Peru Itinerary from Australia and New Zealand: Lima, Cusco, Machu Picchu & the Sacred Valley in 12 Days

One of the most common mistakes in a Peru itinerary is going straight from the plane to Cusco. Cusco sits at around 3,400 metres. The Sacred Valley, an hour down the road, sits closer to 2,800. Arrive into the higher city first and a fair number of travellers spend their first two days flat out with a headache, watching the trip they planned happen without them. Going to the valley first gives you a gentler first step into the Andes and more opportunity to acclimatise before you take on Cusco's altitude. That single decision — valley before city — shapes everything else, which is why this 12 day Peru itinerary is built around it. Lima, the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu, Cusco and, for the willing, Rainbow Mountain.

The 12 days at a glance

Lima: two days, largely for the table

Lima has a reputation among Australian and New Zealand travellers as the city you pass through. Give it two nights and it stops being a transit lounge. Miraflores and Barranco are where most first-timers stay — clifftop suburbs above the Pacific, walkable and good for the jet-lagged — while the Larco Museum's pre-Columbian collection and the UNESCO-listed colonial centre around the Plaza Mayor fill a comfortable half-day each.

But the honest reason to stop in Lima is the food. Peruvian cooking draws on an unusually deep pantry — more than three thousand potato varieties, dozens of chillies, three climate zones' worth of produce — and Lima is where it is at its most refined, from ceviche counters to the tasting menus that made the city one of the most talked-about food destinations anywhere. Two rules make it easy: ceviche is traditionally a daytime dish, so eat it at lunch, and book anything with a reputation well before you fly.

Days 3–5: fly to Cusco, drive straight past it

The morning flight from Lima to Cusco takes a little over an hour and delivers you at altitude with no adjustment period at all. Do not check into a Cusco hotel. Transfer straight down into the Sacred Valley — Urubamba and Yucay are the most comfortable bases — and keep the first day easy: unpack, walk slowly, drink plenty of water, eat lightly.

From there you can sightsee while you adjust. Do not mistake the valley for low ground, though: 2,800 metres is high enough to be felt, and headaches, breathlessness or a poor night's sleep are worth taking seriously rather than walking off. The circular terraces at Moray and the salt pans of Maras are usually visited together in a half-day. Ollantaytambo is both a hillside fortress and a living Inca-planned town, with original stonework lining the streets and the railway to Machu Picchu leaving from its edge. Pisac has the region's best-known market below an extensive ruin complex, and the weaving villages above the valley floor still work back-strap looms and natural dyes much as they have for centuries. Three nights here is the adjustment period your Machu Picchu day is standing on.

Machu Picchu: Inca Trail or train?

This is the question that decides the shape of the trip, and the honest answer is that most travellers should take the train.

The classic Inca Trail is a four-day, three-night trek that reaches the Sun Gate on the final morning before dropping down into Machu Picchu. It is a genuinely great walk and, for the right traveller, the emotional centre of the whole trip. The conditions attached to it are real, though. Daily capacity is regulated: the 2026 rules set 500 users a day across the four classic routes. Permits are booked against your personal details and are difficult to change, and popular dry-season dates go many months ahead. The trail closes for maintenance each February. You cross a pass above 4,200 metres on day two, camping en route, and there is little scope to shorten a bad day once you are on the trail. Expect to be genuinely fit, and expect the permit calendar rather than your own to set your travel dates.

If that doesn't suit, the train is not a consolation prize: the service from Ollantaytambo runs the Urubamba river through cloud forest and is one of South America's most scenic rail journeys. Two walking alternatives sit between the extremes — the two-day Inca Trail, which still finishes through the Sun Gate but skips the camping, and the Lares and Salkantay routes, which are harder in places but reach high country and Quechua villages the classic trail misses.

Whichever way you arrive, the citadel now operates on timed entry through three circuits and ten designated routes, with daily capacity controlled by route and season — so if you want a particular circuit, book early. The add-on climbs, Huayna Picchu and Machu Picchu Mountain, carry their own limited daily numbers and their own steep, exposed staircases, and they tend to go first. Your ticket's route and entry time govern when you actually get in; what a night in Aguas Calientes buys is the ability to take an early slot comfortably, rather than starting the day with a transfer from the valley.

Days 8–10: Cusco, with a week of adjustment behind you

Now Cusco. Arriving here after a week in the valley, most people cope with the extra 600 metres far better than they would have on day one — though altitude can still make itself felt, so keep the first afternoon gentle. The city is worth being well for. The Inca capital was rebuilt as a colonial city on its own foundations, so you get both at once: Qorikancha, the sun temple with a monastery on its walls; Sacsayhuamán's fitted stonework on the ridge above town; and the San Blas lanes of galleries and workshops. San Pedro market is worth an hour of anyone's morning if food interests you at all.

Three nights allows for the city, a day trip and a genuine rest day. If your window falls in late June, Inti Raymi draws large crowds for the winter solstice festival and accommodation is spoken for months in advance.

Rainbow Mountain: worth it, with conditions

Vinicunca — the striped ridge everyone has seen photographed — sits above 5,000 metres, higher than anything else on this itinerary. Day trips from Cusco start before dawn and involve roughly one and a half to two hours of walking each way on the thin end of the air, often in cold wind. Many travellers manage it comfortably after a week of acclimatisation. Some don't, and there is no shame in taking one of the horses for the last stretch. Treat it as an optional day rather than a fixture, and keep the alternative — Cusco, slowly, with a long lunch — as a perfectly good version of day eleven. The nearby Palccoyo ridge is a lower, gentler walk with a similar colour effect — though at roughly 4,900 metres it is hardly a low-altitude day, so it eases the effort rather than removing the problem.

A note on Peru's recent unrest

Peru has had a turbulent few years politically, with protests and changes of government making headlines well beyond the country. A new elected government took office in July 2026, promising a return to greater stability and security. The situation is still evolving — there were protests and roadblocks as recently as August 2026 — but the country's principal tourist circuit of Lima, the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu and Cusco remains open to travellers. We would always recommend checking the latest government travel advice before departure, particularly if your itinerary includes remote regions or long overland stretches. (Position last checked August 2026.)

When to go

The Andean dry season runs roughly May to October: clear mornings, cold nights, low rainfall and a much better chance of seeing the citadel without cloud sitting on it. Peak visitor volume falls in July and August, and the first half of that overlaps the Australian and New Zealand winter school holidays — convenient for families, competitive for permits and rooms. September and October are the sweet spot for most travellers, with the dry weather largely holding and the crowds thinning.

The wet season proper runs December to March, with November and April as transition months that can go either way. It brings afternoon rain, cloud on the citadel and mud on the trails — and also green landscapes and far fewer people. February is the month to avoid outright if trekking matters: the classic Inca Trail closes for maintenance.

The lead times are the part worth writing down. Inca Trail reservations for the following year open on a schedule set annually rather than a fixed date — the 2026 season opened for booking in November 2025, which gives a rough idea of when to be watching for 2027 — and the peak-season dates go early; Machu Picchu circuit tickets and the mountain add-ons should be held as soon as your dates are firm; and the best-regarded Lima tables and the small valley properties book out well ahead in the dry months. If you are reading this with a September or October departure in mind, the permit and ticket decisions are the urgent ones, and the rest can follow.

Getting there from Australia and New Zealand

The shortest routes cross the Pacific — direct services from Sydney and Auckland to Santiago, then a connection north to Lima — with other Australian and New Zealand cities connecting through those two or via a North American hub. Check schedules against your actual dates, and allow a full day each way. Twelve days is a workable minimum for this itinerary; fourteen makes it comfortable and opens the door to Lake Titicaca, or the Amazon lowlands out of Puerto Maldonado.

Frequently asked questions

How bad is the altitude, really? Manageable for most people if you sequence it properly. Where possible, spend your first nights at a lower elevation before moving higher, allow two easy days on arrival, stay well hydrated without overdoing it, go easy on alcohol for the first few days, and accept that walking uphill will feel strange for a while. Coca tea is offered widely and is part of the culture; plenty of travellers like it, but treat it as a local custom rather than a remedy. Anyone with a heart or lung condition should talk to their doctor before booking, not after.

Do I need to book Machu Picchu ahead? Yes. Entry is by timed ticket on one of three circuits and ten designated routes, daily capacity is controlled by route and season, and the mountain climbs go first. In the dry season, holding tickets once your dates are firm is usually what decides whether you get the circuit you want.

Is the Inca Trail the only way to walk in? No. The two-day Inca Trail finishes at the Sun Gate without the camping, and the Lares and Salkantay routes reach country the classic trail misses. All of them are permit-dependent or capacity-limited in some form, so the decision needs making early either way.

If Peru is on your list for next year, the useful next step is a checklist rather than a booking — the permit release dates, the ticket windows and the sequence that keeps you well at altitude, in the order they need deciding. Pack Ya Bags keeps that planning checklist for Peru and the wider Andes, and subscribers hear about availability windows first. Ask for it at packyabags.com/our-destinations/south-america/ — there is no obligation to have your dates settled before you get in touch.