Peru Guide
Getting around
Organized tours
There are hundreds of travel agents and tour operators in Peru, and reps hunt out customers at bus terminals, train stations and in city centres. While they can be expensive, organized excursions can be a quick and relatively effortless way to see some of the popular attractions and the more remote sites, while a prearranged trek of something like the Inca Trail can take much of the worry out of camping preparations and ensure that you get decent campsites, a sound meal and help with carrying your equipment in what can be difficult walking conditions.
Many adventure tour companies offer excellent and increasingly exciting packages and itineraries – ranging from mountain biking, whitewater rafting, jungle photo-safaris, mountain trekking and climbing, to more comfortable and gentler city and countryside tours. Tours cost $45–300 a day and, in Cusco and Huaraz in particular, there's an enormous selection of operators to choose from. Cusco is a pretty good base for hiking, whitewater rafting, canoeing, horseback riding or going on an expedition into the Amazonian jungle with an adventure tour company; Arequipa and the Colca Canyonoffer superb hiking and the surrounding area boasts two of the deepest canyons on the planet, all serviced by tour companies; Huaraz is a good base for trekking and mountaineering; Iquitos on the Amazon river, is one of the best places for adventure trips into the jungle and has a reasonable range of tour operators. Several of these companies have branches in Lima.