Lima, Cusco and Sacred Valley Visit - September 2025

Lima, Peru

Despite an early morning arrival and check-in (3:30am) at the Westin Lima hotel, we left at noon for a group lunch at Cafe Casa Musea and a tour of Lima's historic central downtown. Although we didn't have time to visit the Peruvian art in the Larco Museum in the same complex, we enjoyed the venue's beautiful flowers and gardens. 

Cafe Casa Musea

Example of Peruvian Art, Larco Museum
Source: Cabana Magazine

The city of Lima was founded by Francisco Pizarro in 1535. Soon thereafter, government buildings were constructed on the Plaza de Armas. Surrounding the Plaza are the Government Palace, Municipal Palace, Archbishop Palace and Lima Cathedral.  The Plaza also served as an open-air market in the past. José de San Martín proclaimed Peru's independence in 1821 from the Plaza de Armas. 

Our tour of the historic area included the Convent of San Francisco and cloisters and Plaza de Armas. Police presence was very high near the Governmental Palace due to anticipated widespread protest activity. About a week after returning to the US, we learned that Peru's President Dina Boluarte was removed from office by Peru Congress. 

Returning from our afternoon Lima tour to the Westin, we repacked our luggage into two small carry-on pieces so that we could leave our larger luggage at the Westin. We needed only four days of clothes for our travel to Machu Picchu and Galapagos clothes were not needed. The plan was to pick these larger luggage pieces up on our 5pm return to Lima from Cusco. The following day we planned to fly back to the US from Lima. This was a great plan but you'll read later that the plan didn't go as smoothly as we anticipated due once again to LATAM flight delays and cancellations in Cusco. 

Leaving sea-level Lima for Cusco was the start of our visit to high-altitude Peru locations. 

Moving On to Urubamba in the Sacred Valley

We had a long travel day as we moved from Lima to the Sacred Valley. At 6:30am, we were riding a bus from Westin Lima to the Lima Airport. The flight to Cusco was only about an hour and we were soon at 11,500 elevation in Cusco. Our group of 22 immediately boarded two large mini-vans and we departed for the Sacred Valley, a little over 2.5 hour drive over a windy two-lane road. 

Roasted Guinea Pig is Often Served During Special Celebrations

After a late lunch stop at Hacienda Huayoccari, we arrived at the Tambo del Inka hotel at 4pm. Celebrity included all meals during our Machu Picchu extension and we had a nice dinner at the hotel. We ate a light dinner as we were advised that altitude sickness could be triggered by eating heavily, drinking alcohol and not staying hydrated. We noticed our dinner appetites were suppressed at the 9,500 elevation of our hotel as well as from our frequent late lunches. 

Photos: Marriott.Com

  

Hotel Lobby

Baby Alpaca Posing for Photos in Hotel Lobby

Coca tea was available at all hotels and lunch restaurants. Coca tea is a local drink that is said to help avoid altitude sickness and provide additional energy. Our guides suggested avoiding drinking coca tea after 5pm as it could be difficult to sleep at night. Coca tea ended up being a non-issue for me as I read that coca tea has some negative interactions with a number of prescription drugs.

The next day, we toured the Cermicas Seminario, the pottery workshop of Pablo Seminario. His colorful expressive art pieces are in many museums throughout the world. The artist happened to be in the workshop during our visit and chatted with our tour group.

Photo: CeramicsSeminario.Com

Leaving the pottery workshop, we drove about 30 minutes to the temple grounds of Ollantaytanbo. Ollantaytanbo was an Incan fortress, administrative center and temple. Similar to other temples in this area, Ollantaytanbo was initially built by a pre-Inca Empire and the last inhabitants were Inca people.

Photo: Kondorpathtours.com

After defeat by the Spanish troops led by Hernando Pizarro, near Cusco, Manco Inca fled to this location. Despite a Spanish force of 100 men and 30,000 indigenous troops, Manco Inca and his 20,000 warriors successfully defended Ollantaytanbo. Manco Inca later left this area to establish the last refuge of the Inca Empire, Vilcabamba. 

Manco Inca has an interesting history in Peru. At an earlier point in time, he was a captive of the Spaniards and later considered a puppet Inca emperor installed by the Spaniards led by Francisco Pizarro. History indicates Manco became disillusioned with the Spaniards robbing and enslaving the indigenous people and realized the Spaniards would never permit Inca to actually rule. Apparently, after mistreatment, he escaped and led 200.000 Inca warriors to attack the Spanish military in Cusco.

If you're visiting Ollantaytanbo or Machu Picchu, we found using a hiking stick (or two) with a rubber tip was helpful as we climbed up and down rock steps with both uneven depth and height. In both locations, handrails were not consistently available. With the high altitude, we took frequent but short rests to enjoy the scenary, learn history from our guides, as well as catch our breath and drink water. 

With a busy morning, we had a late lunch at Wayra Restaurant in Urubamba. This restaurant is known for its Peruvian foods and entertainment. During lunch we watched Peruvian Pasa horse riding demonstrations and Marinera dancers. 

Photo: Wayra Restaurant

Fresh Fruit Plate

Once back at the Tambo del Inka, we had some afternoon free time. We walked over to the central downtown market to see the vegetables, flower, fruits and meat stalls.

After two days at elevations ranging from 9.500 to 11,500 feet, we felt better prepared to avoid altitude sickness. Our Celebrity tour guides were careful to maintain a slow and steady pace and always checked to see if everyone was in good health.