Peru Solo Travel Itinerary

My first destination in Peru was Lima. Arriving there was a bit intimidating at first because Lima, with its 11 million citizens, is so insanely big. But arriving at my hostel in Barranco, I felt a lot more at ease already. Because lima is so big I have actually not seen a lot of it. The neighborhoods I mostly visited were Miraflores and Barranco. Miraflores is one of the safest and touristic neighborhoods of the city. There are many good restaurants and it is nice to take a walk around. Barranco is close to Miraflores and is quite hip as well. It has many artworks on the walls which makes it very colorful. From my hostel in Barranco, it was only 10 minutes or so to the beach. The beaches in Lima aren't the nicest to lay on and relax because of the stones and crowdedness but they are great if you love surfing!

After Lima, I flew to Cusco. at 3400m Cusco is situated in the Andes mountains. It is the city from where many tourists start their visit to the Matchu Picchu, rainbow mountains and sacred valley. Even though it has a very Spanish colonial feel to it, there is still a lot of Inca history being preserved there as well. Just a 15 minute walk uphill on the outskirt of the city, there is a large Inca ruin called 'Sacsayhuaman'. I stayed in Cusco for over two weeks to have Spanish classes. There are many schools in Cusco that offer them, as well as accommodation for an affordable price. I loved staying in Cusco for a longer period, not only because the city is quite beautiful, but also because there is so much to see around the city. I did, for example, the Inca trail of 4 days which was the most beautiful trek I have every done. But be prepared for the weather, compared to the coast of Peru, Cusco is quite cold and rainy. Furthermore, the high altitude can have a bad effect on people as well, especially the first few days. 

During the last part of my trip in Peru, I visited the beach place Paracas. There is not much to see or do in Paracas except for tanning on the beach. However, there is a beautiful natural reserve just outside of it and close to the coast there are the Ballestas islands which are said to be amazing as well. When I was there, we sadly couldn't go to the islands because of the weather but normally there are many boats going there for daytrips every morning. Instead I went on a hike through the natural reserve which was very special. It is the driest area of land in the world because the ground is full with salt so the area looks pretty much like a desert. But because it is right by the seaside, there are beautiful cliffs with many vultures, seagulls and other circling above your head. And the orange, yellow ground looks almost gold once the sun begins to set.