Ancient Monuments of Peru

In October 2018 we had arranged a comprehensive trip to South America starting in Peru, and then a cruise down the west coast of South America from Chile around Cape Horn to Rio de Janeiro followed by a land tour to Iguazu Falls in Brazil and Argentina. This book covers the first portion of that trip detailing our land tour in Peru and the incredible megalithic sites and monuments that we visited in Lima, Cusco, the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca.


After a day in Lima, Peru we flew to Cusco where we stayed for 2 nights and visited many of the fascinating sites in this high altitude city. From Cusco we travelled by road up the Sacred Valley visiting key ancient megalithic sites such as the Inca Fortress at Pisac and the Temple of the Sun in Ollantaytambo.


From Ollantaytambo we boarded the Vistadome train to take us to Aguas Calientes just below Machu Picchu. We spent two days visiting the iconic Machu Picchu site with a personal guided tour to Machu Picchu on the first day then a self guided trek the second day up Huayna Picchu which towers above Machu Picchu and offered some spectacular views over the Machu Picchu site from the summit.

After returning to Cusco for 2 more nights we then took a cross country luxury Tourismo Mer VIP Bus from Cusco to Pino which sits by the shores of Lake Titicaca. On the way to Puno we made a few stops visiting the town of Andahuaylillas, Raqch’i Archaeological Site, La Raya Viewpoint and the historical town of Pucará. 


We spent a full day touring Lake Titicaca by boat visiting the famous reed island villages and a walk over Taquile Island followed by lunch overlooking the lake. After returning to Puno we transferred to Juliaca and flew back to Lima where we would then fly the next day to Santiago, Chile to commence our South America cruise.


Peru is a fascinating country with an amazing number of historical sites to visit. The cuisine of Peru was really fantastic making this a place we would want to return to and explore in more depth.


This book contains detailed maps and routes that we took and along with the many photographs from all the locations which should provide a good introduction to this country and some of the key megalithic sites.