Peru with kids?

[chicago]

I’m in the beginning stages of looking at a trip to Peru for June 2023. Our kids will be 6 and 9. Would love any suggestions on itineraries and any travel agencies you’ve used. I love booking trips on my own but would like to use an agent for this one.

My initial impressions are something like:
- 2-3 nights in Lima
- 4 nights in Cusco w trips to Maras Salt Flats, Rainbow Mountain, and Moray
- 3 nights in Aguas Calientes
- 3 nights Lake Titicaca/Uros Floating Islands?
- Ica/Paracas/Huacachina Desert?
- Islas Ballestas or Amazon lodge? (We are spending 2.5 weeks in Costa Rica this summer so this may not be worth it?)

[wanderingback]

I don’t have too much specific advice and I booked everything on my own, but I prob wouldn’t spend 3 nights in Lima. I went solo and don’t have kids so can’t speak to that but I think 1-2 nights would be fine and then move on to the rest of the country. I really loved Peru and it was a last minute trip for me so I’d love to go back and see more, enjoy!

[bee20]

I was there for 2 days on the way elsewhere, solo adult. The times you have in each city will give you plenty of downtime, possibly too much but I've never traveled with kids.

I got into Cusco late afternoon, did Machu Pichu in the morning, got lunch in Aguas Calientes, and left that evening. I wasn't there for long but my impression was there was more to do in Cusco than Aguas Calientes, 7 days between the 2 seems like a lot. You may run into altitude sickness though, so I guess with a whole family a few extra days isn't a bad idea.

I then hopped a bus southbound. We stopped at Lake Titicaca and I got off for 3 or 4 hours and caught the next bus, that felt like plenty but again, maybe I wasn't there long enough to truly appreciate it. I enjoyed being out on the lake, bus-mates who took a floating island tour said it was just as tourist-scammy as you'd expect so shop around for a tour that's not $5 at the bus station.

(I flew through Cusco because the flights were crazy cheap at the time and planned myself, travel delays are common in S. America so do leave yourself plenty of time around flights, I had travel snafus at several points throughout my trip and I'm an experienced traveller.)

[keweenawlove]

H and I did 10 days in 2017 and covered one full day at Lake Titicaca, 3 nights in Cusco + the Inca trial + one more night in Cusco, and a long layover in Lima.

How much time do you have because it sounds like a lot to do in one trip unless you have 2+ weeks. For us, 2 nights at Lake Titicaca was plenty. Got in one night, did a kayak/floating islands tour the next day then ended up having to take an overnight bus to Cusco. Our original plan had been to take one the next morning but there was a strike starting that was going to shut down transportation for several days. The town was kind of dead so I didn't feel like we needed more time there.

I don't think you'd need more than 2 nights in Aguas Calientes either unless you're planning to do more than one day a Machu Picchu. I'd prioritize more time in Cusco or the Sacred Valley. We looked into staying in Ollyantaytambo to break up some of the driving but couldn't make it work with the Inca trail logistics.

I believe the yellow fever vaccine and malaria meds are recommended for the Amazon regions so consider that as you're planning.

[RockNVoll]

We went to Peru in August 2019 (with lots of real-time advice from wanderingback who was there while I was planning .  Working from memory and looking at the itinerary I built (we didn't use a travel agent), here are a few comments:

• We really only spent one day in Lima.  The only reason I wish we had maybe budgeted another day or so was to have an opportunity to try more restaurants there.  As it was though we spent two weeks in-country and we needed all that time to see/do everything else we wanted.
  
• I don't think there's much to do in Aguas Calientes but I could be wrong. We opted to stay in Ollantaytambo instead of AC and took the train from there to Machu Picchu.
  
• We did this tour to see the salt mines, Moray, etc. and enjoyed it: www.cuscolocalfriend.com/sacred-valley-extended-day-tour
• We arrived in Puno in the evening and did Uros and Taquile the next day (using titicacaperu.com/tours/taquile-island-uros-speed-boat-full-day/). We then took an overnight bus to Cusco, which I understand you wouldn't do with kids but the point is that I don't feel like we missed out by not spending any more time there. I think three nights might be too much.
  
• There is a lot of transit time between places in Peru.  We couldn't make Huacachina or Rainbow Mountain fit into our two-week itinerary.  You might also want to allocate a fair amount of down/rest time if any of you is prone to altitude or motion sickness. 
  
• If you have any desire to fit Arequipa into your itinerary, I stumbled across a great way to get from there to Colca and then on to Puno via Killawasi Lodge. The lodge offers a shared transport van from Arequipa that tours things along the way between Arequipa and Colca, then ultimately transports you to Puno.  It was by far the easiest way to get between those areas that I found: www.killawasilodge.com/en/blog/transporte-turistico-compartido-3-dias-2-noches-arequipacolcapuno.html?blogtag=Tcompartido&cur=USD

Sorry for the random thoughts, but hope it helps.  It was a fair amount of work to plan the trip out myself because of all the moving around, but ultimately I'm glad I did it that way.  Happy planning!