South America Vacations

Peru Vacation Package 2

3 Days Lima & Ancient Cultures Tour Package

Duration: 3 Days / 2 Nights
Priced From: $477 pp dbl. occ.
Dates: Contact Travelwizard

 

 

Lima is a must on the agenda for al travelers who want to admire the beauty of colonial and modern Lima, for it preserves the interest and charm of cities steeped in history and crowded with historic monuments.

Lima is immense and holds tourist attractions in its 43 districts, but undeniably one of the most evocative places for the traveler is what is known as the Historic Center of Lima.

The new commercial center of Larco Mar in Miraflores, the most elegant restaurants of the country with a view over the Pacific Ocean, its five star hotels. Also the Camino Real with its great shopping malls in San Isidro. The districts of artists, paintings, poets, writers, music like in Barranco, with its bars and peñas (places where there is folklorical and also afro music as in the Andes or other regions of the country).

Day 1. After your arrival into Lima airport you will be met and transferred to your hotel of choice. As most flights arrive late in the evening tonight there are no activites planned.

Day 2. Lima was one of the fist cities established in South America by the conquistadroes and holds many amazing colonial jewels to be discovered.

"The Checkerboard of Pizarro", founded by this conqueror in 1535. The city was organized until the beginning of this century as the center of life and economy. It was the Peruvian capital where the conquerors and the viceroy lived with people like "Perricholi". It was the City of the Kings. Witness of thousands of tales, The Historic Center occupies the oldest part of the city and is a cultural legacy of Peru. It covers the original Spanish layout - known as Pizarro's Checkerboard, the old gardens and haciendas by the Rimac river and the Barrios Altos section. Its buildings reflect the wealth of Lima architecture through the centuries, combined with modern buildings and shopping areas.

Walking its streets and observing her churches, mansions, fountains, monuments, walks, boulevards and homes, the visitor notes different styles existing side by side, and feels as though he has traveled briefly through time, each different from the other.

The balconies that Lima displays, singly or in long rows, are unique in Latin America and constitute one of the most picturesque aspects of the streets of old Lima. The architecture of French influence (18th century) enhanced the charm of houses and churches with the freshness given to them by the mestizo builders who gracefully used materials like clay and plaster.

The most important squares and parks got a face-lift and look attractive these days. The mayor of Lima "Andrade" recently has been reelected and will continue the good work. He and his staff designed an action plan to turn Lima in thetourist capital of Latin America.

New residential areas, San Isidro, Miraflores, Barranco, have grown up on the shore, sheltered by Lima's old spas. Through these streets with long and noisy strides there is commercial activity, banks, shows, art galleries. Surfing is practiced on its beaches. A new city is developing and growing among the gay bougainvillea of Miraflores, and the patriarchal olive trees of San Isidro. The city overlooks the sea, and a long rosary of beaches at Costa Verde, Chorrillos and La Herradura.

Peru has lot's of excellent archaeological material of any kind (ceramics, cloths, gold and silver objects money, etc.) which belong to numerous prestigious cultures: Chavin, Huari, Chimu, Mochica, Nazca, Paracas, Moxeque, Vicus, Inca, etc. Everybody can admire these fine objects of highly developed cultures in several museums in and around Lima, where these treasures are exposed.

We return for dinner either in the old colnial town or in Miraflore: the hustling and bustling new section of Lima.

Day 3. In 2001, the oldest town in South America was officially announced. Dating to 2600 BC, it pushed back the date for the "first town" with one millennium. What is even more intriguing, is that the town of Caral has pyramids, contemporary with the Egyptian Pyramid Era. Today is spent exploring Caral.

The journey to the ruins allows you to see how Lima is placed within the coastal desert. Paul Kosok discovered Caral (Chupacigarro Grande) in 1948, but it received little attention until recently because it appeared to lack many typical artifacts that were sought at archeological sites throughout the Andes at the time. Archaeologist Ruth Shady further explored the 5,000 year-old city of pyramids in the Peruvian desert, with its elaborate complex of temples, an amphitheatre and ordinary houses. The urban complex is spread out over 150 acres and contains plazas and residential buildings. Caral was a thriving metropolis at the same time that Egypt's great pyramids were being built.

Dotted with pyramid temples, sunken plazas, housing complexes and an amphitheater, Caral is one of 20 sites attributed to the ancient Caral-Supe culture that run almost linearly from Peru's central coast inland up the Andes. The ruins changed history when researchers proved that a complex urban center in the Americas thrived as a contemporary to ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt – 1,500 years earlier than previously believed. But much remains to be discovered about Caral and the Caral-Supe culture that flourished here for more than a thousand years. The ruins offer a front-row seat to archaeology in action, as scientists dust off piles of rock or supervise the reconstruction of a crumbling pyramid wall that thousands of years ago gleamed red, yellow or white.

The ancient society comes to life with the help of these archaeologists, who make up about half of the site's tour guides along with locals whom they have trained.

We return to Lima.

Day 4. Today you are transferred back to Lima airport to connect with your onward journey.

• Arrival and Departure transfers
• Meet and greet bilingual A.I. transfer representative, bilingual licensed tour guide
• 2 Nights accommodation with breakfast (based on selected hotel - see NOTES below)
• All entrance fees, all bus, boat and train tickets needed to operate the tours
• Lima City Tour
• Caral Tour
• Baggage handling at airports and at hotels
• Passenger welcome kit with map, suggested restaurants, gift and pick-up time

• Visa fees (if required)
• Passport & Visa Costs
• Vaccination Costs
• Personal Spending Money
• Meals where not listed
• Drinks
• International Flights
• Domestic Flight or transport to and from start and finish point
• Travel Insurance
• Airport departure taxes
• Border taxes or fees

• Nazca Line extension
• Ballestras Islands extension
• Huaraz Tekking
• Colonial City of Trujillio extension
• Amazon Jungle Adventures

• Pricing based on 2 people sharing a room, SIB (Seat in Bus service)
• Rates for private service available on request
• Single and triple rates for SIB and private services are available on request.
• Tours are guided in one language only
• Vans Pick up travelers from no more than three hotels, except in Cusco where vans pick travelers from four or five hotels
• Tours are for eight persons or less, except in Cusco where average group size is 12 persons.
• The tour to Machu Picchu operates with an average group size of 8 persons with a guide based in Aguas Calientes
• We operate deluxe vans in Lima, Ica, Nazca, Arequipa and in Cusco, and best available in Trujillo, Chiclayo and Puno

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