Bolivia to Peru: Lakes, Salt Flats & Machu Picchu

The adventure begins tonight. Feel free to explore before your welcome meeting, but make sure you’re back in time to meet the group. Check for the meeting time on the welcome note at the hotel. After introductions, your CEO will review the details of your tour. Please note that normal check-in times apply at our start hotels, but you can usually store your luggage for the day if you arrive early.

Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's... yup, it is a plane, actually.

With tons to see and do in the "White City", get going.

With tons to see and do in the "White City", get going.

Settle in and scan the scenery from the convenience of a private vehicle.

Explore the markets and the city, or opt to visit a silver mine.

Settle in and scan the scenery from the convenience of a private vehicle.

Roads? Where this rough-and-ready vehicle's going, we don't need roads.

Spend three days in the stunning landscape between the Salar de Uyuni and the Atacama Desert in Chile. Enter a world unlike anything else as we drive across the salt flats; the piercing blue sky contrasts against the blinding white of the flat salt beds. Take memorable photos of the unusual landscape complete with mountains and active volcanoes. Visit the coloured lagoon of Laguna Colorada and enjoy the uniqueness of this region.

Visit the Santiago de Agencha community, located two hours across the salt flats from Uyuni, a rural village surrounded by towering cacti and part of a small desert oasis. The community-owned salt lodge was renovated and expanded through a major project in 2016 funded by G Adventures’ foundation, Planeterra. With many of the village’s younger residences fleeing for economic opportunities, this lodge is seen by the community as a way to rescue their indigenous culture and provide opportunities for the future. Learn about their traditional agricultural practices, including their specialization in quinoa production, and take a guided walk with a community member to the sacred Jukil mountaintop for a beautiful view of the village below and the salt flats beyond. Meals of local ingredients grown in the village are prepared by ladies who were provided culinary training through the project. Leave Jukil Community Lodge knowing your visit is creating opportunities for a whole new generation of people in this community to improve their lives, and the lives of their children and grandchildren.

Spend three days in the stunning landscape between the Salar de Uyuni and the Atacama Desert in Chile. Enter a world unlike anything else as we drive across the salt flats; the piercing blue sky contrasts against the blinding white of the flat salt beds. Take memorable photos of the unusual landscape complete with mountains and active volcanoes. Visit the coloured lagoon of Laguna Colorada and enjoy the uniqueness of this region.

Visit the Santiago de Agencha community, located two hours across the salt flats from Uyuni, a rural village surrounded by towering cacti and part of a small desert oasis. The community-owned salt lodge was renovated and expanded through a major project in 2016 funded by G Adventures’ foundation, Planeterra. With many of the village’s younger residences fleeing for economic opportunities, this lodge is seen by the community as a way to rescue their indigenous culture and provide opportunities for the future. Learn about their traditional agricultural practices, including their specialization in quinoa production, and take a guided walk with a community member to the sacred Jukil mountaintop for a beautiful view of the village below and the salt flats beyond. Meals of local ingredients grown in the village are prepared by ladies who were provided culinary training through the project. Leave Jukil Community Lodge knowing your visit is creating opportunities for a whole new generation of people in this community to improve their lives, and the lives of their children and grandchildren.

Spend three days in the stunning landscape between the Salar de Uyuni and the Atacama Desert in Chile. Enter a world unlike anything else as we drive across the salt flats; the piercing blue sky contrasts against the blinding white of the flat salt beds. Take memorable photos of the unusual landscape complete with mountains and active volcanoes. Visit the coloured lagoon of Laguna Colorada and enjoy the uniqueness of this region.

Climb aboard, grab a seat, and enjoy the ride.

Get out and explore the markets and ruins of this fantastic city.

Spend the day soaking up the thrills, the atmosphere, and the adrenaline pumping activities that La Paz has to offer.

Climb aboard, grab a seat, and enjoy the ride.

Enjoy a visit to this spectacular pre-Colombian archaeological site. It was the capital of an empire that extended into Peru and Chile from 300 to 1000 AD. Check out the fantastic buildings, architecture, sculptures and carvings firsthand and get a taste of an era long gone.

Climb aboard, grab a seat, and enjoy the ride.

Climb aboard, grab a seat, and enjoy the ride.

Ready for a little more ink in your passport? Grab your bags and get ready to check another country off your bucket list.

Climb aboard, grab a seat, and enjoy the ride.

Board a boat on Lake Titicaca and head to Taquile Island for an optional delicious Peruvian lunch at a restaurant followed by some shopping at the local weaving cooperatives. Taquileños are known for their fine handwoven textiles and clothing, men are taught how to knit around age five and they create the majority of the textiles. After, enjoy an overnight stay with a host family and a chance to learn about life on the islands.

In the aymara community of Luquina Chico on Lake Titicaca, 40 families welcome you to experience their way of life. Thanks to the support of G Adventures and Planeterra, the local families here have strengthened their communities, preserving traditions and creating opportunities for future generations. Split into smaller groups and get a taste of local life firsthand as we move into family homes for the night. Play soccer with the children, enjoy some dancing, watch dinner being made, learn about regional cuisine, and dress up in local clothes for an unforgettable evening with the whole village, enjoying traditional music and dancing. Lend a hand the next morning, and help out with chores like feeding animals, harvesting local produce, or bringing back buckets of water from the well.

Take a tour of these unique islands. Learn about the buoyant totora reeds that grow in the shallows of Lake Titicaca used to make everything from the islands themselves to the boats the islanders use for transportation (if constructed well, they last up to six months ). Find out from locals how the islands are constructed; as the layers closest to the water start to rot, they are replaced with fresh reeds on top.

Enjoy some free time exploring the area.

Spend the morning with the homestay families, then depart after lunch. Visit the floating islands of Uros on the way back, and learn about the unique lifestyle of the locals. Meet residents and learn how they built the islands with totora reeds, which are also used to make their homes, boats, crafts (and are also edible!).

Climb aboard, grab a seat, and enjoy the ride.

There's so much to the colonial city— go see for yourself.

Spend time on a group walking tour of the colonial areas in Cusco. Start in Cusco City and finish with a visit to the Sapantiana waterfalls before having a delicious lunch at a restaurant near the main plaza.

Take advantage free time to further explore this lovely city.

Settle in and scan the scenery from the convenience of a private vehicle.

Visit the Ccaccaccollo community centre which G Adventures travellers' donations helped create in 2005, thereby enabling local women to sell traditional textiles to travellers. See local weaving and dyeing techniques used to create garments and souvenirs, and learn how the Planeterra weaving co-operative has impacted the community and those who visit it. This includes the purchase of alpacas to provide a steady supply of wool, looms, and sewing machines as well as several training courses on production, sales and small business management.

In the rural village of Cuyo Chico in the Sacred Valley, a group of families joined together to create a small business based on their traditional adobe ceramic crafts. Using clay from their surroundings, they mold bowls, plates, and all manner of decorations. Learn about the ceramics process as well as the traditional adobe brick-making that forms the basis of houses throughout the valley, all while taking in a spectacular view of the Pisac Ruins. After the demonstration, peruse the items for sale directly from the artisans in their shop.

Contribute to sustainable tourism in Huchuy Qosqo, a small village of 65 families in the Sacred Valley, by eating at the Parwa Community Restaurant. Learn how the resident-run restaurant was kickstarted by G Adventures and the Multilateral Investment Fund, to become a successful farm-to-table program that boosts the local economy and several spin-off microenterprises.

Settle in and scan the scenery from the convenience of a private vehicle.

Tour the unique Inca ruins of Moray, consisting of circular terraces and a sophisticated irrigation system located at 3500m (11483 ft). Learn about the history and study of this fascinating site – speculation has it that it was an Inca agriculture experiment station. Then visit the impressive Maras Salt Mines and see thousands of individual ancient salt pools spilling over a hillside. Learn about the different varieties of salt, and try the renowned pink salt, famous worldwide.

Set out on a scenic drive above the Sacred Valley of the Incas. Stop along the way to look out over small farms carved into the hills and small villages dotted along the landscape. Enjoy the views and have lunch near Maras, opt to relax, explore the surroundings.

Settle in and scan the scenery from the convenience of a private vehicle.

Chincheros is known to the Incas as the birthplace of the rainbow. This typical Andean village has Inca ruins, a colonial church, and sweeping mountain views. Explore the ruins and check out the impressive architecture of this ancient place.

Settle in and scan the scenery from the convenience of a private vehicle.

Explore this ancient site right in the heart of Ollantaytambo city. Learn about the principles of Incan architecture and get a first taste of climbing around a massive ruins site.

Climb aboard, take a seat, and enjoy the ride.

The group will arrive at Aguas Calientes with their assistant guide or CEO and they will have an orientation walk through the town of Aguas Calientes. Your CEO can then help you coordinate any optional activities you may want to try during your time here.

Spend free time getting to know the area. Maybe visit the local hot springs for a nice rejuvenating soak.

Climb aboard, grab a seat, and enjoy the ride.

Set off with the local guide to explore Machu Picchu, the Lost City of the Incas. Learn about the history and gain insights into this massive mountaintop citadel while wandering through ancient dwellings, stone temples and along sculpted terraces. Feel the energy of this 15th-century site, now both a UNESCO World Heritage site and voted one of the new Seven Wonders of the World in a worldwide internet poll.

Climb aboard, take a seat, and enjoy the ride.

Settle in and scan the scenery from the convenience of a private vehicle.

Finish up anything you didn't get to the first time around.

Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's... yup, it is a plane, actually.