15 Guided Days Out in Peru, Compared

Full Day Tour From Lima: Paracas and Huacachina Oasis - Before sunrise at Miraflores

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 3,694 reviews · 18 hours (approx.) · from $57Our pick

Review of Lima’s Paracas and Huacachina day trip, with Ballestas wildlife, pisco tasting, dune buggies, costs, tips, and honest drawbacks.

“This tour is about fun, not education. It’s a very long day if you depart from Lima, six am to midnight. The activities are well planned and organized, no lineup. I recommend buying the meal at the wine tasting, it was very good. Bring water and toilet paper.”

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Cusco Tours, Full-Day, Rainbow Mountain and Humantay Lake, Tour Reviews, Tours

Excursion to Rainbow Mountain Full Day Optional Red Valley

2.Excursion to Rainbow Mountain Full Day Optional Red Valley

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 2,996 reviews · 12 hours (approx.) · from $25

Review of Cusco’s budget Rainbow Mountain tour, with transport, meals, altitude advice, optional Red Valley, costs, and honest tips.

“If you are a solo traveler find a different group. You are basically paying for the transportation and a sub par lunch and breakfast. You could figure out the hike on your own easily enough if you are a trekker or hiker. The guide doesn't provide any information or details about rainbow mountain, they literally just tell you where to go and make sure you get up and back.”

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Buffet Experiences, Cusco Tours, Lunch Experiences, Rainbow Mountain and Humantay Lake, Tour Reviews, Tours

Cusco: Humantay Lake Tour with Breakfast and Buffet Lunch

3.Humantay Lake Tour with Breakfast and Buffet Lunch

★★★★★★★★★★4.9 · 2,976 reviews · 1 day · from $22

Review of the $22 Humantay Lake tour from Cusco, with a steep high-altitude hike, Salkantay views, breakfast, and buffet lunch.

“An amazing experience! The hike to Humantay Lagoon was absolutely worth it — the scenery was stunning. Everything was very well organized and felt safe, suitable for all fitness levels. Many thanks to our wonderful guide for being so supportive, informative, and friendly throughout the day. Truly a memorable adventure!”

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Lunch Experiences, Sacred Valley Tours, Tour Reviews, Tours

From Cusco: Sacred Valley & Maras Salt Mines Tour with Lunch

4.From Cusco: Sacred Valley & Maras Salt Mines Tour with Lunch

★★★★★★★★★★4.8 · 2,227 reviews · 1 day · from $28

Review of Cusco’s Sacred Valley and Maras tour, covering Chinchero, Moray, salt ponds, Ollantaytambo, Pisac, transport, lunch, and value.

“A really nice day trip seeing some great sites. Excellent guide who kept us on track for the whistle stop tour of some lovely places.”

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Cusco Tours, Sacred Valley Tours, Tour Reviews, Tours

From Cusco: Moray, Maras Salt Mines & Chinchero Weavers Tour

5.From Cusco: Moray, Maras Salt Mines & Chinchero Weavers Tour

★★★★★★★★★★4.8 · 1,925 reviews · 6h 30m · from $15

Explore Moray, Maras Salt Mines, and Chinchero from Cusco with hotel pickup, Inca history, weaving, mountain views, and excellent value.

“Great tour, great guide, such good value for money! Would highly recommend!”

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Food, Food & Drink, Food Tours and Cooking Classes in Lima, Lima City Tours, Lima Tours, Peru Food Tours and Cooking Classes, Tour Reviews, Tours

Lima Ultimate Peruvian Food Tour

6.Lima Ultimate Peruvian Food Tour

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 1,845 reviews · 4 hours (approx.) · from $105

Explore Barranco through ceviche, lomo saltado, pisco sours, art, and local stories on Lima’s intimate four-hour food tour.

“Marcos was amazing! Incredibly knowledgeable and friendly. The food was great, definitely come hungry!”

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Full-Day, Guided, Lima City Tours, Paracas and Ballestas Islands, Paracas Tours, Tour Reviews, Tours

From Lima: Paracas and Huacachina Oasis Full Day Guided Tour

7.From Lima: Paracas and Huacachina Oasis Full Day Guided Tour

★★★★★★★★★★4.7 · 1,780 reviews · 18 hours · from $59

Review of Lima’s Paracas and Huacachina day tour, with Ballestas wildlife, pisco tasting, dune buggies, costs, timing, and practical tips.

“Excellent trip. We enjoyed a lot. The trip to Ballestas island was amazing. Got to see the sea lions up close. Lunch options and Pisco tasting at Ica was great. The tour guide arranged paragliding for us at Huacachina and it was a wonderful once in a lifetime experience. Overall, it was a great trip and a day well spent.”

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Cusco Tours, Full-Day, Machu Picchu Tours, Tour Reviews, Tours

From Cusco: Full-Day Group Tour of Machu Picchu

8.From Cusco: Full-Day Group Tour of Machu Picchu

★★★★★★★★★★4.7 · 1,767 reviews · 12 hours · from $321

Review of the 12-hour Machu Picchu tour from Cusco, covering trains, guides, circuits, costs, weather, meals, and practical booking tips.

“We had an incredible experience seeing Machu Picchu. At first we were a little disappointed as the time slot we had booked was full so we were put on a later schedule, however this turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the weather turned out better in the afternoon and we ended up with a private tour as it was less crowded. Our tour guide, Darcy, was exceptional! He had incredible knowledge of the history and his English was perfect. We're not normally fans of tours but he kept it very interesting and took us to some viewpoints that other groups didn't have access to to get a…”

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Cooking Classes, Cusco Tours, Food Tours and Cooking Classes in Cusco, Markets, Peru Food Tours and Cooking Classes, Shopping Tours, Tour Reviews, Tours, Workshops

Peruvian Cooking Class Cocktails and Market Tour in Cusco

9.Peruvian Cooking Class Cocktails and Market Tour in Cusco

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 1,712 reviews · 4 hours (approx.) · from $57

Explore San Pedro Market, cook three Peruvian dishes, mix two pisco cocktails, and take home recipes in this four-hour Cusco class.

“This excursion was very interesting and fun at first, with the San Pedro market tour! I definitely learned a lot. I did feel like the market tour and the cooking classes were very long altogether. I was definitely ready to go home after. It would have been nice to actually have individual burners and learn how to cook each meal. It felt very school like with us passing around bowls of ingredients and putting them in our station. Definitely hands off. Oh, and not to mention one of the European guys in our group kept sniffing the bowl of food that we used for our ingredients :/.”

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City Tours, Half-Day, Lima City Tours, Lima Tours, Tour Reviews, Tours, Walking Tours, Walking Tours in Lima

Lima Half-Day City Walking Tour (Small Groups)

10.Lima Half-Day City Walking Tour (Small Groups)

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 1,508 reviews · 3 hours 30 minutes (approx.) · from $24

Explore Lima’s historic center on a small-group walk with San Francisco catacombs, colonial landmarks, hotel transport, and local treats.

“This was a most enjoyable tour of Lima, areas that you would not usually see. Our Guide Maverick was most informative and patient when we wanted to spend a bit more time somewhere. Our driver Marcus was also very helpful. Maverick gave us excellent recommendations for restaurants. I would thoroughly recommend.”

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Evening Experiences, Lima Tours, Paracas and Ballestas Islands, Tour Reviews, Tours

Paracas and Huacachina Exclusive Sunset Picnic Tour

11.Paracas and Huacachina Exclusive Sunset Picnic Tour

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 1,398 reviews · 17 hours (approx.) · from $135

Review of Lima’s Paracas and Huacachina day tour, with Ballestas wildlife, pisco tasting, dune buggies, sandboarding, and sunset picnic.

“Casa cardavero was the best part. The rest is similar to other tours. Bfast and dinner not included, but lunch was delicious. The ballestas boat tour was 80% spanush, 20% english. Our bus guide was smiley and cute. This tour was the highlight of our Peru trip. A must-do!!”

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City Tours, Cusco City Tours, Cusco Tours, Half-Day, Tour Reviews, Tours

Cusco: Half-Day City Tour with Sacsayhuaman and Q’enco

12.Half-Day City Tour with Sacsayhuaman and Q’enco

★★★★★★★★★★4.6 · 1,129 reviews · 5 hours · from $13Best value

Review of Cusco’s $13 half-day tour to Qoricancha, Sacsayhuamán, Q’enqo, Puka Pukara and Tambomachay, with practical tips.

“Varied day with very interesting sights to see. Although only half a day it packed so much in. The guide was passionate about the information he shared. Highly recommend.”

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2-Day Experiences, Cusco Tours, Machu Picchu Tours, Sacred Valley Tours, Tour Reviews, Tours, Train Experiences

2-Day Tour: Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu by Train

13.2-Day Tour: Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu by Train

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 1,127 reviews · from $469

Review of a 2-day Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu train tour from Cusco, with ruins, markets, hotel stay, train tips, costs, and practical advice.

“This was an excellent tour. I rarely write reviews but felt this was one of the easiest, most pleasant, and educational tours. It made the whole process stress free. We were a party of 10 ranging in ages 10-70 with various physical ability, food tolerance, and motivation to learRead more”

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Guided, Lima Tours, Paracas and Ballestas Islands, Tour Reviews, Tours

Paracas, Ballestas Islands and Huacachina Guided Tour

14.Paracas, Ballestas Islands and Huacachina Guided Tour

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 1,100 reviews · 17 hours (approx.) · from $75

Review of the 17-hour Paracas, Ballestas Islands and Huacachina tour from Lima, with wildlife, pisco tasting, dune rides, costs and practical tips.

“It was a fun and beautiful day going to Paracas and then Ballestas islands. Such a special place to see the birds, penguins, sea lions and rock formations. We then had such a delicious lunch followed by the pisco tasting. Afterwards we went to Huacachina and ride the buggies on the sand dunes. That was the highlight of the day tour. Everyone had such a blast and the return was quite late to the hotel It was such a long and joyful day. I just wished though that english could have been more used in the bus while communicating to the vacationers. Other than that, the guides were really great…”

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Puno Tours, Quad Bikes, Rainbow Mountain and Humantay Lake, Tour Reviews, Tours

From Cusco: Vinicunca Rainbow Mountain ATV Tour with Meals

15.From Cusco: Vinicunca Rainbow Mountain ATV Tour with Meals

★★★★★★★★★★4.6 · 1,060 reviews · 12 - 14 hours · from $76

Ride an ATV to Peru’s Rainbow Mountain from Cusco, with breakfast, lunch, bilingual guides, and a demanding high-altitude finish.

“our guide Cesar was excellent. He gave us so much information about the cusco city and rainbow mountain. he was on top of our safety and made sure we knew how to drive atv. overall a wonderful experience at 17000ft.”

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