Peru Tour Packages

The dependable window: clear mornings, cold nights and the best chance of the view you came for. It is also the busiest, so entry tickets and trains are booked furthest ahead. The shoulder weeks in April and October are quieter and often still fine.

The same dry season as Cusco, a few hundred metres lower and noticeably milder — which is why it is the better place to spend the first nights of any trip.

High passes and mountain weather narrow the season further than sightseeing does. The Inca Trail closes each February for maintenance; Salkantay and Lares stay open but are wet and slippery in the rains.

At around 3,800m Puno is the coldest place most itineraries visit. The dry months are sunny and sharp, and the nights drop hard whatever the forecast says.

It rains all year. High water from about December to May floods the forest and opens up creeks to boats; low water from June to November exposes trails and beaches. Neither is better — they are different trips.

The coast is sunniest exactly when the Andes are wettest. From about May to November Lima sits under the garúa, a grey coastal mist that rarely becomes rain but rarely lifts either.