Peru is a large country on the west coast of South America. What do we think of when we think of Peru? Machu Picchu and Cusco. I don’t typically like touristy places but they were worth it. So yeah, sorry not sorry for the spoiler.
So am I ready to go back and devour some lomo saltado on top of the Andes? Yes plz.
How I Got There
As usual whenever I travel, I either take a United flight or search for the cheapest flight on kayak.com. I wrote an article about how I stick to flying on United as much as possible to cash out big with my miles.
For this trip, I took a United flight from Houston to Lima.
Ok here we go – I am very excited to share my top 3 favorite things I did in Peru.
1. Machu Picchu
I know, breaking news. But I really enjoyed hiking and camping the 4 day/3 night Inca Trail. In fact, I will detail this hike in a future post coming soon!
The whole trail and it’s the surround areas are a mountain ridge. There are a ton of llamas that walked around my personal bubble. It was pretty incredible.
Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu
We finally made it to the UNESCO World Heritage site by the 4th day. This was quite the experience and certainly once in a lifetime.
2. Rainbow Mountain (La Montaña de Los Siete Colores)
The worth-it to hassle-of-doing-it ratio is off the charts. I googled “Rainbow Mountain Tour”, and I signed up to do an organized tour the day before I did it for $30USD.
On the day of the tour, I took incredible pictures of what has ended up resulting in a mineralogical composition on the slopes. All it took was painfully waking at 3:30am so nbd. It was about a 3 hour drive from Cusco.
Note: I flew from Lima (basically 0 meters altitude) to Cusco (3,400m/11,000ft), stayed the night in Cusco, then the following morning I did the Rainbow Mountain (5,200m/17,100ft) tour. I knew it would be hard. And. I was right.
The altitude sickness kicked in pretty quickly, but all I had to do was slow down and take my time with the hike. It wasn’t that uncomfortable, and prior to that I already had high altitude experience, so I was fine.
And semi-important side note: perfect opportunity to for that Instagram caption with a “cómo te llamas?”
Rainbow Mountain
3. Lima – Miraflores
I think for this section I will also mention that I am very glad I stayed in the Miraflores district. I stayed at the Selina, and there were a lot of great restaurants and bars around.
During the day, I went surfing at Playa Makaha and loved it. There were plenty of small vendors that could offer me rentals on surfboards and wetsuits.
Lima – Miraflores
I wanted to specifically call out the nightlife in Lima because I really liked the club Subte (google maps link).
Most people pass by Lima just for transit purposes to get to Cusco, but I honestly enjoyed the big city vibe of Lima. It definitely helped my experience that I made some Peruvian friends on Couchsurfing.
Honorable Mentions
In Lima, I checked out the Barranco district on a Saturday for nightlife. I liked Subte and the Miraflores district better, but Barranco was great.
In Cusco, I walked around Plaza de Armas and I was set. Mama Africa on Saturday nights was a must.
Also, second time mentioning but Lomo Saltado.
Barranco District
Where I Stayed
I stayed at hostels for this trip from hostelworld.com. In Lima, it was Miraflores. In Cusco, it was… well, Cusco.
I wrote a separate article on How I Choose Where I Stay when I Travel.
If I Had More Time, I Would Have…
Explore smaller, more “Peruvian” less Touristy cities like Trujillo.
Made it down south to explore Puno (and see the beautiful lake), plus Arequipa.
Enjoyed more beach cities especially in the north like Mancora.
Closing Remarks
Like anywhere else, the experience was simply not enough to capture the full Peruvian experience – several days in Lima and one week in Cusco felt… what’s the word, unfair? Not enough?
This is a huge country. I look at the map and I remind myself that
Peru is more than just Lima and Cusco. There is a lot of great culture, nature on steroids, and places para conocer.
I soon realized eating ceviche on the beach in a Peruvian city not named Lima will need to be on the bucket list.
