Land of the Incas with Galápagos Legend East Cruise

The Capital of the New World extends a warm welcome on your epic voyage through the iconic and unexpected highlights of Peru. Meet your local host on arrival and transfer to your hotel in the upscale shopping district of Miraflores. This evening, you’ll join your Travel Director and fellow travellers for a Welcome Reception at 6 p.m.

Start your city tour taking in of the highlights of Lima. Visit Casona San Marcos, where you’ll enjoy a snack from a local vendor learn more about the fascinating history of this ancient building from Local Specialists. During a short workshop, learn to play the “cajón” percussion instrument and get an introduction to the basic steps of “musica negra”, a dance that originated in Chincha (near Paracas). Continue to the Main Square of Lima for more views and history. Choose to join a walking tour of Miraflores with a local expert highlighting the popular Larcomar shopping centre and on towards the Kennedy Parkor for dinner at one of the restaurants in “Pasaje de Ramón.”

We'll fly to Cusco this morning, the gateway to Peru's treasured Sacred Valley, where you will enjoy a local Peruvian lunch with sweeping views of the Sacred Valley. Then we'll Dive Into Culture, meeting a Shaman who will perform a special ceremony to welcome us to Peru. Tonight, you'll stay at our Stays With Stories hotel along the banks of the Vilcanota River, on the grounds of an old 17th-century colonial hacienda. It is great for morning birders and afternoon walks in the gardens.

Connect With Locals over a Be My Guest experience lunch, learn about the culture surrounding the production of Giant White Corn. Our hosts will demonstrate the differences between traditional farming techniques and the newer technologies used today. Revel in the romance of the local Marinera dance and local musicians. The marinera is the best-known couple dance on the coast of Peru. It is characterized by the use of handkerchiefs, steps of great elegance and rhythmic music similar to the Aragonese jota, the zamacueca and the Chilean cueca, but with its own Peruvian identity that flaunts the Hispano-indigenous-African miscegenation. For the same reason, over the years Andean and highland versions have emerged.
This evening, meet Local Specialist, Peter Frost, a writer, photographer and independent scholar who has explored the Andes and Amazon for 47 years, locating and investigating the previously unknown Inca and pre-Inca site of Qoriwayrachina. He currently resides in Peru and works as an accompanying expert for National Geographic Expeditions.

Visit the mystical Incan stronghold of Ollantaytambo, en route to Machu Picchu, a village in the Sacred Valley, set on the Urubamba River amid majestic mountains. It's known for the Ollantaytambo ruins, a massive Inca fortress with large stone terraces on a hillside. Then, ascend to the Lost City in the Clouds aboard the Vistadome train (light snack included) travelling along the Inca Trail, where you can view hikers and porters along the way. Here you will delve into the mysteries of this once-great civilisation, joining your Local Specialist for an exploration of the temples, palaces and terraces whose construction defy imagination. Visit the iconic great Temple of the Sun, the House of the Priest, the Sacred Plaza and the intricately carved Intihuatana, most likely used as a sundial centuries ago. We return to our hotel where we will learn how to prepare an authentic Ceviche and pour the perfect Pisco sour.

The ruins of Machu Picchu beckon yet again and we enjoy one final opportunity to reconnect with its story, spending some time on our own to explore the hill-top fortress. Next, we’ll journey back to the Sacred Valley by train, stopping en route to Cusco to MAKE TRAVEL MATTER and learn about the natural dyeing techniques used by native weavers. Visit the Pisac handicraft market followed by sampling the sweet flavours of chicha as we Dive Into Culture, savouring the favourite drink of the Andes. Then a Stays With Stories tonight, in what was once an old, colonial Hacienda located in the historic centre of Cusco.

Begin your day at the ruins of the UNESCO-listed Incan Sacsayhuaman fortress overlooking Cusco. Admire the massive, sacred stonework before your Local Specialist guides you through Cusco’s colonial centre. During your city tour, visit the shop of the social project Mantay, a housing and education project for underage mothers to live here and learn a craft or trade. Later, you’ll join another Local Specialist who will reveal insights into the nearby 13th-century Incan settlement of Qoriwayrachina. The afternoon is free to join an optional experience including a visit to the Chocolate Museum, Cusco off the beaten track or the greenhouse and salt wells of Maras & Moray.

Fly to Juliaca and meet a Local Specialist to learn about daily life on the Peruvian altiplano. After an included al fresco lunch, visit Sillustani, a pre-Incan burial ground on the shores of Lake Umayo where striking chullpas (stone tombs) are scattered across the landscape, inviting you to step back in time. Then travel via Puno along the shores to Lake Titicaca, the birthplace of the sun. Here you’ll Dive Into Culture visiting the home of Víctor Coila, his wife Mariluz, and their two daughters for a meal of quinoa bread, potatoes with cheese and authentic chaco sauce.

Connect With Locals as you cruise the deep blue waters of Lake Titicaca, passing floating islands constructed by the Uros people. Next, in the midst of South America’s largest lake lies Taquile Island, where we’ll Make Travel Matter and embark on a private tour to gain insights into the tradition of knitting and weaving for which the local villagers - men and women - are renowned. Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity" by UNESCO. This experience aligns with UN's Global goal 10, reduced inequalities. Enjoy a lunch here and learn more about the islanders’ unique way of life upon islets make of totora reeds, which grow in the lake, and are attached to sticks driven into the bottom of the lake. Tonight, we indulge in a Regional Dinner at our favourite local restaurant in Puno.

Return to Lima this morning, then continue your journey to the coastal playground of Paracas. Discover what life is like in Peru’s rural countryside before arriving to Paracas for dinner at your seaside hotel and an evening at leisure. Perhaps there’s even time for a stroll along the Malecon.

Take to the skies, soaring above the coastal desert to see the enigmatic Nazca Lines, gigantic geometric designs viewable only from the air. Next, stop this afternoon at our Dive Into Culture, the Regional Museum of Ica, where we’ll explore the centuries-old cultures of the Paracas and Nazca. Later, we will once again Dive Into Culture during a visit to Bodega El Catador to learn about and taste the finest pisco in the country. The rest of the day is free.

This morning, connect with nature with a Local Specialist, cruising around the uninhabited Ballestas Islands, a 'mini-Galapagos' teeming with wildlife. See the mysterious Candelabra in Pisco Bay, then return to Lima where this evening, we’ll visit the Larco Museum with a Local Specialist. Our journey almost at its end, we’ll indulge in a festive Farewell Dinner in the museum’s garden restaurant.

Transfer to the airport for your onward flight to Ecuador (flight not included in holiday price). Enjoy a warm welcome in Quito where you will be greeted at the airport and taken to your hotel.

Visit the historical centre of Quito, which was the first place in the world to be designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and travel to the 'Middle of the World' to stand on the Equator. Enjoy the rest of the day at leisure.

Discover a land that inspired Darwin to form his Theory of Natural Selection. On arrival at Baltra airport, transfer to the M/V Galápagos Legend. Sail to Bartolomé Island, hiking to its summit for soul-stirring views, then snorkel in the midst of Galápagos penguins.

Our first destination today is South Plaza Island, home to the famed Galápagos sea lions and the unusual prickly pear cactus tree which dot the island’s red landscape. Next is North Seymour Island, on whose long sandy beach and rocks, the resident sea lions and marine iguanas sun themselves.

We journey to Pitt Point this morning, ascending to a high point on the steep volcanic tuff hill to see if we can spot all three of the booby species simultaneously. Cerro Brujo’s coral sand beach is our next destination, where we can connect with the resident sea lions or snorkel in the shadow of Witch’s Hill.

Enjoy a first-hand encounter with the giant tortoises of La Galapaguera de Cerro Colorado, a tortoise reserve that protects the island’s tortoise population. Your Galápagos exhibition at its end, transfer to San Cristobal Airport for your return flight to Quito. Airport arrival time in Quito will be at 7 p.m.; please be aware when booking your flights.