(terraces for the natural poduction of salt). The final destination is
Urubamba, where you will enjoy a lunch before returning to Cusco.
The tour is 44 km long of which 70% is downhill. It is
possible to add a extra day to the program visiting Pisac or Ollantaytambo.
Manu National Park is located in the south
east of Peru. It is one of the largest parks in South America (2 million
hectares) and is officialy recogized by the UNESCO as a world heritage.
It is a good example of biodeversity in protected areas of rain and cloud
forest.
You can visit Manu making a tour from 2 to 8 days. There
are a lot of programs to choose from.
For an overview of the programs, prices and contact click
here.
Lake Titicaca is the world's highest navigable
lake and the center of a region of farmers, making their living fishing,
growing potatoes or herding llama and alpaca. You will find traces of
the rich Indian past that resisted the destruction of the Spanish conquistadors.
Indian legend says the sun god had his children, Manco Capac and his sister-consort
Mama OcIlo, spring from the waters of the lake.
Lake Titacaca is so large it has waves and it has more
than 30 islands.
From Cusco you can visit the famous floating islands:
the Uros, Amantani and Taquile island.
You can do a rafting trip as from 1 day
(Cusipata river) or for 3 days (Apurimac River). The difficulty of a whitewater
river is classified on a scale of 1 to 6 (Class 1 has no whitewater and
Class 6 is unrunnable). First time rafters will enjoy class 2 to 3. The
Cusipata river is of this class range. For class 4 to 5 it is best to
have some experience. You will experience class 4 to 5 on the Apurimac
River.
First you will receive a safety instructions, a demonstration
of the equipment, and a basic rescue course depending on the type of river.