It’s finally time for your long-awaited departure to Peru. Wave goodbye to friends and family, before you board the flight and embark upon your challenge!
Bienvenidos and welcome to Peru.
Touching down in the ancient Inca Capital of Cusco (3,350m), you’ll be greeted by a local Charity Challenge representative and transferred to your next two nights’ accommodation. As altitude sickness can be a problem, you will spend the rest of the day acclimatising to the altitude with an afternoon free to take things at your own pace. Relax in one of the many cafés overlooking the plaza, visit the Incan monument Qoricancha (Temple of the Sun), or head to the vibrant market to soak up the surroundings before a full briefing and the first team dinner.
Accommodation: Hotel
Acclimatising to the altitude is all-important, so the day will spent walking around the Cusco area, stopping for a picnic lunch. Later, you’ll head back to city for dinner, before returning to your three-star hotel.
Accommodation: Hotel
Rise and shine for an early morning drive to the Sacred Valley, from where the challenge will commence. Along the way, we stop at a local market and then soak up the fortifying minerals in the famous Lares hot springs. After lunch, it’s a long hike to the small village of Cuncani, where you’ll camp for the night.
Accomodation: Camping
After breakfast, it’s a take long hike to the small community of Huacahuasi. Spot the alpacas and llamas roaming along the way, though careful they don’t try to share your picnic lunch! Spend the night in a campsite by the river in Huacahuasi.
Accommodation: Camping
Awake with the rising sun, you set off early gradually gaining height along the little-used route through the Ranrayoc valley. It’s time to dig deep for the high pass at 4,600m before enjoying the incredible views. Lunch will be served at 4,378m in the shadow of snowy mountain Tirijhuay. From here it’s about a three-hour descent, followed by an hour driving to the campsite on the outskirts of Ollantaytambo.
Accommodation: Camping
It’s an early train journey to Km 104 (along the railway from Cusco), where you’ll be dropped for your trek towards the famous Sun Gate, which we reach on World Mental Health day. It’s a 3,000 step climb following the traditional Inca path, before you catch your first awe-inspiring view of the sacred site of Machu Picchu from the Sun Gate. There’ll be plenty of time for photographs before returning to Aguas Calientes for the evening.
Accommodation: Hotel
It’s back to Machu Picchu to spend the morning exploring the extraordinary Inca remains. You’ll catch an early afternoon train back to Ollantaytambo, before boarding a bus bound for Cusco. It’s party time later at a local restaurant, as you and the group celebrate achieving your Charity Challenge goal and discovering the majesty of Machu Picchu.
Accommodation: Hotel
After breakfast it's time to say "adios" as you travel to the airport to begin your journey home.
Touching down in the UK, it’s time to head to arrivals to find your family and friends. Don’t forget to swap details with your teammates as only they share the memories of your incredible journey.
BELIEVE >> ACHIEVE >> INSPIRE
We hold an Air Travel Organiser's Licence granted by the Civil Aviation Authority. Our ATOL number is 6546. Many of the flight-inclusive challenges on this website are financially protected by the ATOL scheme. But ATOL protection does not apply to all holiday and travel services listed on this website. This ATOL protection only covers challenges that include flights booked by Charity Challenge and that originate in the UK. Please ask us to confirm what protection may apply to your booking. If you do not receive an ATOL Certificate then the booking will not be ATOL protected. If you do receive an ATOL Certificate but all the parts of your trip are not listed on it, those parts will not be ATOL protected. Please see our booking conditions for information or for more information about financial protection and the ATOL Certificate go to: www.atol.org.uk/ATOLcertificate
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