Traveling to Peru

It’s been awhile since I’ve been to both cities so I don’t have any current info but we stayed on the beach away from the airport and a small boutique hotel in town near the church in Cusco. I can not remember the names so I am not much help but you should really enjoy it! It’s a fantastic trip!
Doug, it’s beyond Europe and the question is appropriate on this forum.

The only piece of info I can provide is that my parents were there earlier this month and raved about Ollantaytambo as a place to stay, but I haven't had the full debrief yet.

The Lima airport is in a bad area of the city, but we stayed at the Holiday Inn that is next to the airport. They provide free transportation to and from the airport.

For visiting Machu Picchu, Lima and the Sacred Valley, I strongly recommend peruagency.com
We had a wonderful 3 night, 4 day tour with a private guide in four star hotels total cost was $799 pp.
We did pay for our RT airfare from Lima to Cusco ($148 pp).
If you are going to the MP area, don't go during the rainy season (Dec-March). We did it in late March and it didn't rain, but we were lucky.

My son was in Lima and Cuzco in January as part of a South American study trip. They did not stay near the airport in Lima, so I can't help there, but he said they stayed at the Hilton in Cuzco and it was a nice hotel. He felt the city was more historic than "lovely", but he never felt unsafe anywhere he went, and he stayed there several days by himself after the rest of the group left.

You'll undoubtedly read/hear it in other places, but do follow the suggestions for adapting to the altitude and avoiding altitude sickness. A couple people in his group were unable to make the trip to Machu Picchu because they didn't take the information seriously. A real disappointment after traveling so far.

Strangely enough he too had good weather in January, though it's supposed to be part of that rainy season. May you have good weather for your trip also.

When we visited Lima, we stayed in the Miraflores area, not close to the airport. In Cuzco, we stayed at the El Monasterio hotel. Close to the main plaza, but pricey. Places we visited included Pisac, Saqsaywamam, Urubamba, and Ollantaytambo. At Machu Picchu we stayed at the Sanctuary Lodge right at the entrance. If you decide you want to climb Waynapicchu, reservations must be made ahead of time, online, since the number of visitors is restricted. The altitude in Cusco is actually 2,000 ft. higher than Machu Picchu. We traveled there in September 2009 and the weather was nice.

it's been a while since my last visit, hope things haven't changed too much. The other poster suggested miraflores in lima, good area to stay, or the other area next to it further down along the beach (can't remember the name), the walk along the cliff was beautiful between the 2 areas. you may want to take a taxi from airport to the hotel directly. in cuzco around the town center all seemed to be pretty good, up the hill you may run into poor areas. i booked all of my sacred valley and MP train/tour tickets through an agency around plaza de amas, many agencies, all seemed to be honest people. they have the complete packages, make it easy. If you buy a an area tour including Urubamba, you can book a hotel there and ask the tour guy to leave you behind in Urubamba - this saves you a mini bus ride from cuzco to Urubamba on your way to MP.

Recent trip and Lima is great, stay in Mira Flores , sacred valley, Cusco and the lake are great. We had TLA set up a tour with private car transfers and guides. Train to Puno was great. Make sure you have tickets to Machu Picchu . They took care of everything for us , all we did was fly into Lima.

Be sure to read this website carefully, especially the "Safety & Security" and "Health" sections - https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Peru.html . If you need vaccinations, be sure to get those well before you leave on the trip.

For sightseeing ideas, have a look at this - https://shop.lonelyplanet.com/categories/peru . You may be able to find the guidebooks at your local Library or larger bookstores.

I also recommend visiting Ollantaytambo, Maras salt mines, and the Moray ruins. If you can, fly in to Cusco and immediately go down to Sacred Valley - makes it easier to adjust to elevation change. After the valley, visit MP and then return to Cusco (which as noted above is higher than MP). All hotels offer coca leaf tea in the lobby to address altitude sickness, but my experience was to drink a ton of water and pace yourself. If you can stay overnight in Aguas Calientes, it's quite a treat to visit Machu Picchu in the late afternoon (fewer crowds) and then go back up on the earliest bus you can the next morning. Note that there are bathrooms only at the entrance of the site and it is a "one way" route through the main part of the ruins - pace yourself accordingly! Also just after the exit there is a small table set that has a special stamp you can put on a blank page of your passport (yes, I know, this may or may not be kosher for some, but I put it on one of the very last pages used for visa overflow). In Aguas there is a decent brewery with good food - Mapacho Craft Brewery. Try the alpaca steak.

Also, make sure you are up to date on immunizations https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/traveler/none/peru

Check out PeruAgency for tours.