The Galapagos Islands are a truly spectacular travel destination worthy of inclusion on any bucket-list. Read our guide to help ensure you choose the right Galapagos travel experience for you...
Patagonia is one of the true last frontiers of our planet: an epic, barren and beautiful wilderness region at the southern tip of South America. But which region is better?
The Galapagos Islands have been bestowed with some of the most stunning beaches, iconic wildlife, fabulous landscapes and majestic beauty in the world. They are a unique travel destination offering journeys and adventures unparalleled elsewhere.
However the islands are also an expensive travel destination and although it is possible to visit the majority of the islands (some are closed to the public) in reality most visitors would choose shorter itineraries visiting a selection of islands, which can mean having to choose a specific itinerary and deciding which islands to visit.
In April 2017 Peru's Ministry of Culture announced a number of changes that will come into effect from 1st July 2017 regarding tourist visitor access to Machu Picchu.
Read more: New 2017 Machu Picchu Entry Rules - Everything You Need To Know
Here's our top 5 tips when picking the best Galapagos cruise for you:
Read more: 5 Tips When Picking The Best Galapagos Cruise For You
Peru’s eclectic cuisine has recently been earning acknowledgement as one of the worlds finest. Since 2010 London has gone from having just one solitary Peruvian restaurant to more than 10 with more to come as this trend grows… and as recently as December 2016 Peru won “Best Culinary Destination” for the fifth year in a row at The World Travel Awards.
Suddenly, and deservedly, everyone is talking about Peruvian food.
Everyone at Go Andes would like to wish all our friends, family, colleagues, customers, fellow-travellers, and the wonderful South American people a very happy Easter, y Felices Pascuas.
We're pleased to announce that we are exhibiting at the Adventure Travel Show on the 23rd and 24th January at London Olympia. There's only one more week to go!
The first thing to remember is that Machu Picchu is a wonderful and truly iconic site to behold whenever you visit, and there is no bad time to visit Machu Picchu!!
Read more: When Is The Best Time Of Year To Visit Machu Picchu?
If you are thinking about visiting a jungle or rainforest, you can't do much better than visit the Amazon Jungle in Peru, but which is the best region to visit?
Read more: Which Is The Best Amazon Jungle Region To Visit In Peru?
Peru is a world-renowned travel destination with a plethora of fascinating and iconic historical attractions of cultural, archaeological, natural, and global significance, and a large collection of important UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Read more: A List of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Peru
Jurassic Park is big news at the moment, with the 4th installment in the franchise, "Jurassic World", smashing box office records across the globe. Although it's been 14 years since the last movie "Jurassic Park 3" in 2001, the human insatiable desire for all things dinosaur doesn't appear to have dissipated in that time.
For keen travellers like us with an interest in all things natural history, geography, and archaeology, some of the more interesting dinosaur news in recent years has been the discoveries of "giant" dinosaurs, and what has excited us here at Go Andes is that a number of these species have been found in South America, particularly in Argentina. This fact, and the recent release of the new Jurassic Park movie, inspired us to investigate where the Dinosaurs from the new Jurassic World Movie actually come from, where did they live, where were their skeletons found?, and find out how many of them came from our favourite continent: South America...
Read more: Where Did The "Jurassic World" Dinosaurs Come From?
Che Guevara is an infamous person, and the "Guerrillero Heroico" image of him taken by Alberto Korda has become one of the most copied, and recognised, symbolic photos ever taken. Hailed as a hero by some, and a rebel and criminal by others, what is certainly true is that Che was a confusing and often controversial character.
Although we're not interested in the political debate, for travellers like us, one of the most interesting parts of Che's life was his earlier years, specifically his travelling adventures, which were published in the book "The Motorcycle Diaries", a memoir written by Che of his travel experiences. Although his first trip was in 1950 through northern Argentina and the region near to his homeland, his greatest and most famous journey was his 1951 epic 5000 mile adventure throughout South America with his friend Alberto Granado. This journey, and Che's memoirs, were made into a brilliant 2004 film, "The Motorcycle Diaries", directed by Walter Salles and starring Gael Garcia Bernal.
This Sunday, June 14th 2015, would have been the 87th birthday of Che Guevara, so in celebration of this occassion we've followed in the footsteps of Che's epic South American tour and have created this map following the route Che took, as well as all the best sights and tourist attractions to visit or see in or nearby each of the locations Che visited...
Read more: Che Guevara's Motorcycle Diaries For The Modern Traveller
Peru is a country that has a wonderful mix of adventure, romance, discovery, relaxation, and luxury, and all this makes it a wonderful holiday and honeymoon choice.
Read more: Top 6 Most Romantic Destinations To Visit on Honeymoon in Peru
People ask us all the time - what is so great about Peru? What makes Peru that very rare thing: a true Iconic travel and holiday destination?...
Comprising the mind-blowing realms of Brazil, Paraguay, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Guyana, Ecuador, Uruguay, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia and Suriname, South America is simply stunning. Made up of the world’s most incredible natural sites and bringing together remarkable cultures, a trip to South America can be a life changing experience. Here are 34 things in stunning South America that will take your breath away...
Read more: Stunning South America: 34 Places That Will Take Your Breath Away
Semana Santa in Peru
South America is a wonderful destination to visit at anytime of year, but to visit during a religious or annual festival, such as Christmas, New Year, or Inti Raymi, can add to the whole experience and make the holiday that little bit more special.
South America has a dazzling and intoxicating way of making all these celebrations epic visual spectacles, that really draw in intrepid travellers to admire, experience, and live the culture.
Thousands of tourists visit Peru each year, and tens of thousands of them make it their mission to visit Machu Picchu.
What Does Machu Picchu Offer?
It is true that Machu Picchu offers so much, and is certainly one of the most visually impressive and beautiful sights on the planet. The great beauty of Machu Picchu, and the fabulous legacy left behind by the Inca Culture, is to be respected and admired, and it is no surprise that Machu Picchu has been recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage site, adorns the covers of countless holiday magazines across the world, and has been nominated many times as the Destination of the Year at various travel awards.
Machu Picchu simply cannot fail to impress.
Setting Out on the Inca Trail
As part of our holiday to Peru we undertook the short Inca Trail trek. We were collected from our hotel to catch the early train from Poroy to Km104, the train journey was itself amazing, the views were superb, which we enjoyed thorough the panoramic style windows.
After about 2 hours the train come to a stop at Km104, which was a small stop, with no platform, in the middle of nowhere! We were starting to wonder if this was a good idea! Our guide was waiting for us alongside the railway tracks, we crossed a rope bridge across the river to the checkpoint, which was a small hut with a straw roof, showed our passports and our highly anticipated journey had begun....
Read more: Short Inca Trail to Machu Picchu - Nick's Peru Holiday Diary
I hadn't thought about including Northern Peru in my holiday itinerary but having heard about the pre Incan sites in that part of the country I felt that it was a must visit in addition to the more usual sites in the South. I am so pleased I did as it was a remarkable experience.
Lima
The first stop of my trip, capital of this amazing country. Luckily I had two days here in a lovely, well-situated hotel in Miraflores. Plenty of time for walks along the Pacific coastline, through well kept parks, past unusual sculptures and Gaudiesque mosaic walls. It was amazing to be able to visit an adobe pyramid in amongst modern buildings, abandoned in AD700 then used by the Wari people as a cemetery. Now juxtaposed with a fabulous restaurant where I ate an excellent meal of Peruvian food in the midst of floodlit ancient archaeology.
Read more: Adventure Holiday in Northern Peru - Nigel's Holiday Diary
Setting Forth To Peru
Peru was always a destination on our bucket list. When planning the trip I figured – if I’m going to fly half way around the world, I might as well see as much of Peru as possible, so I decided to spend almost three weeks there and visit as much of the south as I could.
Lima
At Lima airport the guide was waiting promptly for us, and we started our journey through Lima towards our hotel. The journey through Lima, although technically a transfer, was like a tour itself as my ears and eyes were drawn to the buzz around the car and fascinated by the city of Lima – the constant humdrum of horns, shouting of street sellers, flashing of lights, vibrant colours of the architecture… it was an exhilarating journey and an exciting welcome to Peru.
The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Machu Picchu, often referred to as "The Lost City of the Incas", has been voted the No. 1 World Landmark by users of Tripadvisor, in Tripadvisors 1st "Travelers Choice" awards.
According to the millions of users of Tripadvisor who voted for their favourite travel and holiday destination of 2013, the famous Inca ruin in Peru won beating off still and prestigious competition from Angkor Wat in Cambodia (2nd place), the Taj Mahal in India (3rd place), Petra World Heritage Site in Jordan (4th place) and Bayon Temple in Cambodia (5th place) amongst many others.
Read more: Machu Picchu Wins Tripadvisor "Travellers' Choice 2013 World Landmark"
Peru was celebrating earlier this month after winning the prestigious award for the "World's Leading Culinary Destination" for the second year in a row at the even more prestigious World Travel Awards at the end of November, held at Doha in Qatar.
The World Travel Awards recognise and award for excellence in a wide variety of categories, such as "World's Leading Airline", "World's Leading City Break Destination", and "World's Leading Boutique Resort", alongside more than 100 hundred others.
Read more: Peru Wins Prestigious Food Award Second Year In A Row At World Travel Awards
Although it rarely makes it onto the TV screens in Europe, Peruvian football is phenomenally popular in its home country, almost a religion, and for travellers travelling to Peru on a holiday it can make an exciting "excursion" - be it an international game (Peru frequently play countries such as Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina and Chile in the annual Copa Libertadores), or a league game.
Lima in particular has a few teams that regularly play local "derbies", including the more popular teams of Universitario, Alianza, and Cristal; and Cusco's main team, Cienciano, are also popular and won the Copa Sudamerica title in 2003 (the equivalent to the UEFA Cup).
Archaeologists digging in the Paredones region of the Nazca Province of Peru have revealed that they have discovered stones and walls of the same style as that used by the Inca in the Cusco region of Peru. This is the first time that stones of this style have been found on the Pacific coast region of Peru, with prior finds all being in the highlands regions of the Andes, so this is a unique and potentially important archaeological discovery in Peru.
Freak weather has hit Peru over the past few weeks.
The worst affected areas are in the "Apurimac" region of Peru, which borders the Cusco region to the east, the Arequipa region, and the provincial area of Carabaya in the Puno region.
Thousands of people, particularly those in more rural areas, have been left stranded by the snow, and many thousands more have been affected by the cold-spell in some way. Ollanta Humala, the current President of Peru, has declared a 20-day state of emergency in 9 provinces and last week spent time visiting Apurimac to survey the situation.
Members of the "Mascho-Piro" tribe, considered to be an "uncontacted" tribe of the Amazon as they have had little to no contacted whatsoever with the modern world, have ventured outside of their lands to attempt contact with the outside world for only the second time.
The tribe, who live in a very remote location of the Manu National Park, are thought to have remained entirely isolated for at least the past 20 years. They first ventured outside of their territory to attempt contact with the outside world in 2011, when they were spotted, and photographed, on the bank of a river.
The Manu River, Manu Cultural Zone.
July was a devastating month for archaeology in Peru, with the news being released that property developers have deliberately destroyed a 4000 year-old irreplaceable pyramid.
The pyramid is situated near the town of San Martin de Porres near the Peruvian capital of Lima, in an archaeological complex called "El Paraiso". The complex consists of a number of ruins and pyramids, and is thought to be a religious and administrative centre around 4000 years old. The site is in a relatively rural agricultural region, and was unguarded, although archaeological excavations are underway at the site.
Today, the 29th July 2013, is part of "Fiestas Patrias" in Peru, the annual festival celebrating Peru's independence from Spain in 1821.
Over two days of annual national holidays, from the 28th to the 29th July, Peru celebrates its independence with street parades, parties, special dinners and celebratory events in honour of this special day.
Read more: Fiestas Patrias Peru - 192 Years of Independence!
Archaeologists in Peru have discovered what would appear to be a very important 1200 year-old ancient Wari tomb.
It is thought that the tomb, discovered 180 miles north of Lima, will provide key information about the mysterious Wari culture.
