Welcome to Cusco (3,400 m / 11,155 ft), the heart of the Inca Empire! Your Incatrekkers guide meets you at the airport and takes you to your hotel. In the afternoon, take it easy to get used to the altitude and set out with your guide on a relaxed walk through the former capital of the Incas: the Plaza de Armas with its cathedral, Plaza Regocijo, Plaza San Francisco and the artists' quarter of San Blas, the famous twelve-angled stone and original Inca walls, the San Pedro market and the ChocoMuseo (optional workshop).

The tour begins at Qorikancha, the Temple of the Sun and the most important religious center of the Incas. By private transport, we then visit four Inca sites above the city: the mighty fortress of Sacsayhuamán with its huge stone blocks weighing up to 120 tons, the rock shrine of Qenqo with its carved altars, the military outpost of Puka Pukara and Tambomachay, the "bath of the Inca" with its elegant water channels.

We pick you up from your hotel at 7:30 am and drive to Chinchero, where Quechua weavers demonstrate their traditional dyeing and weaving techniques. We continue to Moray, whose circular terraces the Incas used as an agricultural laboratory, and to the salt ponds of Maras, where local families still harvest salt as their ancestors did. After lunch, we visit Ollantaytambo, a living Inca town with a mighty temple fortress and massive terraces overlooking the Sacred Valley. You spend the night in Ollantaytambo; the rest of the afternoon is at leisure.

We pick you up at 6:00 am and take the train along the Urubamba River for about one and a half hours to Km 104 (2,050 m / 6,726 ft), the start of the short Inca Trail. After the permit and passport check, we hike past the Inca site of Chachabamba and climb for about four hours to Wiñay Wayna (2,650 m / 8,694 ft), one of the most beautiful sites on the trail. Through cloud forest, we continue for about an hour to Inti Punku, the Sun Gate (2,720 m / 8,924 ft), where Machu Picchu suddenly lies at your feet. After descending to the citadel and enjoying the afternoon light, we take the bus down to Aguas Calientes for the night.

After an early breakfast, we take one of the first buses up to Machu Picchu and explore the most important temples and sectors of the Lost City on a guided tour of about three hours in the soft morning light. Afterwards, we return to Aguas Calientes by bus, have time for lunch and take the train back to Ollantaytambo, where our private transport takes you to your hotel in Cusco.

We leave Cusco (3,400 m / 11,155 ft) early in the morning and head for the cloud forest, where the Andes fall away to the Amazon basin. On the way, we visit a high mountain wetland with migrant and local waterfowl and cross two mountain ranges between the Cusco and Paucartambo valleys, reaching a maximum altitude of 3,900 m / 12,795 ft. We stop at mountain villages and at the pre-Inca burial towers (chullpas) of Ninamarca. At the Ajanaco pass, the entrance to Manu National Park, the Andes begin their plunge into the Amazon basin – in clear weather, the view over the cloud forest down to the lowland rainforest is breathtaking. After lunch, we descend through elfin forest into a magical world of giant ferns, orchids, bromeliads and begonias. With frequent stops, we may spot quetzals, trogons or guans before reaching the Cock-of-the-Rock Lodge in the afternoon.

Early in the morning, we visit the nearby lek to watch the Andean cock-of-the-rock, Peru's blazing red national bird, in full courtship display – nowhere else can so many of these spectacular birds be seen so easily. The best months are September to November, but the males display all year round. After a hearty breakfast, we explore the forest along the road near the lodge and the trails through the valley. Among waterfalls, orchids, bromeliads, ferns and mosses, we look out for golden-headed quetzals, grey-breasted mountain toucans, blue-crowned motmots, umbrellabirds, blue-banded toucanets, tanagers and many hummingbirds – and with luck woolly or brown capuchin monkeys. The afternoon is free to relax on the lodge's viewing platform or on your private balcony overlooking the cloud forest.

After an early breakfast, we drive down to the mid-elevation forest, where the last Andean foothills give way to the vast Amazon basin, and reach the river port of Atalaya around noon. In the afternoon, we walk the rainforest trails with our guide. Here, upland and lowland species mingle – we may see the endangered military macaw, paradise tanagers, blue-crowned trogons, blue-headed parrots, bluish-fronted jacamars, rufous-crested coquettes and many other hummingbirds, as well as monkeys. In the late afternoon, we return to the lodge.

After an early breakfast, we drive back up the cloud forest road, stopping again and again to look for birds we have already seen and new ones – and perhaps the monkeys that have eluded us so far. Through the enchanting mountain landscape, we return to Cusco, where we arrive at your hotel in the late afternoon or early evening.

Enjoy a last morning in Cusco at your own pace – your guide is happy to suggest places to visit. Our private transport then takes you to the airport for your flight to Lima and your onward journey home.