The Times Weekend - UK (2021-11-20)

Travel 47

EXPLORA SACRED VALLEY; ALAMY

Machu Picchu by luxury train

Most Latin American countries have

lost their great railways,

but tourism has allowed Peru to

keep open some awe-inspiring

lines. After a look around colonial

Lima and the excellent Larco

museum, transfer to Cusco to

ride Belmond’s Hiram Bingham

Pullman-style train through the

Sacred Valley to Machu Picchu.

After exploring the area with expert

guides, board another luxury train

for a whistle-stop tour of Lake

Titicaca and Arequipa, Peru’s

second city, Unesco-listed for its

beautiful architecture.

Details Nine nights from

£6,540pp, including flights,

accommodation, transfers,

most meals and excursions

(journeylatinamerica.co.uk)

Peru’s highlights in style

A couple of decades ago, intrepid

usually meant roughing it in Peru.

But a new generation of jungle

lodges and savvy local tour firms

have since honed the luxurious

wilderness holiday. Combine a

three-night stay at the Reserva

Amazonica at the headwaters of

the Amazon — where you can

canoe to look for giant otters —

with a couple of nights each at the

lovely Sol y Luna hotel in the Sacred

Valley and the Colca lodge close to

the canyon of the same name.

You’ll also stay at the five-star GHL

hotel on the shores of Lake Titicaca.

Details Sixteen nights from

£4,705pp, including

accommodation, private tours,

most meals and domestic flights

(selectlatinamerica.co.uk); budget

an extra £800 for international

flights to Lima

Ecuadorian Amazon adventure

Start with a wander round colonial

Quito, where the Andean altitude

keeps tropical temperatures more

than bearable. The road trip down

to the Amazon basin is one of the

most thrilling “transfers” in the

world, traversing the so-called

Avenue of the Volcanoes before

zigzagging down to the rainforest.

The highlight is six nights on

board the 18-suite, 40-passenger

Anakonda, the only luxury ship to

sail Ecuador’s headwaters, meeting

local communities and visiting

remote and pristine areas where

few get to travel.

Details Eleven nights from

£5,595pp, including

accommodation, full board

on the cruise and flights

(steppestravel.com)

Bolivia high plains

Known as Alto Peru or

“High Peru” during the

colonial era, Bolivia

has some of the most

breathtaking mountain

scenery on earth. Take

in the markets and

colonial architecture of

Sucre, the spectacular

salt lake of Uyuni, Lake

Titicaca — a blue jewel

in the arid heart of the

Andean altiplano — and

the city of Potosi, renowned for

the silver mines that powered

the Spanish empire. Framing all

these wonders are snow-capped

peaks and agricultural landscapes

that provide a vital link back

to Inca times.

Details Fifteen nights’ B&B

from £4,805pp, including

accommodation and guides

(geodyssey.co.uk). Fly to Santa

Cruz and from La Paz

Peruvian gastronomy trail

The story of Peruvian cuisine is

extraordinary, from the point of

view of the indigenous techniques

for storing and growing food in

testing environments to the global

renown enjoyed by Peruvian chefs

in recent times. While ceviche is

now available anywhere and

everywhere, a food-themed tour

of Lima, the Sacred Valley, Colca

Canyon and Lake Titicaca affords

an opportunity to expand your

knowledge. You’ll visit markets,

meet local cooks and chefs,

take cookery classes and indulge

in delicious dinners — rounding

it all off with a pisco cocktail

mixing session.

Details Ten nights from £6,100

per person, including all domestic

travel, some meals, luxury train

travel and excursions.

(belmond.com). Fly to Lima

Sacred Valley explorations

Using the Explora Valle Sagrado

lodge as your base, visit remote,

off-the-beaten-track areas of the

Sacred Valley — the river valley

between Machu Picchu and Cusco

— on a series of walking, mountain-

biking and high-altitude hiking

excursions. More than 40

adventures are on offer, with

sumptuous dinners and a soft

bed awaiting you on your return.

Combine three days of active

tourism with a slower-paced stay

in Cusco, based at the lavishly

appointed Palacio Nazarenas.

Details Eight nights from £5,080pp

including accommodation,

some meals (full board at

Explora), transfers and flights

(audleytravel.com)

Huayhuash trek

For seasoned walkers after

something original and away from

the crowds, Peru’s Huayhuash

range is hard to beat. Made famous

by Joe Simpson’s 1988 book

Touching the Void — and the film

of the same name — the region’s

jaw-dropping beauty can be

experienced without ever taking

out an ice-pick or donning

crampons. A fully supported, locally

guided small-group walk around

the main circuit takes visitors into a

terrain of still, turquoise-hued lakes

beneath snow-capped summits and

glaciers that rise dramatically from

rolling grassland. Walking the trails,

the only noises likely to break the

serenity are the calls of herders to

their llamas (including the ones

carrying your gear).

Details Fifteen nights from

£1,880pp, including local

transport, transfers, full-board

accommodation and tour guide.

The trip can also be offered to

private groups on a bespoke

basis (andeantrails.co.uk).

Fly to Lima

Private island-hopping

in the Galapagos

From March 2022 the

Ecuador-based tour

operator Metropolitan

Touring will offer a

land-based itinerary

with a private guide that

combines three nights

at the excellent Scalesia

Lodge tented camp on

Isabela Island with four

nights at the Finch Bay

Galapagos Hotel on

Santa Cruz — with a light aircraft

providing the inter-island transfer.

Spending time on terra firma is an

opportunity to visit wildlife-viewing

spots off most itineraries; Finch

Bay guests also have access to

a yacht. Spend a night at Casa

Gangotena in Quito en route.

Details Seven nights from £7,426pp,

including accommodation, most

meals, transfers and flights

(journeylatinamerica.co.uk)

Machu Picchu and Rainbow

Mountain

Photographers have always loved

Machu Picchu, but in the Instagram

era a rival has surfaced in the shape

of Rainbow Mountain — aka

Vinicunca or “Mountain of Seven

Colours”. A couple of hours’ drive

from Cusco, this is a sight to

behold, rising more than 17,000ft

above sea level in an apex of

dreamlike yet earthy hues. A visit

can be built around a tour of

Machu Picchu, along with an e-bike

ride to the nearby sites of Maras

and Moray and a fascinating visit

to a bioculture reserve for the

Americas’ most famous food

export: potatoes.

Details Seven nights from £2,100pp,

including all accommodation,

breakfasts and some other meals,

transfers and train rides

(setours.com). Fly to Lima

Go slow in Ecuador plus a

Galapagos cruise

If you’re time-rich, it pays to

undertake a slower, wide-ranging

adventure in Ecuador. Mix up

stays in cutting-edge, glass-walled

Mashpi Lodge with the historic

Hacienda Zuleta, near Otavalo’s

indigenous markets with artisan

workshops, before embarking on a

week-long cruise of the Galapagos

islands on the Galapagos Integrity,

one of the most sustainable boats

operating in the region. The trip is

bookended with nights in colonial

Quito and at a cacao and teak farm

close to Guayaquil.

Details Seventeen nights

from £9,950pp, including

accommodation, meals, tours

and transport, including flight to

the islands (traveldifferently.co.uk).

Fly to Quito

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Peru’s archaeological treasures are so
varied that the British Museum has not
even found room to include the Chacha-
poyas, a pugnacious people never con-
quered by the Incas who lived in the
northern cloud forests.
They left behind larger-than-life sar-
cophagi perched in the middle of vertical
cliffs, and Kuélap, a daunting mountaintop
fortress whose outer walls are 20ft high
and 2,000ft long. I was the only visitor
during my half-day exploring Chavín, and
there were just a handful of other groups
at Pikillacta, despite it being on Cusco’s
doorstep, and Kuélap.
Of course the Andeans’ cultural evolu-
tion did not end with the conquest. Just be-
yond Pikillacta is the small village of Anda-
huaylillas, with its colonial church. Some-
times described as the Sistine Chapel of the
Andes, it is a testament to how the Span-
iards had to adapt Catholicism for even
those converted at the point of a sword.
From the church’s austere façade there
is little to prepare the visitor for the glit-
teringly detailed interior, with its painted
roof and outsize, gilded baroque altar.
Yet, rather than crucifixes, the altar
features the Virgin Mary, a more palata-
ble icon for the surrounding Quechua
and Aymara-speaking communities,
who equated it to their own Pachamama
or Mother Earth.
There are more leisurely ways to
discover Peru’s cultural and geographical
diversity. In Lima you could try the tasting
menus at Central or Astrid y Gastón, the
restaurant that kicked off Peru’s gastro-
nomic renaissance back in the 1990s. Both
offer a haute cuisine tour de force that
will take you from the depths of the Pacific
to the heights of the Andes, and then on to
the exotically varied natural pantry that is
the Amazon.
Or you could just visit the British
Museum. And as you take in A Journey in
Time, you might want to consider that Peru
is not only high on many a bucket list, it is
also, as of last month, finally off the red list.

Top trips in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador

Las Casitas, a Belmond

Hotel, Colca Canyon, Peru

Finch Bay Galapagos Hotel