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Peru luxury travel guide

Peru may bring to mind hardy hikes, jungle adventures and cultural encounters rather than luxury digs and fine dining, but the country’s many highlights can be served up in a luxury package, too. This doesn’t mean forgoing adventure; it means adventuring in style and comfort with tailor made itineraries and smooth transfers to ensure that all you have to worry about is the experience. Our Peru luxury travel guide explains more, with tips on the best time to go, too.

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Peru luxury travel guide

A magical South American microcosm of vast mountain ranges, ancient ruins, indigenous cultures and lush jungles, Peru hosts some of the continent’s biggest draws, including the Nazca Lines, Lake Titicaca and Machu Picchu. It’s synonymous with adventure and discovery, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy the finer things in life; it just means that you can do so while enjoying the rawness of nature, too.

Indigenous culture, Inca treasures and sustainable jungle lodges – luxury vacations in Peru serve up serious treats in a hassle-free package.

Luxury vacations in Peru don’t cocoon you away from the wilderness or the local people, and they aren’t about pointless bling either. Upping your budget will buy you unique wildlife experiences, speedy access to remote areas and the best environmentally friendly lodges. You could rough it on Amazon jungle trails but sleep in a luxury lodge at the end of the day; sample the best of Lima’s fine dining scene as well as the local street food; or hike the Inca Trail with porters to carry your bags, safe in the knowledge that at the end of it there’s a readymade tent and a glass of wine waiting for you.

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Why choose a luxury Peru trip?

The best thing about luxury vacations to Peru is flexibility. Most offer individually tailored itineraries that take you to the country’s most beautiful sights at a pace that suits you, without the hassle of sorting things out yourself. You’ll be provided with smooth transfers, informed local guides and maybe even a private driver to make the most out of your visit. While some of your accommodation will be high end, a luxury trip to Peru is more about accessing difficult-to-reach destinations, such as jungle lodges deep in the Amazon rainforest; and about having wildlife experiences and cultural encounters that would be difficult to manage independently or with a lower budget.

Accommodation

Luxury vacations give you access to some of the most beautiful accommodation in Peru. You can stay in a cluster of whitewashed casitas in a cloud forest at the foot of Machu Picchu; dine by candlelight amongst the cloisters in a monastery turned boutique hotel; or sleep in a remote jungle lodge where you can soothe your aching muscles at a world class spa to a soundtrack of birds and insects. High end experiences don’t have to be restricted to hotels either. On a luxury Inca Trail trek, you’ll still be sleeping under canvas, but in quieter settings, with porters and cooks to do all the hard work, a private toilet tent and even massages and wine with dinner.

Luxury doesn’t have to mean lower environmental standards, and many of Peru’s top hotels and lodges go to great lengths to protect their natural environment. For example, harvesting rainwater, using solar power, recycling as much waste as possible and supporting local communities – from employing and educating staff from the surrounding areas to working with local schools, farms and charities. Lodges in the Amazon in particular provide invaluable income allowing the indigenous population to retain their identity without dependence on government or oil company handouts. The ethical practices of many luxury lodges extend to their guests, too, and educating visitors about the environment is often central to their offer.

Getting around

Get yourself to Peru and a luxury itinerary will take care of the rest. You’ll get private transfers and all your internal travel will be arranged for you – this could include domestic flights, a private car with a driver, a modern tourist bus or a train ride. And speaking of train rides, you can seriously increase the luxury quota on an Inca Trail trip by taking a luxury train from Cuzco to Machu Picchu. The Vistadome train has plush seats and huge panoramic windows (and ceiling) through which you can gaze at the landscape beyond. The super plush Hiram Bingham, meanwhile, has 1920s-style carriages complete with armchairs and polished wood and brass fixtures, and serves cocktails and gourmet multi-course meals.

Many of Peru’s high end hotels and lodges boast impressive environmental and social credentials, such as supporting wildlife conservation initiatives. Rainforest Alliance has certified a lot of tourism businesses for best practice in Peru, and many tourism businesses work with ECOAN (Andean Ecosystems Association), who conserve endangered species and invest heavily in the preservation of high Andean cultures. Tour operators employ local group leaders and driver guides, who all know their areas well and can help educate guests on the environmental dos and don'ts of the areas they are traveling through. Excursions in the Amazon rainforest, for example, are accompanied by indigenous guides who were born and raised in nearby villages. Some jungle lodges are part owned and managed by the local indigenous community.

Best time to go

The cool dry season of May-Sep is a great time to visit Peru – the skies are clearer, jungle wildlife is more visible and trekking conditions are at their best.

The best time to visit Peru depends on the region. Climate varies by altitude, so even places which are beside each other on a map may be vastly different in temperature or rainfall. The seasons are loosely wet and dry, with May-September being drier and clearer in the highlands, and much better for trekking, though it will get very cold at night. The dry season is also the best time to visit Peru's Amazon basin, as wildlife congregates around the shrinking rivers, and mosquitos are fewer. From Jan-Apr roads and trekking paths in mountainous areas can be impassable due to the rains.

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