TOURS

For my first trip to Peru, I was helped invaluably by the competent and friendly people of SPORTSTRAVEL. They are a Lima-based tour operator. They can arrange just about any tour you can imagine, and of course, all the usual transport and accommodation arrangements while in Peru. Hotels in Lima, transport to the Sacred Valley, Colca Canyon tours — you name it, they can organise it.
Contact Darío González Musso or Flor de María Sánchez on email sportravel@terra.com.pe, or visit their website here.

On my second trip to Cuzco, I was lucky enough to organise my Inca Trail trip through INSTINCT TRAVEL -- LAND OF THE INKAS. Run by two adventurous brothers, Benjamin and Juan, Instinct is one of the region's most experienced tour operators, pioneers in white-water rafting trips. They put together great Inca Trail packages, where one does the trail in two-and-a-half days, thus giving you an afternoon and most of the next day to explore Machu Picchu. Our guide Juan was excellent, the equipment first class and the food delicious. See their website here.

If you're heading for Machu Picchu, you'll be taking the train if you're not hiking. And even if you hike, you'll be taking the train back to Cuzco. The trains are run by PERURAIL, which is owned by Orient Express. I'm grateful to their PR department for arranging tickets on my two trips. To find out more about PeruRail's network across the country, and the Orient Express' hotels, go to their website here.

The train to Machu Picchu, following the course of the River Vilcabamba