Peru Custom Tours
James Bustamante is Native to New York but born to Peruvian parents. He has been traveling throughout Latin America since early 2003 and finally made his home in Peru. James has made his way by eating and traveling through almost every country in Central and South America.
Last Updated on July 12, 2021 by James Bustamante
Peru custom tours are made to better suit any traveler’s schedule, group size, preferred destinations in Peru, accommodation style, private or group style trip. There is a big difference between a cookie-cutter trip that has set dates, and services vs a custom trip that has been tailored to better fit your particular needs. Let’s go over some of the key differences between Peru custom tours and your “set departure date” travel.
Pick The Best Dates
A custom tour to Peru will allow you to choose the best possible dates for yours. To some travelers, having to move their schedule around “set-date” type of trips can be a real pain. Between getting time off work, scheduling international flights, availability, pricing, etc. A trip that has a set date starting schedule might be difficult to make.
On the other hand, Peru custom tours will begin on the date that you prefer. Choose the dates that guarantee the best weather in Peru or the dates that offer the most affordable international and domestic airfare.
Choose Peru Custom Tour Destinations
The best vacation to Peru will undoubtedly be the one that lets you choose which destinations and tours you want to experience during the course of the trip. There are vacation packages that will have the typical Lima, Cusco, Machu Picchu, Lima itinerary as part of their pre-established schedule. If you would like to step away from the typical, set travel schedule and go for a customized itinerary then you could change the trip to be: Lima, Cusco, Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu day 1 tour, Machu Picchu day 2 Huayna Picchu hike, Cusco, Lima.
A Custom tour will allow you to spend more time in the Inca citadel so you can take your Machu Picchu hike at whatever pace you prefer. The second day can be used merely to hike through the highest peak known as Huayna Picchu and visit the temple of the moon.
Choose Your Accommodations
One big benefit of having a tailored experience in Peru is how accommodations work. A customized itinerary will let you choose just about any hotel you want to stay in. A “set departure date” type of trip will tell you which hotels are included or let you choose from a small list. What if you want to stay in a separate hotel from the rest of the group? Or what if you want to book your own hotels and just let the travel agency handle the tours and permits?
There are many travelers that commonly have discounts on hotel chains that currently exist in Cusco and would most likely prefer to save on accommodations. This is only doable through a customized itinerary.
Peru Custom Tours Group Size
Something very important that sets a customized itinerary vs a set-in-stone package tour is the variation in group sizes. Unless you plan your trip as a private tour, a set package with a pre-established date will typically have more group members since the dates have been advertised through various means.
There is nothing inherently wrong with larger groups, however for some travelers a small more personalized experience would just be a better fit. With a Customized itinerary, your group size will likely be half or less in comparison to an established departure trip. The average group size at any point during the Peru tour is 4-6 travelers in total, while that number will likely be close to 15 with a set tour.
Custom Travel and Personalized Guides
When you travel on a tailored trip, one of the key takeaways is that you will have access to personalized staff. A date-established tour will on most occasions, serve one guide for around 10-15 people at any given point. To some travelers this will be fine however, others might prefer to have a guide that has a clear objective of having a more personalized relationship with the tourist.
Upon arrival, our guests are picked up at the airport by private transport. The pick-up is supervised by a driver and a bilingual guide at each arrival destination. This would be the same procedure in Lima, Cusco, Puno, Arequipa, etc.
When a scheduled tour is set to begin, the same guide will come by the hotel to pick you up and start the trip. The personalized guide will assist everyone within the small group, you will have access to the guide as well as other staff members 24 hours a day via a messaging app. This way, if you need anything travel-related during your stay, one of our staff members will be able to assist you as soon as possible.
Flexibility During The Trip
If there is one thing most people who take a trip overseas usually ask for is flexibility during the trip. When you travel to a new destination you want to make sure you have a good time and there are always outside factors that can damper your trip. A good example of this would be suffering from the elevation in Cusco.
Most people will need 24-48 hours to properly acclimate to the altitude, so let’s imagine you have a scheduled tour on day 3 and you are still not feeling well enough to hike for the day. What options would you normally have?
On a “set departure date” tour the only alternative is to not take part in the day’s activity. This would mean you not only lose the day but also the money you invested into the travel experience. Some agencies will provide a refund but in general, they all need at least 24 hours prior notice to do so.
In a Peru custom tour, if the same situation were to happen we simply move the activity for the following day. Another option would be to switch it to one of the “free days” in your itinerary. If there are no free days to use then a shorter half-day can be suggested, and lastly, a refund can be made. The same applies if you suddenly change your mind about a certain day trip while you are in Cusco. As long as we know the day before, your day trip can be switched to another one.
The best example I can think of is when a traveler suddenly changes their mind about a difficult day hike like the Rainbow mountain tour. The traveler might not want to take a hike that takes you to over 17,000 feet above sea level (5,000 meters) and prefer to switch it for a day trip to the Sacred Valley.
In the end, flexibility helps both the traveler and the operator by keeping everyone happy about the trip.
Custom Tour Pricing
In General, a customized itinerary will cost more than a trip that has a set starting date, with set destinations and tours. The benefits of a customized itinerary to Peru are also quite extensive over a trip with set dates. The costs you might save on a trip with a large group might not be enough to beat a customized trip with a personalized guide, tailored destinations you want to be in, for as long as you want.
Adding 24-hour assistance from a Peru-based operator is also an added bonus that makes a tailored experience much more memorable. In the end, both travel experiences will have the same monetary value but only one will give you the flexibility and assistance you will undoubtedly want over the course of the trip.
Conclusion
A Peru customized experience lets the traveler choose exactly what they want to do during their time in Peru. It lets you choose hotels, tours, the best dates and it also gives you flexibility once the trip has already started.
Photo by: Photo by Jeison Higuita
