Ancient Peru w/ Amazon Extension

Amazing trip, excellent food and lodging accommodations; tour director was friendly and very knowledgeable; great balance of scheduled and 'free' time to explore cities, villages and Machu Picchu. The initial large group of 40+, was divided into smaller groups once we left Lima - which helped a lot with organization and logistics - but as a result of the split we did not always have direct contact with the tour director. I enjoy small group travel which I experienced when 13 travelers went on the Amazon extension.

Great Trip to Learn About the Ancient Incas

It was a great trip with a fantastic tour director, as always. I loved the pace, the hotels, the food, the new friends, and the history of the land. My only complaint was that , in my opinion, 45 people was just too large a group. I enjoy a group of about 25-30 travelers.

Peru Trip 2012

This was my first trip to Peru and my first trip with Go Ahead Tours. Excellent tour, good hotels, phenomenal tour guide (Edwin). My favorite part of the trip was Machu Picchu and the little town of Aguas Calientes just below. Wish we had a few more days there. I found what I thought was the best designed and priced silver jewelry in a little shop there and I thought the open air market was the best of the whole trip, loved the little town. There is a hot springs you can visit so bring your bathing suit.

Certainly different from a European Tour

This trip was a change of pace from the European tours which I have taken in the past. Macchu Piccu was the highlight of the tour and I think that more time should have been spent there. The hotel at Agua Caliente at the base of Macchu Piccu was a luxurious resort with beautiful botanical gardens!

A trip of a lifetime.

The best Tour Director that I have ever seen.

Ancient Peru

Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu were awe-inspiring

Ancient Peru & Machu Picchu Tour

We stayed in a suburb of Lima called Miraflores. The hotel was just a few blocks from the pacific ocean. That was a wonderful place to stay. Cusco,on the other hand,was a totally different story. First, because of the high elevation, breathing was a little difficult. The elevation is approximately 11,400 feet. The air quality is poor because the vehicles on the road there have no anti-pollution devices installed on their vehicles. You can smell the fumes from the cars and trucks the moment you step out of the hotel. I had to take oxygen every day. It's recommended that you take no more than 10 minutes of oxygen per day. Do not eat any vegatables of any kind. If you order hot food, in any restuarant, make sure they do not put any uncooked vegatables on your plate next to your hot food. Once you get to the lower altitude of Machu Picchu the air is much more breathable and much fresher. Machu Picchu is a great place and I loved it. We spent a night there and the hotel was great. The hotel was different than advertised. This hotel was an upgrade because the one that was advertised was being remodeled. I dreaded going back to Cusco and the high elevation and pollution.

Land of the INCA - Must See!!!

Edwin our tour guide was great at multi-tasking as he was at the airport at Midnight when most of us arrived, and at the airport for our Red eye home; in addition he had great drivers, Inca tour guides, and archeologists. Edwin's ability to balance the buses, intercountry flights, cancelled flights, medical attention for a injured person, lost luggage, trains as well as two sets of buses, local guides due to the large size of our group (44) was truly unbelievable. Cuzco at 11,000 feet, Ollayantembo at 12,500 feet and Machu Pichuu above the clouds was breathtakingly beautiful. Edwin was great in recommending walking sticks for the uneven steps and all the climbing necessary to negotiate this trip made it very doable. Machu Picchu is a place of spiritual awakening to be savored as words cannot express it properly. Macchu Picchu is one of the new seven wonders of the world that replaced the Pyramids of Egypt. I had visited the pyramids twice and I wondered how this could be? Come and see and you will understand. I tried downloading photo's 3 times and I was timed out...so this is my third time writing this review without my magnificent photo's!!

Peru is majestic and magical!

Experiencing the diversity of Peru was wonderful--from the desert with its Nazca Lines to the Andes Muntains and the majesty of Machu Picchu/the Inca Civilization and then to the rainforest and the charm of the people in the Amazon Region...all were magical!

Peru, Machu Picchu & the Amazon

We liked this tour very much. There were a few things we thought would make it better. We would have preferred the following: Less time in Lima and more time in Machu Picchu. Before going to Machu Picchu, have another day in Cuzco and more time in the Sacred Valley. Then returning from Machu Picchu, make direct connections to Lima to fly home or fly to Iquitos rather than staying in Cuzco and Lima again. We didn't like having to take the time to pack, unpack and make our way to and from airports so many times. Also, since there were so many different bus & boat drivers on the trip, we would have preferred GoAhead take care of the tipping for them instead of us constantly having to have small bills handy for tipping. Hope this helps. We have really liked GoAhead and will keep checking you out for future trips.