In The Footsteps Of Incas

The Trip

Day 1: Santiago – Arrive in Santiago and transfer to the hotel / Casa Bueras
Day 2: Santiago – Guided tour of Santiago / Casa Bueras
Day 3: Atacama – Fly to Atacama and visit the Moon & Death Valleys / Our Habitas Hotel
Day 4: Atacama – Guided visit to Tatio Geysers / Our Habitas Hotel
Day 5: Atacama – Guided visit of Toconao and Atacama Salt Flats / Our Habitas Hotel
Day 6: Villamar – Cross into Bolivia and visit the altiplanic lagoons / Malku Cueva
Day 7: Tahua – Drive towards the Uyuni Salt Flat / Tayka de Sal
Day 8: Uyuni – Cross the Uyuni Salt Flat & visit Incahuasi Island / Palacio de Sal
Day 9: Potosi – Arrive in Potosi and enjoy a guided city tour / Santa Teresa
Day 10: Sucre – Transfer to Sucre and afternoon at leisure / Parador Santa Maria
Day 11: Sucre – Guided city tour of Sucre / Parador Santa Maria
Day 12: La Paz – Fly to La Paz and transfer to the hotel / Rosario
Day 13: La Paz – Guided tour of La Paza and visit the Moon Valley / Rosario
Day 14: Titicaca – Visit the Titicaca Lake and the Sun Island / Ecolodge la Estancia
Day 15: Puno – Visit Moon island and transfer to Puno / Sonesta Posada del Inca
Day 16: Titicaca – Visit Uros Reed Islands and Taquile / Sonesta Posada del Inca
Day 17: Cusco – Take the Andean Explorer Train to Cuzco / Costa del Sol
Day 18: Cusco – Guided city tour of Cuzco and nearby ruins / Costa del Sol
Day 19: Sacred Valley – Visit Pisac market and Ollantaytambo / Sol y Luna
Day 20: Machu Picchu – Guided tour of Machu Picchu / El Mapi
Day 21: Cusco – Board the Vistadome train to Cuzco / Costa del Sol
Day 22: Fly to Lima and onwards.

buzzing santiago

Touch down in brilliant Santiago, a feast for the senses. The capital of Chile wows with colonial grandeur, pristine boulevards and a population of people who are chilled by day, and lively and friendly by night.  Stay at the Casa Bueras hotel during your time here. Look around you and you’ll see this city is one of Latin America’s best kept secrets surrounded by a circle of snow-capped mountains. Our guides will help you get under the skin of this charming city. Explore lively barrios, colourful art galleries and a buzzing cafe culture, just the right way to ease you into your South American adventure.

head north

Jet up to San Pedro de Atacama, the charming country village set among some of Chile’s most spectacular scenery, perched 2,500 metres above sea level. Our tours take you right to the heart of its best offerings, staying at the Our Habitas Hotel hotel built in local style with a view of volcano Licanabur. Stroll among the mesmerising ambience of sunset over the Valley of the Moon. Enjoy visits to the country’s largest salt flats, spotted pink with flamingos and lipped by grand volcanoes. Explore fields of steaming thermal waters geysers and rocky landscapes.

remote Bolivia

We next whisk you to Bolivia, boasting some of South America’s most fascinating and untapped secrets. Enter the Eduardo Abarao Reserve, a fine national reserve created to protect flamingos. Explore the Laguna Verde, and the Laguna Colorado – these are natural spectacles adorned with coloured waters from the naturally occurring algae. Put the 30,000 nesting flamingos against that backdrop and you have a photo-opportunity from nirvana. Rove in the wilderness to find high deserts and then bathe in hot springs, or step through the geysers Sol de Manana. Next stop the authentic village of Cuplina, home to the curious San Cristobal silver mine, one of the most productive in South America. Cross the mountains to look at another spectacle, the cemetery of trains. It’s the final stop for old locomotives that have gone to rest, one of the Latin world’s most unusual attractions. Then dust yourself down for more desert adventure at the Salar De Uyuni, a vast landscape of invisible horizons. Check into the Palacio de Sal, a hotel where most of the building fixtures and fittings are made of salt. Take a trip to Incahuasi Island, an eerie landscape that seems to be part of another planet – teeming with cactus plants and volcanic rock. Cross azure lagoons, before you arrive at the desert in Siloli where you can explore the great expanse of the dry landscape.

cities and lakes

After spending some time in the silver mining town of Potosi you’ll board a flight and jet up to the highest capital in the world, La Paz. You’ll spend a couple of nights at the Rosario. By day you can explore this mysterious city with our guide, visiting the witchcraft market and learning about its culture and heritage. Cross the altiplano to Lake Titicaca and board a boat to visit the Uros reed islands before arriving on Sun Island and your home of the next few days, Ecolodge la Estancia. You’ll have loads of time to explore these beautiful unspoilt islands, taking walks along the lake before crossing over to the Peruvian side.

footsteps of Incas

Head to Cuzco on the luxurious Titicaca train; slowly chugging past lush green scenery whilst enjoying a three-course lunch. The city of Cuzco was the heart and soul of the Incas, is worth a visit in its own right, with cobbled streets, colourful markets, and buzzing nightlife. You can get a taster for the Inca Trail by exploring Cuzco’s nearby ruins, built out of huge monolithic stones that fit perfectly together. Stay in the Costa del Sol, the city’s old monastery and a national monument, still adorned with some of the country’s most exquisite religious art. We then take you to one of the highlights of this magical trip Machu Picchu, the masterpiece of the great Incan empire. Explore the ancient city complete with its own temples, stairways and fountain plazas. Even more impressive is the surrounding landscape of lush mountains and canyons, chosen as the natural landscape to protect this most sacred spot. We’ll make sure you come back from your holiday with memories that will last a lifetime.

Day by day itinerary

Day 1 | Arrive Santiago

Welcome to Chile. On arrival in Santiago, you will be met at the airport and privately transferred to your hotel. With the Andes forming an extraordinary backdrop, Santiago is an exciting introduction to South America. The remainder of the day is yours to relax after the flight or begin exploring the neighbourhood at your own pace.

Stay at: Casa Bueras

Day 2 | Discover Santiago

Today, explore the Chilean capital with your private guide. Discover Santiago’s contrasting neighbourhoods, historic centre, broad avenues and lively streets while learning more about the history and culture of modern Chile. The remainder of the day is free, perhaps to seek out one of Santiago’s excellent restaurants or simply enjoy the gardens and surroundings of your hotel.

Stay at: Casa Bueras

Day 3 | Santiago to the Atacama Desert

Transfer to the airport and fly north to Calama, gateway to the spectacular Atacama Desert. Continue overland to San Pedro de Atacama, a small adobe settlement surrounded by some of the most dramatic scenery in the Andes.

Later, head into the extraordinary landscapes of the Moon and Death Valleys, where wind and time have sculpted the desert into a wilderness of rugged ridges and strange rock formations. As the sun falls, changing light transforms the surrounding mountains and desert.

Stay at: Our Habitas Atacama

Day 4 | El Tatio Geysers

An early start takes you high into the Andes to El Tatio, one of the Atacama’s most remarkable landscapes. Arriving in the cool morning air, see columns of steam rising from the earth as the geothermal field comes to life against a backdrop of distant volcanoes.

After exploring the area, descend towards San Pedro, watching for the hardy wildlife that inhabits this beautiful high-altitude environment. Return to your hotel with the remainder of the day to relax.

Stay at: Our Habitas Atacama

Day 5 | Toconao & the Atacama Salt Flats

Travel through the desert to the traditional Andean village of Toconao before continuing towards the great Atacama Salt Flats. Here, beneath towering volcanoes, vast expanses of salt and shallow lagoons create one of northern Chile’s most distinctive landscapes. Flamingos can often be spotted feeding in the mineral-rich waters. Return to San Pedro for your final evening in Chile.

Stay at: Our Habitas Atacama

Day 6 | San Pedro to Villamar

Today brings one of the great overland journeys of the holiday. Leave Chile behind and cross the high Andes into Bolivia, entering a remote world of volcanoes, desert and brilliantly coloured lagoons. Travel through the spectacular landscapes of the Eduardo Avaroa region, where mineral-rich lakes provide a striking contrast to the stark Altiplano. Flamingos inhabit several of these high-altitude lagoons. Continue across this extraordinary wilderness to Villamar.

Stay at: Malku Cueva

Day 7 | Villamar to Tahua

Continue your journey across the Bolivian Altiplano, travelling through remote settlements and an enormous landscape of mountains, plains and volcanoes. This is one of the least populated corners of South America, and the sheer scale and silence of the landscape are part of its attraction. By late afternoon, arrive near the edge of the Salar de Uyuni.

Stay at: Tayka de Sal

Day 8 | Across the Salar de Uyuni

Today, cross one of South America’s greatest natural wonders: the Salar de Uyuni.

Stretching seemingly without end towards the horizon, the dazzling salt flats create an extraordinary sense of space. Weather and seasonal conditions permitting, stop at Incahuasi Island, a rocky outcrop rising dramatically from the salt and covered with giant cacti. Finish the day on the eastern side of the Salar at the remarkable Palacio de Sal.

Stay at: Palacio de Sal

Day 9 | Uyuni to Potosí

Leave Uyuni behind and journey across the highlands towards Potosí. Once one of the wealthiest cities in the Americas thanks to the immense silver deposits of Cerro Rico, Potosí has an extraordinary colonial legacy. Explore the historic centre with your guide, discovering elegant churches, plazas and buildings that recall the city’s remarkable past.

Stay at: Santa Teresa

Day 10 | Potosí to Sucre

Travel from the stark highlands of Potosí towards Sucre, Bolivia’s attractive constitutional capital. Arrive and settle into your hotel, with the afternoon free to explore independently. With its whitewashed colonial architecture, peaceful plazas and pleasant climate, Sucre provides a welcome change of pace after the dramatic landscapes of the Altiplano.

Stay at: Parador Santa Maria

Day 11 | Sucre

Spend the day exploring Sucre with your private guide. Stroll through its historic streets and attractive squares while discovering the fascinating history of a city that played a central role in Bolivia’s independence. Later, enjoy some free time to soak up the atmosphere of one of South America’s loveliest colonial cities.

Stay at: Parador Santa Maria

Day 12 | Fly to La Paz

Transfer to the airport for your flight to La Paz. Set in an immense canyon beneath the snow-capped Andes, La Paz is one of South America’s most memorable cities. You’ll be met on arrival and transferred to your hotel. The remainder of the day is at leisure, giving you time to acclimatise and begin exploring at your own pace.

Stay at: Hotel Rosario

Day 13 | Discover La Paz

Explore La Paz with your private guide. Discover colourful markets, colonial streets and the unusual geography of this high-altitude city before travelling to the remarkable Moon Valley, where erosion has carved the soft rock into a maze of pinnacles and gullies. Return to La Paz for the evening.

Stay at: Hotel Rosario

Day 14 | La Paz to Lake Titicaca & Sun Island

Leave La Paz and travel towards the deep-blue waters of Lake Titicaca, framed by distant Andean peaks. Take to the water and cross towards legendary Sun Island, an important place in Inca mythology. Spend the night in one of the most peaceful locations of the journey, surrounded by the spectacular scenery of the lake.

Stay at: Ecolodge La Estancia

Day 15 | Sun Island, Moon Island & Puno

Continue your exploration of Lake Titicaca, visiting Moon Island before crossing towards the Peruvian side of the lake. Complete the journey to Puno and settle into your lakeside hotel.

Stay at: Sonesta Posada del Inca

Day 16 | Uros & Taquile Islands

Spend another day exploring the fascinating communities of Lake Titicaca. Visit the famous Uros floating islands, traditionally constructed from the totora reeds that grow in the shallow waters of the lake, before travelling onwards to Taquile Island. Discover a very different side of Peruvian life before returning across the lake to Puno.

Stay at: Sonesta Posada del Inca

Day 17 | Puno to Cusco by Train

Today, make one of Peru’s classic journeys across the Altiplano from Puno to Cusco. Travel through magnificent Andean scenery as the Titicaca Train climbs through the highlands and crosses the mountains towards the former capital of the Inca Empire. Arrive in Cusco and transfer to your hotel.

Stay at: Costa del Sol

Day 18 | Cusco & its Inca Ruins

Explore Cusco with your private guide. Once the heart of the Inca Empire, Cusco is a fascinating blend of Inca foundations and Spanish colonial architecture. Explore the historic centre before heading into the surrounding hills to visit some of the impressive archaeological sites that guard the city. Return to Cusco and enjoy the evening at leisure.

Stay at: Costa del Sol

Day 19 | Pisac & the Sacred Valley

Leave Cusco and descend into the beautiful Sacred Valley of the Incas. Visit Pisac, known for its market and impressive setting, before continuing through a landscape of villages, farmland and steep Andean mountains. Later, discover the magnificent Inca site of Ollantaytambo, where huge stone terraces dominate the old town below.

Stay at: Sol y Luna

Day 20 | Machu Picchu

Today is one of the great highlights of the journey. Travel by train towards Aguas Calientes before ascending to the legendary citadel of Machu Picchu. Hidden among forested Andean peaks, the location is every bit as impressive as the ruins themselves. Explore the site with your guide, learning about its temples, terraces, plazas and extraordinary Inca stonework. After your visit, descend to Aguas Calientes for the evening.

Stay at: El Mapi

Day 21 | Machu Picchu to Cusco

Enjoy a relaxed morning before beginning the return journey to Cusco. Board the Vistadome train and travel alongside the Urubamba River through the spectacular scenery of the Sacred Valley. Continue to Cusco for a final evening in the ancient Inca capital.

Stay at: Costa del Sol

Day 22 | Cusco to Lima

Transfer to Cusco airport and fly to Lima, connecting with your onward international flight.

Your adventure comes to an end after an extraordinary journey from Santiago and the Atacama Desert, across Bolivia’s Altiplano and Uyuni Salt Flats, to Lake Titicaca and the magnificent Inca heartlands of Peru.