2 Week Peru Itinerary

Peru is an amazing country filled with beautiful landscapes including the impressive Andes Mountains. You can expect to find delicious food, affordable prices and amazing people! We spent time in Lima, Cusco and of course visited the famous Machu Picchu. Here is our 2 week Peru itinerary including where we went, how to get around and how long to spend in each place!

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Just like all of our travel itineraries there is no one way to see a place. Peru has so much to offer and we only dipped our toes in this beautiful country. With 2 weeks you can see a lot but of course we are already dreaming of going back and seeing more!

Most of our Peru itinerary was centered around hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. This was a dream of ours for a long time and we are so glad we did it! It was so rewarding hiking into Machu Picchu knowing how hard we had worked over the previous 4 days to get there.

Of course hiking isn’t the only way to get to Machu Picchu. You can take the train from Cusco to Aguas Calientes and then the bus up to the entrance to Machu Picchu.

When to Visit Peru

Peru is in the Southern Hemisphere and generally has a wet season and a dry season. The rainy (summer) season is from December to March and then the dry (winter) season is from May to September.

The best time of year to visit Peru depends on where you want to visit. If you want to hike in the Andes Mountains it’s better to go in the dry season even though temperatures will be cooler. If you’re visiting the coast you likely want warmer temperatures which will be during the rainy season. While Peru isn’t a huge country, the weather varies depending on where you are because the geography differs so much. Make sure to take that into account when you’re planning when to visit.

If you’re visiting the mountains bring a rain jacket just in case! There is always a chance and these rain jackets pack up so small (and are very affordable) making them perfect for travel!

Days 1-3: Lima

Lima is the capital city of Peru and where most international flights will fly into. Lima sits on the coast making it a beautiful city to explore! We stayed in Miraflores and really enjoyed the neighborhood and how close to the water it is.

Make sure to give yourself at least 2 full days to explore Lima! There is a lot to do in the city and so many delicious food options! Lima is actually known for its food culture and has quite a few great restaurants so you definitely want a few days especially if you love trying different foods!

The neighborhood of Barranco is next to Miraflores and features lots of large murals and street art. It’s a really cool area to walk through especially if you are looking for places to take pictures!

You can actually walk from Miraflores to Barranco along the Miraflores Boardwalk. It follows the water giving you really beautiful views of the coastline! We did this walk from Barranco back to our hostel in Miraflores and really enjoyed it. You will likely walk through El Parque del Amor or Love Park which is a really beautiful and popular park in the city!

Read More: How to Spend 2 Days in Lima, Peru

Days 4-7: Cusco

We absolutely loved the city of Cusco! It just has such an interesting feel to it! It feels like the cutest village situated in the middle of the mountains with so much history and culture!

To get from Lima to Cusco you can choose either to take a bus or to fly. The bus can be very long and remote as you navigate through the mountains. If you are choosing the bus Peru Hop is a popular option that is safe and used by lots of visitors. We flew LATAM Airlines and it cost 224 Soles per person or about $65 USD each.

Travel Truth: Try to get a window seat flying from Lima into Cusco! You get some absolutely incredible views flying over the mountains as you get closer to Cusco. Because of it’s location landing in Cusco can sometimes be tricky. We got really lucky and had clear weather!

Cusco is located at over 11,000 feet (3,400 meters) in elevation which means it is really, really high! For that reason if you’re coming from Lima (or anywhere else at sea level) you will need to acclimatize to let your body adjust to being at such a high altitude. It’s suggested to give yourself a few days to adjust without doing anything too strenuous.

Cusco is a pretty hilly city. We noticed quickly even walking up the small hill to the Plaza de Armas we were short of breath.
Symptoms of altitude sickness include shortness of breath, dizziness, headaches and general tiredness. Some people experience severe altitude sickness while others don’t at all so definitely give yourself some time to get used to the air in Cusco.

We spent 4 full days (and 1 half day) in Cusco before starting the Inca Trail and it was the perfect amount of time. We were completely acclimatized for our trek and also enjoyed how much of Cusco we got to see!

Read More: Travel Guide to Cusco, Peru

We loved walking around the streets of Cusco. The historic center is filled with cobblestone walking streets lined with restaurants and shops. Make sure to walk over to the Plaza de Armas which is the main square. This bustling area is always filled with both locals and visitors.

Cusco gets really warm during the day while the sun is out and then cools down a lot at night so make sure to bring a fleece or warm layer. We both wore our winter jackets at night because it was that chilly!

Once you’re a little more acclimatized walk up to Plaza San Cristobal which overlooks the city of Cusco. It’s about a 20 minute walk from the main square and rewards you with amazing views from the top! It gives you so much perspective to how nestled in the mountains you truly are!

From Cusco there are quite a few day trips that you can take but we wouldn’t recommend doing any of them on your first few days. Popular day trips include hiking to Rainbow Mountain, hiking to Humantay Lake, or taking a day trip to Ollantaytambo.

We took a day trip to hike to Humantay Lake on our second full day in Cusco. Honestly the hike was really difficult for us! We actually felt like the hike to Humantay Lake was more challenging than the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu simply because our bodies just weren’t as used to the altitude yet. If we were to do it again we would have waited longer before going. But it was still amazing and we definitely think it helped us acclimatize before our Inca Trail Trek!

Read More: Day trip to Humantay Lake

Days 8-11: Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

If you’re not hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu then you don’t need all these days. You can take the train from Cusco to Aguas Calientes and then the bus to the entrance to Machu Picchu. If you’re not hiking you could choose to spend additional days in Cusco exploring more of the surrounding area. Or if you don’t quite have 2 full weeks you could cut these days out and make this a 10 or 11 day itinerary.

But we would highly recommend hiking the Inca Trail! We hiked up so many stairs through pouring rain and thick fog surrounded by mountains the entire time. We passed alpacas and so many Incan ruins. Throughout those 4 days we learned about Incan traditions and the life of porters and people who live in small villages along the trail.

We explored the Patallacta archeological site on day 1, hiked up Dead Woman’s Pass and then down in the pouring rain on day 2 and spent time at Intipata archeological site and Winay Wayna on day 3. On day 4 we woke up at 2:00 in the morning to get through the SunGate to Machu Picchu!

There are so many incredible ruins that you pass along the hike that you miss by taking the train just to Machu Picchu. The ruins at Machu Picchu are incredible and so impressive. But it quickly became not just about the destination but also the journey to get there as cheesy as that sounds. We ate all our meals together with our group, got to know the porters and guides and got to hike through some absolutely incredible landscapes!

Once at Machu Picchu we spent about 2 hours walking around the ruins. There is a one way pathway that leads through the different areas. It’s intentionally designed this way so everyone follows the same direction. We were there from about 8:30-11:30 in the morning. There were other hikers and also tons of people who had come for the day but it wasn’t too crowded to where it took away from the experience.

Make sure to pick your head up while you’re walking around. The surrounding mountains are absolutely beautiful! You are completely surrounded on all sides by peak after peak.

There are restrictions for what you can bring into Machu Picchu. Plastic water bottles are not allowed so make sure to bring a reusable water bottle.

Included in our trek to Machu Picchu with Alpaca Expeditions was a return train ticket from Aguas Calientes back to Cusco for that night. So once we left Machu Picchu we took the bus down to Aguas Calientes where we had one final lunch together before getting on the train.

Read More: Inca Trail to Machu Picchu Day 4

Days 12-13: Cusco

If you’re hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu you will definitely want a night or two in Cusco to recover from the last couple of days of sleeping in a tent and hiking for hours. If you take the train to Machu Picchu you still probably want to spend one more night in Cusco before leaving.

We would recommend checking out Yaku Cocina de Altura for Peruvian food or Nonna Trattoria for some really good pizza. If you’re looking for a super budget friendly place go to UFO Asian Food. All of those restaurants are delicious and really good options for your last night in Cusco!

Day 14: Lima

The airport in Cusco is not huge so if you have an international flight you will likely have to fly from Cusco back to Lima and then fly out from there. We were able to get a flight from Cusco to La Paz, Bolivia which is a quick flight and also a beautiful one!

You could very easily make this itinerary more like 10 days if you don’t hike to Machu Picchu. Or if you have more than 2 weeks there are so many other places to visit within Peru such as Huacachina or Arequipa.