Choquequirao to Machu Picchu trekking holiday, Peru
| country: | Peru |
| location: | Inca Trail, Machu Picchu |
| trip type: | Strenuous walking holidays |
| departures: | 2010: 2 May, 11 Jul, 10 Oct |
| price: | From £1195 (13 days) excluding flights |
| more info: | Price includes return flights from Lima to Cusco, twin occupancy hotels in Lima and Cusco and Aguas Calientes, entrance fee and English-speaking guided tour of Machu Picchu, all camping and cooking, all meals provided as indicated in the itinerary, equipment and qualified trekking guides, porters, cooks and support crew. |
| vouchers: | Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday |
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introduction to Choquequirao to Machu Picchu trekking holiday, Peru
Way off the beaten track, Choquequirao, the “Cradle of Gold”, is an amazingly preserved Inca outpost, comparable in size to Machu Picchu. Dramatically located on a promontory nearly 2,000m above the roaring Apurimac river, it is only accessible by a remote and challenging trek. Our eight-day mule supported hike to Choquequirao and beyond takes in high passes, a perfectly preserved Inca Trail and awesome Andean peaks, and concludes with a full guided visit to the mythical Machu Picchu. This is a long, spectacular and strenuous hike crossing the entire Vilcabamba mountain range from the Apurimac to the Urubamba watershed. It is approximately 100km long with 5,000m of ascent and descent over passes of 4,600m and river crossings of 2,400m. This is your chance to be amongst one of the few adventurers to visit this incredible site and complete this rewarding trek. We return to Cusco with time to explore this beautiful and important city, filled with both colonial and Incan history and bustling with life and colour.
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Arrival into Cusco. Start acclimatising to the rarefied air of this beautiful city with a short walking tour of the city. |
| Day 2: | Visit Tarawasi and the incredible Inca carved boulder at Sahuite, before arriving at the beautiful village of Cachora high above the River Apurimac canyon where we meet our team. |
| Day 3: | Choquequirao. Begin Trek to Choquequirao with full mule support we descend 2000m down into the spectacular Apurimac canyon, crossing the roaring river and climbing up to camp. |
| Day 4: | Choquequirao. Rising early we spend the day hiking up out of the canyon, regaining the 2000m in altitude we descended yesterday. We set up base camp just short of the Choquequirao ruins. |
| Day 5: | Choquequirao. We arrive early at the amazing ruins of Choquequirao with time to explore and marvel at this dramatic location and extensive ruins, nearly 2,000m above the roaring Apurimac river |
| Day 6-10: | Inca Trail & Machu Picchu. Trekking from Choquequirao to Machu Picchu Camping and trekking in style way off the beaten track, we follow ancient Inca Trails past unspoilt villages and huge Andean peaks as we hike to the road head at Vilcabamba. The change in scenery is dramatic as we trek through dry savanna, rich cloud forest and the llama rich grassing pasture of the high plains. Andean bear and puma trails, wild orchids and specialist birds are some of the many wildlife sights that we look out for. The views of the snow covered mountains of Pumasillo (6,000m) and Salcantay (6,264m) complete this rewarding trek. You will enjoy unusual and truly amazing views of Machu Picchu during the trek - a perspective few tourists get to see |
| Day 11: | Machu Picchu & Cusco Visit Machu Picchu and return to CuscoEarly in the morning we visit Machu Picchu and have it virtually to ourselves as we benefit from guided tour, with free time afterwards for solo exploration. Return to Cusco and enjoy its great nightlife. |
| Day 12: | Cusco. Free day. Whether your interest is exploring Incan ruins, visiting colonial churches, bargain hunting in indigenous markets or just soaking in the atmosphere, Cusco has it all. |
| Day 13: | Transfer to airport. or join one of our extensions. |
small group adventure holiday
Typically you will be sharing your experiences with between 4-20 like minded travellers (depending on the trip, operator and how many others are booked on the trip) and you'll have a group leader with you. Whether you are travelling alone or with friends its good value, and a great way to meet new people! While itineraries are pre-planned there is some flexibility and you'll have plenty of privacy. This trip will appeal to travellers of all ages who enjoy meeting new people as well as seeing new places. highly commended
This tourism business was Highly Commended in our 2009 Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards - organised by responsibletravel.com in association with The Daily Telegraph, World Travel Market and Geographical Magazine, of the Royal Geographical Society. Since 2004, the Awards has recognised individuals, companies and organisations in travel making a big commitment to the culture and economies of local communities and helping to conserve biodiversity.
how this holiday makes a difference
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Environment
For this holiday, we make a contribution to The Wildlife Conservation Society, who work through their programme office in Peru to support a range of conservation initiatives in wild and beautiful regions of Peru, including protection of the rare Andean bear and projects which support indigenous peoples to conserve their traditional ways of life and natural resources. Through our local partners in Peru, we support the Peruvian NGO Ecoan, responsible for some of the most inspiring reforestation and environmental regeneration work in the Andes. Ecoan was started by Constantino Aucco, a naturalist guide who was concerned that deforestation of the higher slopes of the Andes would result in various indigenous bird species being all but wiped out. Ecoan work with the local communities to engage them in reforestation projects. The seedlings are purchased direct from Quishuarani, a small village in the Lares watershed. By using Quishuarani, the plants are acclimated to the area they will be planted in and as a bonus the community earns an income for their ongoing projects. Our philosophy of environmental awareness is shared as is our commitment to running small group trips in off the beaten track locations, adhering to the principles of leave no trace. In this respect our partners are making concerted efforts regarding waste management, reduction of fossil fuels, recycling and equipment manufacture - many of which are new concepts in Peru. Ecoan also provides medical kits and training for several communities, installs chimneys and ecological stoves and even provides firewood from sustainable eucalyptus forests in places where deforestation is seriously advanced. When is it good for the environment to fly? We firmly believe that the negatives of international air travel are far outweighed by the positives of travelling to destinations where your visit is helping to conserve the precious wilderness regions you experience. Like any business we cannot eliminate our consumption of energy altogether, what we do instead is financially offset our carbon emissions by 110% through Climate Care. As a company we adhere to the Leave No Trace policies. Community We work with our in-country partners to ensure that every effort is being made to deliver small group and tailor-made trips consistent with the policy of local economic benefit. This includes a commitment to fair wages and correct working conditions including insurance, health, clothing and equipment and the establishment of a robust Porter Protection Policy. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |
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