Machu Picchu - Lake
Titicaca
(11
days/10 nights)
Machu Picchu - Lake
Titicaca
(12 days/11 nights)
Machu Picchu - Lake
Titicaca
(14 days/13 nights)
Colca Canyon - Machu
Picchu
Lake Titicaca
(16 days/15 nights)
Archaeological & Ecological
Treasures
Galapagos - Machu Picchu
Lake Titicaca (or Amazon)
(18 days/17
nights)
Colca Canyon - Amazon
Machu Picchu - Lake Titicaca
(22 days/21 nights)
Machu Picchu
(10
days/9 nights)
Machu Picchu
(13 days/12 nights)
Machu Picchu - Galapagos
(15 days/14 nights)
Galapagos - Machu Picchu
(18 days/17 nights)
Enchanted Isles of the Galapagos
Galapagos
(11
days/10 nights)
Galapagos & the Kingdom of Quito
Galapagos - Andes
(16 days/15 nights)
Galapagos - Amazon
(16 days/15 nights)
Historic Haciendas of the Andes
Cotopaxi - Antisana
- Otavalo
(7 days/6 nights)
© 2012 Inka's Empire Corporation.
All rights reserved.
Weaver of Chinchero, Sacred Valley.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
At Inka's Empire Tours, luxury means an incomparable level of private service
and an expertise that immerses you fully in the panoramic history of the Inca Empire.
-- Kimberly Fay, LuxuryLink.com
We asked Amazing Peru, a competitor, to propose a luxury tour. Below, we compare it to our own journey, Galapagos Islands & Machu Picchu. If you are not taking a Galapagos cruise, see our description of Peru.
La Merced Suite, Villa Colonna, Quito, Ecuador.
Photo: Villa Colonna.
Our competitor:
For accommodation in Quito, where the tour begins, our competitor uses the J.W. Marriott, a high-rise hotel in the modern part of the city, an uninteresting and inconvenient location.
Inka's Empire Tours:
Inka's has chosen the Villa Colonna or the resplendent Hotel Plaza Grande, colonial homes in the historic district of Quito -- the place you want to be.
La Plaza de la Independencia, Quito, Ecuador.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Our competitor:
A day in Quito is not included before the Galapagos cruise.
Inka's Empire Tours:
Quito is a World Heritage Site. Inka's full-day excursion with a private guide and chauffeur starts with a morning walk in the historic district. After lunch in the crater of a volcano, spend the afternoon at an Inca sun temple built to mark the equator. In the evening, drive to El Panecillo for a panorama of the beautifully illuminated colonial quarter. Admire the night view of the Spanish monuments on the way to La Plaza de la Independencia, where you will board a horse-drawn carriage for a romantic ride through the narrow streets of Old Quito. Arrive at La Belle Epoque to savor gourmet fusion cuisine, and stay overnight in one of the colonial homes mentioned above.
M/S Alta, Galapagos Islands.
Photo: Quasar Nautica.
Our competitor:
Our competitor's itinerary is risky because it does not have the day in Quito. A delay in your flight to Ecuador could cause you to miss the departure of your Galapagos cruise. If so, you would incur about $1,000 in expenses for an extra hotel night, new flights to the Galapagos and a charter boat to overtake your yacht.
Inka's Empire Tours:
With Inka's, you are sure to enjoy all of your cruise.
Museo Amano, Lima.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Our competitor:
Our competitor schedules a return to Quito, an overnight stay and a flight to Lima the next afternoon. Neither in Quito nor upon arrival in Lima is there an excursion, so the day is lost. On the following morning, there is a walking tour in the colonial quarter and, in the afternoon, a visit to one museum.
Inka's Empire Tours:
Our efficient itinerary saves a full day by taking you directly from the Galapagos Islands to Lima, with arrival the same evening. Unlike our competitor's walking tour in the colonial quarter, ours includes La Casa de Aliaga. Built in 1535 by Don Jeronimo de Aliaga, a member of Pizarro's conquering forces and co-founder of the city, it is still inhabited by the original family. A visit to this antique-filled mansion is to go back in time to the earliest years of the Spanish conquest. In the afternoon, instead of one museum, discover the treasures in two. The Museo Larco exhibits the world's largest private collection of pre-Columbian art, and the Museo Amano features a collection of artifacts from some of Peru's most important coastal civilizations. Its textiles and ceramics are among the best displayed in Lima.
Terraces of Pisaq, Sacred Valley.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Our competitor:
Our competitor includes only one day in the Sacred Valley of the Incas.
Inka's Empire Tours:
Inka's provides An Extra Day in the Sacred Valley (remember the day we saved in Lima?). Therefore, you won't miss the weavers' pueblo of Chinchero, the ancient salt mines of Maras, the sunken terraces of Moray or the magnificent Pisaq ruins. Nor will you miss a lunch of nouvelle Andean cuisine by chef Ricardo Behar at 3 Keros, overnight in a private villa and a dinner prepared by your personal chef.
Your private guide at Machu Picchu.
Photo of Julio Cesar Camacho.
Our competitor:
While appearing to offer the more luxurious choice -- the Orient-Express Hiram Bingham train -- a private guide is not included in their tour of Machu Picchu. The only guided excursion is for two hours with a group of the train's passengers.
Inka's Empire Tours:
Inka's uses the Orient-Express Vistadome train because it allows a more efficient itinerary and a more gradual acclimatization to the high altitude of the Andes. If you are an avid hiker, you can arrive at Machu Picchu on the Royal Inca Trail or experience the top-of-the-world panorama of the Machu Picchu Mountain Trail without additional cost. Whenever you wish, your private guide will hike with you in Machu Picchu and to the surrounding sites of Huayna Picchu, the Temple of the Moon, the Inca Drawbridge and the Sun Gate. At other times, you may choose to explore on your own.
Fountains of Tipon, the water garden of Inca Wiracocha.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Our competitor:
Our competitor has the standard tour of colonial Cuzco and the major Inca sites, but skips the Temple of the Moon, unique for its animal sculptures.
Inka's Empire Tours:
With Inka's, your excursions to the Inca monuments will be leisurely and complete. There will be generous amounts of time to appreciate the Temple of the Sun, the House of the Virgins of the Sun, the Stone of Twelve Angles, the fortress of Saqsaywaman and all of the other important sites in and near Cuzco.
Our tours with an extra day in the Inca capital offer an afternoon free to stroll on your own in the artisans' quarter of San Blas and the next morning to take a guided excursion beyond the ancient fortress that guarded the Valley of Cuzco. Coming back on the Collasuyu Road, follow the route of early travelers from the southern quarter of the empire, which reached beyond Lake Titicaca. Pass through the ancient gate of Rumicolca, gaze at the pre-Inca ruins of Pikillaqta, taste the traditional bread of Oropesa and admire the royal garden of Tipon before your arrival in the Imperial City of the Incas.
A Paracas Necropolis "manto", c. 500 BC.
Museo Nacional de Arqueologia, Antropologia e Historia del Peru.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Our competitor:
Returning to Lima on the last day of the tour, guests don't need to depart for the airport until the evening or the next morning. Even though the entire day is available, our competitor has no excursion at all.
Inka's Empire Tours:
In contrast, Inka's excursion features Pachacamac, a pre-Inca and Inca pilgrimage site on the Pacific coast; a lunch at the extraordinary Huaca Pucllana restaurant, located on the grounds of a 1,500-year-old adobe pyramid; a visit to the artisans' quarter of Barranco; and a dinner of Peruvian-European cuisine at the Poissonnerie.
© 2012 Inka's Empire Corporation, Luxury Peru Tours & Travel. All rights reserved.
