Peru Travel Guide | Lima, Machu Picchu & Huacachina

Overview·By YC·2026-10-20· 8 min

Peru feels like an entire continent crammed into one medium-sized country on the Pacific: barren desert coastal areas, towering Andean peaks, misty cloud forests, and vast stretches of Amazon rainforest stretching east. That extraordinary range has helped to shape an vibrant, uniquely delicious food scene. Lima pulls these traditions from the coast, mountains, and jungle into one of the most distinctive cuisines in the Americas, where ceviche, Chinese-Peruvian chifa, Japanese-influenced Nikkei cooking, and Andean staples are found around every corner.

Then there’s the landscape itself. Machu Picchu clings to a lush, green ridge high above the Urubamba River, while a few hours south of Lima, Huacachina sits beneath towering sand dunes, an oasis dropped into the middle of a completel desert. For all that variety, Peru is still a highly affordable destination for visitors, where a polished chifa seafood dinner can cost less than takeout from a basic diner back home.

When to Visit: May through September is best for the Andes and Machu Picchu, with less rain and clearer skies. Lima is warmer and sunnier during the Northern Hemisphere winter, while May through November can bring cool, gray skies and coastal mist despite its desert climate.
Price Level: Very affordable by U.S. standards, with prices 60% cheaper prices on average, with the exception of Machu Picchu trains and upscale lodges charging International rates.
Language Barrier: While English is somewhat available at major tourist destinations, hotels and upscale restaurants, some basic Spanish is essential elsewhere.

Why Go

An incredible range of scenery in one trip: Desert coast, high Andes mountain peaks, Amazon rainforest, ancient Inca ruins, and even a desert oasis can all fit into the same itinerary.

An emerging world-class food scene: Pacific seafood, Indigenous Andean staples, Amazonian produce, and generations of European and Asian influence come together in a cuisine that feels unmistakably Peruvian.

Exceptional value: A wide and diverse selection of upscale hotels, restaurants, and experiences at less than half of the prices you see back home.

Drawbacks

Factor in the altitude: Lima and much of the Amazon sit near sea level, but Cusco is above 11,000 feet. Arriving straight from Lima can hit even healthy travelers hard.
Getting around takes time: Peru’s mountains make distances deceptive, so short domestic flights are often the easiest way to move around.
Machu Picchu is the exception: Tickets and trains sell out well ahead, and prices related to Machu Picchu are closer to what you're used to at home.

The Summary

Peru lets you cover a lot of ground in one trip. Eat absurdly well on Lima’s desert coast, climb into the Andes for Machu Picchu, then head south into dunes that look like they belong on another continent. Add in the Amazon and its modest prices, and Peru is proof that epic travel can be more accessible than most people think.

The resident llamas of Macchu Picchu | TravelWise © 2026

Machu Picchu is world famous not only for its well preserved ruins, but also its incredible surroundings. Likely a royal estate, it sits hidden away, high in the Andes above the Urubamba River, surrounded by near-vertical mountainsides draped in cloud forest and mist. Its isolation helped to preserve it over the centuries, leaving a nearly complete complex of terraces, temples, homes, and precise stonework.

For most visitors, reaching Machu Picchu means taking a premium scenic train through the Sacred Valley to Aguas Calientes, a small tourist town sitting at the foot of the mountains. The alternative is to arrive on foot: hiking the 26-mile Inca Trail over four days. The site, along with the town beneath it, is uniquely only connected to the outside world by rail.

This is not one of those you book after arriving in Peru. Access tickets can sell out well in advance. Reserve your entry online as far ahead as you can. Access is divided into timed circuits with limited capacity, and if you want to climb Huayna Picchu—the steep peak rising directly above the ruins—you’ll need a separate add-on ticket with even fewer spots available each day.

The oasis of Huacachina — Huacachina | TravelWise © 2026

For some added variety, journey south from Lima, where the desert runs all the way to the edge of the Pacific, sand dunes meeting a cold gray ocean with only a light mist hanging above the landscape. Peru's coastline is quirky accident of nature: the Andes block much of the moisture coming from the east, while the cold Humboldt Current helps keep the coast cool, cloudy and dry. A few hours south, you’ll find Huacachina, a palm-ringed oasis sitting at the base of towering sand dunes.

Then there are the penguins—yes, large colonies of wild penguins are found here this close to the equator, thanks to the same cold ocean current responsible for the cool, dry conditions here. Boat trips from Paracas head out to the Ballestas Islands, where Humboldt penguins share the otherwise barren rocks with sea lions and enormous colonies of seabirds. The mountains of guano they left behind over the eons was once harvested from the now abandoned eerie remains of fertilizer mines still clinging to the islands today.

Sea lions on the Ballestas Islands — Ballestas Islands | TravelWise © 2026

Best Shots

Getting There

~$700 Roundtrip or 40K miles on Star Alliance or OneWorld carriers.

American AAdvantage

American AAdvantage: [Direct: American], for ~40K miles roundtrip.

United MileagePlus

United MileagePlus: [Direct: United] or connect via Avianca, Copa airlines for ~60K roundtrip.

Delta SkyMiles

Delta SkyMiles : Delta or (Direct) on LATAM for ~120K roundtrip.

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