Tours and Activities in Peru
Peru is a huge country and has a nearly limitless number of activities for travelers to enjoy. Culturally minded visitors can explore archaeological sites and world-class museums, while adventure travelers may choose to hike mountains and raft white-water rivers. If you want to search for birds in the Amazon Jungle, you can do that. But if you’d prefer to kick back and relax, there are ample ways to pamper yourself and unwind. The following tour categories offer up various ways to experience Peru.
Adventure Tours
Adventure tours are aimed at thrill-seekers, adrenalin junkies, and sports enthusiasts. They often involve exciting outdoor activities and include rafting, zip lining, rappelling, kayaking, ATV riding, and cave exploration. Professional guides place a premium on being safe and having fun.
Cultural Tours
Peru’s cultural heritage runs deep and includes the Inca, Moche, Nazca, Chavín, and Spanish cultures. Today, travelers can explore archaeological sites like Machu Picchu and Sacsayhuamán or visit the fascinating museums that are scattered across the country. And no cultural experience is complete without sampling some of Peru’s tasty cuisine.
Educational Tours
To truly grasp the significance of Peru, you first need learn a few things — educational tours are aimed at helping travelers do just this. These tours explore some of the most important aspects of Peru’s natural, cultural, and historical heritage. You might tour a coffee plantation or go for a night hike in the jungle. Knowledgeable guides lead these tours and help travelers come to a better understanding of – and appreciation for – the things that make Peru, well, Peru.
Leisure Tours
Travel doesn’t have to be active or exhausting. In fact, some of the best trips are the ones where you seemingly do the least. Leisure tours help travelers unwind and relax. You can pamper yourself at a spa, soak in a natural hot spring, or take a sunset cruise on a catamaran. On these tours, you can breathe deep and enjoy Peru’s most tranquil activities.
Marine Tours
The Peruvian coastline holds lots of promise for ocean lovers — there are places where you can swim or surf to your heart’s content. Marine tours expose you to the best and brightest of the Peruvian coast. Tours include sea kayaking, deep-sea fishing, and marine mammal observation.
Nature Tours
With cloud forests, rain forests, coastal deserts, high plains, alpine lakes, and huge mountains, the Peruvian landscape is ripe with all kinds of nature. These tours expose travelers to the country’s best outdoor areas. Tour options include nature hikes, bird watching, safari floats, and more.
169 Things to Do in Peru
Santiago is home to the main administrative buildings and government of Chile. It has 37 communes, 26 of which are located in the metropolitan area. In these communes we find entertaining neighborhoods with vibrant nightlife, restaurants, designer shops and art galleries.
The Colca Canyon is one of Peru’s most beautiful and dramatic areas. This canyon is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon and is scattered with mountains, rivers, and small villages. During this tour you’ll spend 2 days and 1 night exploring the Colca Canyon.
Lake Titicaca is one of the prides of Peru. During this tour you’ll explore the lake’s floating Uro Islands and encounter an indigenous Quechua-speaking group on Taquile Island.
This 4-day, 3-night tour provides travelers with a comprehensive experience on the Inca Trail. You’ll hike for several days, passing Inca archeological sites and enjoying stunning views before arriving at your final destination—the sacred city of Machu Picchu.
Take a tour to combine the very best of Peruvian food and adventure. Your dining experience will take place in a transparent dome, suspended 1,312 feet in the air, securely fastened to a cliff that looks out over the Sacred Valley. This dining experience is open to a maximum of 12 people, so you and your fellow guests will have enough room to take in the incredible view.
Your service will start out with a brunch. A little while later the service continues with lunch. Your meals include non-premium beverages, including a tempting wine list — you might start your trip with a refreshing glass of orange juice and a glass of sparkling wine.
This tour of Peruvian culinary excellence will introduce you to a new dimension of sustainable cuisine. On this culinary tasting tour Chef Pedro Miguel Schiaffino will show you how he makes award-winning dishes with ingredients from the Peruvian Amazon.
This tour introduces you to local history and some truly stunning views. On this educational tour, your guide will point out the agricultural, residential, and religious buildings. Because we have so few written records left behind by the Inca, historians have had to make educated guesses about what purpose some of the structures served and much of the site remains shrouded in mystery.
The Belmond Hiram Bingham train not only makes this possible, it turns a magical journey into an unforgettable experience, with personalized service that takes care of every last detail on your trip. Travel on the exclusive and luxurious Belmond Hiram Bingham train and enjoy the elegant dining car, the bar car, and the observatory*, where you can take in the unmatched scenery in the open air while sipping on a traditional Peruvian cocktail and listening to live local music.
Explore the latest discoveries in Peruvian archeology on this tour. You’ll visit the Sun and Moon Huacas and the Huacas de Moche Museum.
Double your adventure when you depart from the border city of Puno, Peru to explore La Paz, Bolivia. This tour will take you to colonial structures, museums, ancient replicas, intriguing city shops, and more. With a half day and full day option, you can decide how much Bolivian excitement you can handle in one day!
N° 7 as Best Latin Americas's 50 Best Restaurants in 2017. The story began in 1994. Upon finishing their culinary studies in Paris, Gastón Acurio and Astrid Gutsche founded their eponymous restaurant in a small house in the district of Miraflores. At first, the restaurant was quite French, as it was dictated by the global trend. Over time, it became decidedly Peruvian. As Gaston has described "we embraced our culture and flavors, experimenting with local ingredients and recipes with one goal in mind, to promote our cuisine around the world."
Visit Maido for the multi-course Nikkei Experience. Maido has made lots of lists of top restaurants in the world and chef Mitsuharu Tsumura is often credited with putting Nikkei, Peruvian-Japanese fusion, on the map.
This 2-hour hiking tour is a breathtaking complement to a visit to the Machu Picchu ruins. You will leave for Huayna Picchu mountain from Aguas Calientes, the small town that is nearest Machu Picchu. Huayna Picchu’s peak towers over Machu Picchu – at the summit of Huayna Picchu, hikers will be 1,180 feet higher than ruins of Machu Picchu, at 8,920 feet above sea level.
Javier Wong is a master in preparing sole ceviche and considered by many people as the best chef in cebiches. He is self-taught, temperamental and whose cuisine is considered cult. It is recommendable only to foodies. His restaurant has been visited by politicians, mayors, presidents and personalities mainly from Peru. Javier Wong is considered a chef, master of the sole and the octopus and with his creativity in chopping and mixing ingredients achieves the most delicious dishes.
Central is an unmissable part of the itinerary, with its tasting menu travelling from 25 metres below to 4,200 metres above sea level. Central made its debut on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2013 at No.50 and has since rocketed to No.4. Chef Virgílio Martínez’s star has been rising rapidly for the last few years, coinciding with Lima’s ascent to become one of the world’s leading foodie destinations.
There’s dining in a high-rise, then there’s dining on top of the world. MIL Centro Restaurant lets you touch the sky in Peru. Sample delicious dishes crafted from ingredients that were practically grown in Heaven…or at least really high up. Head 11,706 feet above sea level where mountains, clouds, and fine cuisine collide.
Gaston Acurio is widely credited with putting Peruvian food on the map. His cooking style elevates Andean cooking styles to haute cuisine. He opened his first restaurant in Lima in 1994, and since then has opened restaurants all over the world and has published several books on Peruvian cooking.
Come see the Altiplanic Lagoons for their startling and unusual beauty. These are part of the Atacama Desert and the Los Flamencos National Reserve. These high-altitude lagoons come in unusual colors and provide a habitat for an abundance of wildlife, including some unusual birds. Pack for two very different temperatures – this is a desert, and it gets warm during the day but cold at night.
There is much more to the Nazca Desert than the Nazca Lines. Nazca and Paracas culture spread throughout the surrounding valleys, and the artifacts they left behind are still being uncovered today. On this tour, you’ll get to view the entire landscape the ancient Nazca inhabited.
Peru Tours
CulturalGuided ToursRuinsArcheologyCulinaryTrainHikingCity TourMuseumHistoricMulti-DayBoat ToursBird WatchingMarine WildlifeNight TourPhotographySpiritualZip LinesBikingHorseback RidingCulinary LessonsNature WalkCommunityScuba DivingArchitectureGastronomyRaftingCatamaran TourHot SpringsSnorkelingSport FishingTextilesSurfingLeisureATV ToursSuspension BridgesChocolate TourHome StayVolunteeringSurf LessonsWalkingAttractions
Machu PicchuChan ChanEl Brujo ComplexHuanchaco BeachLost Pyramid of CaralNazca LinesBallestas IslandsChinchero MarketHuaca Rajada: Lord of Sipán TombInca TrailLake TiticacaMoray AmphitheaterParacas National ReserveQueirolo VineyardSacsayhuamánSalt Mines of MarasUrubamba RiverChaparri Ecological ReserveColca CanyonCumbe MayoHuaca PucllanaKuntur WasiLarco MuseumMain Square LimaOllantaytambo FortressPachacamacPalomino IslandsPisac MarketSillustani TombsTambo ColoradoTaquile IslandsTúcume Ventanillas de OtuzcoFrequently asked questions
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- What are the top activities in Peru?
Peru has a wealth of activities for travelers to enjoy — the best options involve nature, culture, or history. Cultural/historical activities include exploring archeological attractions, ancient ruins, and historic sites. You can also tour cities, go shopping, visit museums, and sample local cuisine.Peru's outdoor attractions are as diverse as they are impressive. The country's national parks and reserves are perfect for hiking, bird watching, and horseback riding. Thrill-seekers can go biking and explore caves. And along the coast, you can take a marine mammal observation tour or go for a cruise on a catamaran.
- What adventure activities are there in Peru?
A number of adventure activities can be enjoyed in Peru. These include biking, horseback riding, cave exploration, and white-water rafting. The availability of these activities depends on the destination.Cusco, and other towns in the Sacred Valley, offer a number of these activities. Rafting and kayaking is especially good on the Urubamba River. Horseback riding is fun along Peru's North Coast.
- I haven't tried some of these activities. Is that a problem for my trip to Peru?
No. While some travelers may have experience with adventure activities, many do not. Adventure tours are available to people of all ages and abilities. At the start of each tour, a professional guide will teach you about the activity and the equipment that you'll use. Once you feel comfortable and capable, the tour will begin. In no time at all you'll be rafting down rivers and biking along trails. Safety is prioritized throughout the entire tour.