9-Day Family Friendly Trip to Peru

In 9 days, it’s fairly easy to cover a lot of ground for a family friendly trip to Peru. You can combine destination spots like Lima, Machu Piccu, the Sacred Valley, and more! There are a lot of family-friendly activities that people of most ages (~12+) will enjoy.

Below is an overview of a 9-day, 8-night family friendly trip to Peru that has you flying into Lima, checking out the Sacred Valley in Cusco, spending a day at Machu Picchu, and also includes thrill-seeking activities like zip lining and rock climbing. Check it out below and be sure to comment if you end up doing anything off of this travel itinerary!

Before the Trip:

1. Make sure you have a valid passport! US citizens traveling to Peru for tourism purposes (which is what this travel guide is intended for!) do not need to apply for a visa. However, if you (US citizens) are traveling to Peru for other purposes, including business, you must apply for a visa beforehand.
2. Definitely book hotels, train tickets, Machu Picchu tickets, etc. in advance! A lot of websites suggest booking Machu Picchu tickets ~4 months in advance (if you intend to visit there), though we suggest booking 6 months in advance, if possible. If you are planning to visit in the high season (May-August), definitely book as far in advance as possible! if you do not do this you will probably have to spend a little more money, since last – minute bookings in high season are very expensive, OR there might not be tickets left.
3. Understand that you cannot drink the tap water in Peru. Peru is a developed nation, and as you fly into Lima, you’ll see what a large city it is. Most hotels will leave a bottled water in your room and you can purchase water bottles pretty much anywhere you go. Make sure you factor this into your budgeting if you are someone who drinks a lot of water each day (which is a good thing!)
4. Just like visiting any exotic place, you will want to check out the CDC page on traveling to Peru to make sure you are up to date on certain shots or need to get any additional shots or medications for where you plan to visit, then discuss the options with your healthcare professional.

Day 1: Arrive in Lima, Peru

For the first day, the best city to fly into is Lima – this is also a good city to fly out of as well when you return home! You can decide if you want to explore Lima either on the front end of your trip or on the back end. We chose to explore the city on the back end the day we left Peru!

Since we arrived later in the evening, we booked a hotel right next to the airport since we were flying out the next day. Our Accommodation (quick and easy for one night!): Wyndham Costa del Sol Hotel. This is the best hotel if you are going to try to snag a flight in the AM to another city – most other hotels are ~30 minute drive from the airport. You only need to walk across a pedestrian bridge to get to the Wyndham Costa del Sol to get a good snooze!

Day 2: Fly to Cusco

After you’ve had a good nights rest and your body has started its adjustment to the new time zone – time to head out to your next destination in Peru! Take a morning flight to Cusco, it’s about an hour and a half long so you can get there by lunch time and still have over half a day in the city!

After grabbing a bite to eat in the city center, we had a driver take us to the Sacred Valley, where you can do a couple of things:

• Visit the Sacsayhuaman, an Incan fortress which overlooks the city. 
• Visit the Awanakancha Living Museum – here you can see traditional weavers as well as get up close to some llamas and alpacas (isn’t that what everyone goes to Peru for??)

There is still so much to do in the Sacred Valley area, so we recommend booking a hotel/resort for a few nights so that you can explore for multiple days. For a family friendly trip to Peru, the Sacred Valley has a lot to offer!

Accommodation Recommendations:

• Belmond Rio Sagrado Hotel (where we stayed – $$$$)
• Sonesta Posadas del Inca Yucay ($$)
• Tambo del Inka ($$$$)

Day 3: Sacred Valley – Pisac Markets

Assuming you stayed in a hotel/resort that offers breakfast, start your day with a yummy meal onsite & get ready for a day filled with adventure! About 42km (~50- min drive) from the Belmond Rio Sagrado hotel where we stayed, there is a small valley town of Pisac where you can spend pretty much the entire day doing multiple things:

• Visit the Inca Ruins which are perched on a ridge overlooking the town. Here you can see the agricultural terraces where the Incas cultivated corn and developed literally thousands of varieties of potato!
• Explore the native village – they have a wonderful market where you can see ceramics, fresh vegetables, and much more! We ended up buying hats, and alpaca keychains for ourselves and as a gift for our friends and family when we return home.
• If time permits, you can watch a dancing Peruvian “paso” horse! The “Marineria” is danced by a barefoot woman and a male companion on horseback. It was a wonderful dance to watch – the horse was of course the star of the show, it was mesmerizing to watch as the horse brought the dance together!

From here, we took the evening to spend some time at the hotel we were staying – there is a spa area where we took a soak in a hot tub and relaxed before a very strenuous next day…. 🙂 

Day 4: Rock Climbing and Ziplining in the Sacred Valley

If you are an adrenaline junkie… this day is made special for you! After having breakfast at the hotel, get yourself ready to scale some walls (literally), and zipline while enjoying amazing views of the Sacred Valley Below. One thing to note – this excursion is not for the faint of heart. It took most of the day and if it’s cold and rainy (as it was for us), your hands get very cold and numb – it is not meant for someone who has never hiked/rock climbed or zip lined before.

You ready? You will climb via ferrata (a protected climbing method using fixed steel cables and iron rungs) and zipline at Natura Vive’s Skylodge Adventure Suites. We weren’t able to stay overnight, though Natura Vive does offer an option to dine and sleep in glass capsules fixed to the mountain 400 meters (1,312 feet) above ground, if that’s your fancy!

About this excursion:

Included in this excursion is pickup and drop off from your hotel in Cusco or anywhere along the way in the Sacred Valley. You will start the adventure with briefing and safety information. All the technical gear and safety equipment you will use will be provided by Natura Vive, and their experienced guides will help you get suited up. Since it was a cold and rainy day for us, I wore long leggings, hiking boots, a shirt with a light jacket over it, with a raincoat over that. I did wear pretty thick socks to keep my feet warm and brought a small backpack to hold water and some snacks. I kept my phone in my ziped up rain jacket pocket and only took it out a couple of times during the excursion because I was scared I would drop it! 

They do provide you with a brown bag lunch that you are able to eat once you get to the top if you so choose (that’s what we did).

The tour is a combo for both activities, you will climb 400 meters of via ferrata and descend the mountain using 6 zipwires (150 mts to 700 mts) There is a maximum weight of 265 lbs (120 kg) to safely climb the via ferrata and ride the zipline.

This is an amazing adventure if you are not afraid of heights and feel comfortable scaling a rock wall holding onto little metal pieces sticking out of the side of a mountain… okay slight exaggeration, you are hooked up tightly and it is safe, but do be prepared to have your adrenaline running high!

Since this adventure takes most of the day and will take a lot of energy, we chose to spend the evening at the hotel resting and warming ourselves up!

Day 5: Morning Train to Machu Picchu

Time to finally leave the hotel you have been staying at for the past 3 nights and head off to another area of Peru! The most popular some say…. Machu Picchu! You can take a train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes which is the most common route undertaken by travelers to Peru. Some folks plan to hike the Inca trail, which is another great option, but is longer (obviously!) The train is approx. 1.5-2 hours and has the most beautiful scenery – you might be tempted to take a nap, but try to stay awake so that you can soak in all the views!

From there, we took a bus to our hotel, checked in & went to visit one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World! You can spend hours just wandering the Inca ruins, but do note that it is at an elevation of 7,710 feet (2,350 metres). If you get altitude sickness (headache, feeling and being sick, dizziness – basically what feels like a hangover!) make sure to chew or steep some coca leaves!

Accomodations:

• Belmond Sanctuary Lodge (where we stayed – $$$$) This lodge was phenomenal and was directly next to Machu Picchu. It is pricey, though it’s a one-in-a-lifetime kind of hotel and you can wake up early and beat the crowds to visit Machu Picchu!
• Sumaq Machu Picchu Hotel – $$$
• Tierra Viva Cusco Machu Picchu – $$

Day 6: Hike Huayna Picchu

If you ended up biting the bullet and staying at the Belmond Sanctuary Lodge, you are waking up to gorgeous views of Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu this morning! If you chose to stay elsewhere, you will have to take a bus back up the criss cross road (you can see the road you get driven up in the 2nd photo below – crazy!) Not a long drive, but you won’t be bale to beat the crowd, you are likely coming up the mountain with them.

For any of my hiking lovers, this day will be a favorite for you. As I mentioned in the beginning of this post, you will need to book these hiking tickets in advance, you likely will not be able to get them day of. The average time it takes to fully hike up, enjoy the view and hike back down is approximately 3 hours. That being said, you can spend as much time as you want at the top, so if you want to take longer, by all means!

The best part about this hike is the panorama view from the summit – it overlooks the Inca ruins, the Wilkamayu (Urubamba) River and the gorgeous mountain landscape.

There are a few things to consider with this hike:

• Make sure to use the restroom beforehand – there are no restroom stops along the way!
• This hike is for people 12 years and up.
• It’s a strenuous hike, there are some areas that are exposed to steep cliffs and drops so make sure you are paying attention as you ascend. You might want to take some pit stops to take some photos!
• The hike for the most part is in the shade, though when you make it to the top, it is not shaded. Wear sunscreen!
• Make sure to bring some water! Speaking from personal experience, I was red in the face, gasping for air when I got to the top! It was all worth it for the views though!

We did this hike in the AM and were finished around lunch time. We grabbed lunch at the Sanctuary Lodge and then descended to Aguas Caliente for our return Vistadome train. We took the train from Aguas Calientes back to Ollantaytambo.

Our next couple of days in Cusco, below is our accommodation and additional options for you to consider:

• Belmond Palacio Nazarenas Boutique Hotel – $$$$ (we stayed here for the rest of our stay in Cusco until we left Peru!)
• Monasterio, A Belmond Hotel, Cusco – $$$
• Palacio Manco Capac by Ananay Hotels – $$

Day 7: Kayak Adventures

Waking up in Cusco, get ready for some more adventures! We grabbed breakfast at our hotel since we started our morning fairly early (~8:30a). We had a driver take us through the countryside in Chinchero where a patchwork quilt of potato and corn fields blanket the scenery. We found ourselves at the shoes of Lake Piuray (approx 45 min drive from our hotel).

You can spend a few hours here – we spent most of our time kayaking, but there is an open field where you can play football, there are animals onsite that you can hang out with, and alongside the shoreline you can find wild life such as ducks, white herons and depending on the day, flamingos! All the activities are suitable for families because they have a very low risk and the place provides the ideal conditions for you to have an unforgettable experience.

After spending a couple of hours on the water, we had one of the best home cooked meals as a picnic lunch! During this lunch we also got to learn about some of the farming strategies of nearby communities which was great to learn about!

After spending most of the day on Lake Piuray, we went back to Cusco and got dinner on our own and just walked around the city some before we passed out at the hotel!

Day 8: Tour Cusco

This day is more of an exploring day rather than an adventurous day – you can have breakfast at the hotel and prepare for a day of walking around.

We did a Private Walking Tour of Cusco’s Historic City Center – you can choose to hire a private tour guide or do it on your own! Some of the things we visited:

• Santo Domingo monastery: our first stop – perched atop the most sacred of Incan sites, the Qoricancha temple of the sun. When the Spanish arrived in Cusco they destroyed most of Coricancha, and the Santo Domingo Church was built on the foundations and the remaining walls of the temple, preserving only a small part of its indigenous beauty.
• Pre-Columbian Art Museum: dedicated to the display of archeological artifacts and examples of pre-Columbian artworks drawn from all regions of pre-Columbian Peru. The works of art displayed at the museum, encompass a period of time ranging between 1250 BC and AD 1532.
• San Blas Neighborhood: with the cobblestone streets, little cafes and restaurants, famous artisans, and an observatory to see the entire city of Cusco, you can spend a lot of time in this neighborhood! We went into someone’s house that had about 40-50 guinea pigs that were on the road to being eaten over the next few weeks – Peruvians don’t keep them as pets! Also known as “cuy”, they are is a delicious delicacy best served with potatoes and salsa.
• Local indigenous market: you can find an assortment of fruits, traditional remedies, and some other items such as alpaca fat, frogs soup (go ahead and google what’s in that!), and other random items.

After spending the day exploring Cusco, we got some dinner recommendations:

1. Hanz Craft Beer & Restaurant
2. Yaku Restaurant
3. Rucula
4. Inkazuela Restaurant

Day 9: Fly from Cusco to Lima to Home!

The last day in Peru! Hopefully by now you feel you have seen a lot of Peru, Peruvian culture and have enjoyed the mix of adventurous and relaxing activities during your vacation.

For the last day, since it’s mostly travel, grab some breakfast at the hotel and head to the airport for your return flight to Lima. Depending on your flight times, you can leave some extra time to be in Lima and explore Miraflores (approx 45 min drive or 1 hr train from the airport). We left a few hours to explore Miraflores and grab a bite to eat before our long flight back to the US. There are a few things you can do in Miraflores if you so choose:

• El Malecón: overlooking the Pacific Ocean, there are parks and scenic paths to follow on the cliffside.
• Shop at Larcomar: a cute outdoor shopping mall
• Kennedy Park: one of Lima’s most unique green spaces

You can take a train back to the airport or take a taxi and head on back to the US! Sad that the trip is over, but hopefully you made some great memories and can share them with friends and family when you get back home. 🙂

If I missed anything that is important for tourists to see in Peru, comment below! I certainly hope to return to Peru in the future and can add to the itinerary when I do!