Peru

Cusco is the ancient capital of the Inca Empire and the gateway to Machu Picchu. Colonial churches built on Inca foundations, the vibrant San Pedro market, and the Sacred Valley are all within reach. At 3,400m elevation, take it slow your first day. The city rewards those who explore beyond the main plaza — every street tells a story.

Lima is South America's gastronomic capital — ceviche, causa, and anticuchos are just the start. The city's food scene has earned multiple spots on the World's 50 Best list. Beyond the restaurants, colonial Miraflores overlooks the Pacific, the historic center is a UNESCO site, and the Larco Museum's pre-Columbian collection is extraordinary.

Machu Picchu is the 15th-century Inca citadel perched on a mountain saddle 2,430m (7,970 ft) above sea level — built in stone so precise no mortar was used, abandoned around 1572 during the Spanish conquest, and forgotten by the outside world until Hiram Bingham re-introduced it in 1911. Today it draws roughly 4,500 visitors per day on capped-entry tickets, accessed via the PeruRail or Inca Rail train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes (the cloud-forest valley town below) and then a 25-minute switchback bus ride up to the gate. Sunrise from the Sun Gate (Inti Punku) and the vertiginous Huayna Picchu hike behind the citadel are the iconic experiences.

The Sacred Valley of the Incas (Valle Sagrado) is the Urubamba River valley running ~60 km between Pisac and Ollantaytambo at 2,800-3,000m elevation — meaningfully lower than Cusco and a far better acclimatization base before Machu Picchu. The Incas grew their best maize here on stepped agricultural terraces still in use today, and three of their most impressive archaeological sites cluster in the valley: the hilltop fortress of Pisac, the perfectly engineered military complex of Ollantaytambo (still a working Inca-era town), and the surreal circular terraces of Moray. Add the bone-white Maras salt evaporation pans descending a hillside and you have a full 2-3 day side trip from Cusco.

Arequipa is Peru's second-largest city (~1.1 million) sitting at 2,335m (7,660 ft) in a high-desert basin under the perfect cone of El Misti volcano (5,822m). The colonial old town is built almost entirely from sillar — pearly-white volcanic ash blocks quarried from nearby Chachani — earning the nickname La Ciudad Blanca. The standout sight is the Santa Catalina Monastery: a walled 'city within a city' (20,000 m², founded 1579) that operated as a closed convent for almost 400 years and still has 20 Dominican nuns in residence. Arequipa is also the staging post for the two-day descent into the Colca Canyon (3,400m deep, twice the Grand Canyon) to see the morning thermals carry condors out of the gorge.

Puno sits on the Peruvian shore of Lake Titicaca at 3,827m (12,556 ft) — the highest navigable lake in the world and the second-largest in South America. The city itself is a brick-and-corrugated-iron working port that most travelers use as a base for two boat trips: the Uros floating reed islands (man-made platforms of bundled totora reeds, inhabited by ~2,000 Uros people who built them centuries ago to escape Inca and then Colla incursions) and the Quechua-speaking weaving island of Taquile. Add the pre-Inca chullpa burial towers at Sillustani (40 km north) and the cross-border bus to La Paz, Bolivia, and Puno earns its 1-2 nights for travelers heading south.