Undiscovered Northern Peru Holiday - 10 days

Arrive in Lima at any time. We will meet you and escort you to your hotel where the remainder of the day you can relax after your long-haul flight and enjoy the wonderful district of Miraflores. You may consider visiting the 2500 year-old ancient pyramid of Huaca Pucllana which is within walking distance of your hotel.

Meals: None

Overnight: Hotel in Miraflores, Lima

In the morning we will meet you at your hotel in Lima and escort you to the airport to take a flight to the city of Trujillo. Upon arrival in Trujillo you will be met and transported to your hotel where you will be free for the remainder of the day to explore the city. Trujillo was founded by Pizarro in 1534 and the old town centre is a cool blend of colonial architecture and modern style, with excellent restaurants.

Meals: Breakfast

Overnight: Central hotel in Trujillo

The Trujillo area contains some of the most important, largest, and most impressive pre-Inca ruins in Peru, and compared to Machu Picchu they are far less frequently visited but are equally impressive and worthy of inclusion on any holiday to Peru. Travel to the outskirts of the city to visit the impressively large UNESCO World Heritage Site of Chan Chan, the largest adobe city in the world, built by the Chimu culture c. 800 years ago. You will also visit the Moche culture adobe ruins of “Huaca de la Luna and Huaca del Sol”. Huaca del Sol, the largest pre-Colombian structure in Peru, should be appreciated for its sheer size and scale, whereas tours of Huaca de la Luna show amazingly detailed and well preserved red, white and yellow wall paintings and decorations inside the pyramid structure. Onsite museums are both interesting and informative.

Meals: Breakfast

Overnight: Central hotel in Trujillo

In the morning you will travel north to the archaeologically rich and important city of Chiclayo. The road will take you along part of the Pan-American Highway, the longest road in the world that stretches all the way from Alaska to the bottom of South America. The journey will give you an opportunity to relax and appreciate the gorgeous Pacific coastline of Peru. Upon arrival at Chiclayo you will be met and transferred to your hotel for the evening.

Meals: Breakfast

Overnight: Central hotel in Chiclayo

Today you will journey on an archaeological adventure tour to some of the most important and famous archaeological sites in Peru. You will visit the tomb of the Moche lord “el Senor de Sipan” at the pyramid of Huaca Rajada, part of a complex of 1700 year old adobe pyramids where valuable burial tombs were discovered. The burial sites have been precisely re-constructed exactly as they were found for you to see, hidden deep amongst the pyramid structures. The real artefacts found in the tombs are now housed in the world class Tumbas Reales Museum, in nearby Lambayeque, which you will also visit.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Overnight: Central hotel in Chiclayo

You will be collected from your hotel in Chiclayo and will travel by private vehicle north-east, inland heading away from the Pacific and deep into the heart of lost Peru. The journey is relatively long, but is through ever-changing and beautiful scenery as you travel from coastal desert to Andean countryside and finally into cloud forest. You will arrive in the city of Chachapoyas in late afternoon and we will escort you directly to your hotel for the evening.

Meals: Breakfast, Boxed Lunch

Overnight: Hotel in Chachapoyas

Kuelap is an enormous and important fortress ruin in the Chachapoyas region of Peru that is matched in size and grandeur only by Machu Picchu. Construction at the site started as early as the 6th Century AD and the site was occupied for over 1000 years from that date right up until the time of the Inca. The ruin is the biggest site built by the “Chachapoyas culture”, and consists of up to 400 buildings housed within a giant man-made “cliff” creating an almost impenetrable defensive barrier around the top of a hill. It is a wonderful spectacle. You will travel by road to the site, where you will have a guided tour and will learn about its history, and the mystery surrounding the demise of the Chachapoyas people. During the journey to Kuelap you will pass tombs, incredibly located and built into sheer cliff-walls.

Meals: Breakfast, Boxed Lunch

Overnight: Hotel in Chachapoyas

On this truly special day you will depart from the hotel early to visit the “Catarata de Gocta”, or Gocta Waterfall. The waterfall is a natural wonder of the world and is considered to be one of the ten highest waterfalls in the world, at a height of 711 metres, with a majestic water stream that disappears into a beautiful cloud of mist at the base of the cliff. The falls were kept secret by the local population for thousands of years and were only discovered by the western world in 2005. You will go on a guided walk to the falls, passing local self-sufficient indigenous Andean farming communities and many types of orchids, birds and butterflies. After the walk you will stay overnight in the Gocta Lodge, a fabulous hotel with a balcony and infinity pool that overlook the waterfall.

Meals: Breakfast, Boxed Lunch, Evening Meal

Overnight: Hotel in Chachapoyas

Today you will depart from the Chachapoyas region and will journey by private vehicle to the city of Jaen, where you will transfer to the airport to take a flight to Lima. Upon arrival in Lima we will meet you and escort you to your hotel for the evening.

Meals: Breakfast, Boxed Lunch

Overnight: Hotel in Miraflores, Lima

Today you will enjoy a free day in Lima to relax prior to your return flight home, and to give you an opportunity to buy some souvenirs, explore Miraflores, or simply enjoy your last Peruvian meal and pisco sour cocktail. At the appropriate time we will collect you to escort you back to Lima international airport for your return flight home.

Meals: Breakfast

Overnight: N/A