Peru to Lake Titicaca: Lima, Cusco, Machu Picchu and Puno, 7 Nights

You are met at the airport and driven to your hotel, usually in the clifftop district of Miraflores. Use the rest of the day to settle in: a walk along the Malecón above the Pacific, a look at the paragliders riding the updrafts, and an early dinner. Lima is one of the great food cities of the continent, and the markets and cevicherías reward curiosity.

A guided half day through the historic centre. The Plaza Mayor is framed by the Government Palace, the cathedral, the town hall and the archbishop's palace with its dark carved balconies. Nearby the monastery of San Francisco has tiled cloisters, an old library and catacombs below the church where bones are arranged in careful patterns. The afternoon is free; the Larco Museum of pre-Columbian art is the best use of it.

An early flight takes you to Cusco, at about 3,400 metres, so rest for the morning. In the afternoon a guide leads you around Sacsayhuamán, whose enormous stones fit without mortar, then down to the Plaza de Armas and the cathedral, full of paintings by the colonial Cusco School. The tour continues to the quiet convent of Santa Catalina and ends in the busy San Pedro market, with its juice counters and stalls of grains, bread and herbs.

A day in the valley of the Urubamba. Chinchero comes first, where local weavers show how alpaca wool is spun and coloured with plant dyes, and the Inca terraces lie below a small colonial church. At Moray, circular terraces step down into a natural hollow like an amphitheatre, and the tour pauses for lunch nearby (confirmed with your quote). Ollantaytambo ends the day, with a climb up the terraced Inca complex that still watches over a lived-in town of stone lanes.

Leave early by road for Ollantaytambo and board the train down the Urubamba gorge to Aguas Calientes. From there a shuttle bus (confirmed with your quote) climbs the switchbacks to the citadel. A guide leads you through its terraces, temples and plazas, built by the Incas in the fifteenth century on a saddle between two peaks. Tickets are named, timed and tied to a set circuit, so they are booked well in advance. Bus, train and road bring you back to Cusco by evening.

A long, scenic road day across the high plateau. The first stop is the church at Andahuaylillas, painted inside from floor to ceiling, then the Inca temple walls of Raqchi. The road climbs to the La Raya pass, above 4,300 metres, with snow peaks on the horizon and alpacas grazing in the grass, before descending to the museum town of Pucará. You arrive in Puno in the late afternoon and are taken to your hotel.

You are collected for the harbour and a boat out onto Lake Titicaca, at about 3,800 metres. The Uros islands are built from layers of totora reed, and families still live on them, showing visitors how the islands and boats are made. The boat continues to Taquile, a steep island whose people are known for their textiles and their tradition of community work. From the main square the view runs across the blue lake to the mountains of Bolivia.

Breakfast at the hotel, then a transfer of about an hour across the altiplano to the airport at Juliaca, which serves Puno. Your flight will generally connect through Lima for the journey home. Allow good margin for the drive, as road works and weather can slow the traffic around Juliaca.