Peru
Floating islands woven from reeds, then one of the world's deepest canyons soared over by condors
Peru
A journey through southern Peru, between Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world at over three thousand eight hundred metres, where the Uros people still live on artificial islands woven from totora reeds, and Colca Canyon, twice as deep as the American Grand Canyon, where Andean condors with wingspans over three metres soar every morning.
When
April to Oct
Price
From 3 400€ excl. flights
(based on 2 people sharing)
How long
7 nights
Ideal length
Days 1-2
The first chapter unfolds on Lake Titicaca, considered in Inca mythology to be the birthplace of the sun. The floating islands of the Uros, built and regularly topped up with dried totora reed, still shelter several families today who live using methods largely unchanged for centuries, while Taquile Island, reached by boat, preserves textile traditions listed as UNESCO intangible heritage.
Day 1
The floating islands of the Uros
A boat trip to the floating islands of the Uros, built entirely from totora reed that families constantly replenish to offset the material's natural decay, a meeting with residents and a demonstration of traditional construction.
Day 2
Taquile Island and its weavers
A boat trip to Taquile Island, whose inhabitants, men and women alike, practise traditional weaving listed as UNESCO intangible cultural heritage, a lunch of fresh lake trout facing the Bolivian cordillera in the distance.
Days 1-2
The road to Colca Canyon, twice as deep as the American Grand Canyon, carved between two volcanoes by the river of the same name. The village of Chivay and the pre-Inca agricultural terraces that still structure the canyon's flanks bear witness to over a thousand years of continuous farming, while the Cross of the Condor offers, every morning, one of the best viewpoints in the world for this emblematic Andean raptor.
Day 1
Chivay and the pre-Inca terraces
The road to Chivay across the altiplano, a stop among the wild vicuñas of the Salinas y Aguada Blanca national reserve, then a look at the pre-Inca agricultural terraces that have structured the canyon for over a thousand years.
Day 2
The Cross of the Condor at dawn
An early departure to the Cross of the Condor, a viewpoint where rising air currents carry several Andean condors every morning, their wingspan sometimes exceeding three metres, before the return to Arequipa at the end of the day.
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