Io Gillhuber

Thank you, Io, Lizbeth, and Nataly for making sure every detail was accounted for in planning and carrying out this amazing trip!! Everyone was so helpful and profesional from the planning stage to drivers, tour guides, airport greeters for pick ups, hotel staff, and more. I loved seeing Cusco, Machu Picchu, and the jungle/rainforest! I felt very safe and comfortable traveling alone with Andean Travel Experience and would definitely do it again. I highly recommend booking with them!

We had a dense flawless luxury and unforgettable joyful trip, organized to perfection and to the second for a 17 days journey.
I believe Io, our local guide in Cuzco of Andean Travel Experience, read my mind when she organized the trip. I gave her few input about what we like and what we dislike and she created a perfect journey that surpassed by far our great expectations adding precious nuances that only locals could! We never liked to travel on organized plans, but KimKim and Io made us change our mind forever. Lizbeth was our local support, available 24/7 for any necessity. She gave us all the details and all the information to follow to avoid any inconvenience . They took care of everything we could need from booking the best time of the day private tours in the national parks and historical sites, to provide amazing guides that spoke our first language.
The light of the Sun was in the optimal position, on each experience, to admire the beauties, the landscape and the wildlife, to take also great pictures.

Hotel Reviews

Ibis Budget Lima Miraflores

Lima

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Bathroom was dirty

Oro viejo

Nasca

The hidden garden with pool, filled with spectacular flowers and birds was a beautiful surprise. The room was spotless and dustless clean in every detail, even though Nazca is very dusty. The adorable staff gave us more pillows and more toilet paper when asked.

Authenticity & Character

Just charming.

Location

Walkable distance to downtown and close to the Cruz del Sur bus station. Very quiet.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Emancipador Hotel

The bed was the most comfortable of the trip, but the room and the bathroom were very dirty.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Maison Du Soleil

Arequipa

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Conde de Lemos

Puno

In a very good position. The rooms are comfortable, but not well cleaned and the plumbing system is poor. The shower doesn't work properly, the water can't be mixed in lukewarm temperature. The toilet got clogged and impossible to use. They couldn't change the room. We had to wait for someone to unclog the toilet, and then they left it very dirty eventually. Very disappointing. They are doing some remodeling so maybe in the future the issues will all be solved.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Tika Wasi Casa Boutique

Cusco

Looking forward to coming here again. This is my favorite hotel of my entire life. The spotless clean spacious rooms are charming, with glorious views over the city. Breakfast is delicious and everyday full of different local goods. Adorable staff trained to please. Security 24/7. Wonderful travellers to hang out with. The patio is very nicely maintained and filled with hummingbirds of every size. The location is in a spectacular neighborhood, San Blas, at a walkable distance from the ancient ruins of Saqsaywaman and from downtown.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Amazing view of downtown Cuzco, and walkable distance from Saqsaywaman !

Staff

I Loved to be pleased 😁 the staff is adorable!

Cleanliness & Comfort

Very comfortable beds, and squeaky clean bathroom!

Sol Natura Hotel

Ollantaytambo

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Shared Paracas Nature Reserve

Paracas

We really liked to visit the Ballestas islands and see the wonderful birds and sea lions, and for the first time penguins in their environment! A very well organized tour, perfect timing on the day to admire the Candelabro de Paracas.Our boat guide was amazing!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Shared Rafting Chili River in Arequipa

Arequipa

Exciting. Safely done! 💯 If KimKim didn't propose this experience, we wouldn't have had a glance on rural parts of Arequipa and this beautiful river.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Shared 2-day Colca Canyon tour & Local Family Homestay 2/2: Bus to Puno

Peru

This has been the best experience on our journey through Peru, and it should be a marvelous surprise.

Quality of Experience

Food

This homemade food by our host, Rosio, has been the best we had during our entire journey through Peru.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Full-Day Tour to the Titinos Uros Islands

Puno

Another Marvel!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Shared tour to Pisac & Ollantaytambo tour

Peru

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The Route of The Sun: {{start_location}} - {{end_location}}

Peru

Excellent tour experience transforming a transfer day in an outstanding tour out of the traditional tourist route, filled with interesting environmental, archeological, and historical sites and good food. Maybe our favorite because we didn't have any expectations. Christian, the tour guide, has deep knowledge in many fields and fulfilled all of our curiosity. We did not want it to end when we got to Cuzco.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

The impressive knowledge of our guide, Christian, in Andean ancient civilizations, birdwatching , anthropology and many more fields.

Transport

Shared 2D Colca Canyon Tour : Arequipa - Colca - Puno 1/2

Peru

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Explore Machu Picchu (Private Guided tour in Machu Picchu) SV Htl

Peru

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Shared Palcoyo Trek: Small group

Cusco

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Groupal Nasca Lines from Nasca

Peru

The driver that took us around was also an excellent guide that made us choose our tour. We also took a private flight tour of the Nazca lines.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

The trip plan was excellent and we covered a lot of different activities and areas of PERU. The Hiram Bingham train to Machu Picchu was so much fun and the guide was very good.

We had Juan de la Cruz as our guide in the sacred valley and Cusco. He was very knowledgeable and warm and we learned a lot and enjoyed his company.

Each hotel was unique with excellent service. The inka terra lodge in the Amazon was amazing and the guide Pedro that took us on all the excursions was extremely patient and never rushed trying to give us the maximum chance of seeing the wildlife. The meals were delicious.

We are pretty last minute with our planning and we weren't even sure there was time to pull a decent vacation in Peru together but Io, our kimkim specialist, was fantastic! She put together a great itinerary for our family of five, including plenty of history and cultural experiences, local sightseeing, as well as adventure. We had enough free time which was important as some of the family needed time adapting to the altitude in Cusco. We didn't have a list of must-sees and we simply trusted her recommendations and we are glad we did. Our day in Pisac and Ollantaytambo was unexpected and fascinating and one of the best! Adriel, our guide, was incredibly knowledgable and passionate about it all and we all swore we lucked out with the best guide! Of course Machu Picchu was a wonder to see and we were grateful for the guide, Rosa, who met us as soon as we disembarked the train and rushed us to the bus to head up to it. We would have never been able to figure that out and get there on time without her swift and urgent guidance! Another highlight was the Via Ferrate Climbing and Ziplining in the Sacred Valley. Our family has ziplined in some pretty amazing countries but the climbing up portion of this experience was new and exhilarating! We agreed this was the best day and our two guides, Brian and (forget his name) as well as Karla who took our photos, were outstanding! Additionally, all the hotels were even better than expected, with online photos not doing them justice. They were all in great locations, easy to explore on our own and walk to markets, coffee shops, restaurants, etc but also clean and comfortable. Have to give a huge shout out to Sonesta Posadas del Inca Yucay, our hotel in the Sacred Valley. This place was so stunning. There aren't words for how enamored we were with this place. Photos don't begin to show the beauty of this place. My husband wanted to cancel the rest of the trip and stay here! But honestly, it was sort of an oasis in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere but it had everything we needed and was just very unique. We also took a cooking class the last day and honestly, while we all like to cook, no one was sure what to expect. I can't locate the name of the place but it was a 3-hour full immersion cooking class in the heart of Cusco and Chef Fernando taught us so much about local cuisine and ingredients, provided samples of several things as well as walking us through making a couple of delicious and beautiful dishes. He was an entertaining and fun and there was so much food! The people in Peru were lovely, the food was all pretty great, the hotels were better than expected and there was the perfect mix of planned and free time for our family. Lisbeth, at Andean Travel, who was our local contact, was responsive and helpful when the altitude affected our plans one morning and all the guides and drivers we had in every city were great. kimkim delivered for us once again!

Hotel Reviews

Sonesta Posadas del Inca Yucay

Urubamba

I cannot describe how much we loved this place! The photos don't do it justice. Amazing design, big beautiful rooms, gorgeous greenery, restaurants and coffee shop on premise, we took so many pictures here. This is no standard hotel experience, it was something different. I can see why they have weddings here. Gorgeous!

Authenticity & Character

Private balcony off each of our rooms, huge wooden doors with iron finishings, rustic but yet really nice. Hard to describe but best hotel!

Location

We were only there less than 48 hours and it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere driving into it but it had everything we needed so didn't matter where it was.

Staff

It was cool when we were there at night and rooms have portable heaters. I called because ours wasn't working and it was replaced within 2 minutes. I'm not even sure how they got to our room so quickly.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Dazzler Miraflores by Wyndham

Lima

Clean, spacious, comfortable. Nothing over the top but very good.

Authenticity & Character

Again, nothing mind-blowing but very nice.

Location

We were only there one night but it was easy to walk to restaurants, etc

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

San Augustin Plaza

Cusco

Location was great! The plaza was up the road a few blocks and it was very walkable to all things we wanted to do and see there. The rooms were clean and comfortable. They had the tea in the lobby and O2 for those struggling with the altitude. I will say it was pretty cold in the lobby, hallways and rooms. Rooms did have portable heaters though so we were warm enough when sleeping. Staff was very nice but as we don't speak great Spanish, communication was sometimes a little tricky for us. There was a great breakfast spread but we preferred the coffee from the little cafe next door. Overall, it was a great place. We stayed there three nights, two night then left for two days and then came back there for our last night.

Authenticity & Character

I love anything that is clean and comfortable and safe but feels like we are somewhere different and this ticked all those boxes.

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Five star clean, four star comfort. It was just chilly inside. We were there in August. Bring warm pajamas and a jacket or sweater for the halls/lobby.

Activity Reviews

Shared tour to Pisac & Ollantaytambo tour

Peru

Amazing! Knew nothing of these places before going and loved every bit of this day. Our guide, Adriel, was the best! We learned so much and had so much fun!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Shared Ziplining & Via Ferrata in The Sacred Valley

Sacred Valley

We have ziplined in other amazing places and countries but haven't done the climbing like we did here. It was exhilarating and the views were over the top! Guides Brian et all were great. Our day happened to be stunning and perfect weather too. Highly recommend!

Quality of Experience

Food

It was a snack bag which we chose to take with us at the end. We didn't want to stop to eat.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Full Immersion Cooking class

Cusco

Chef Fernanado taught us about local ingredients, cuisine, etc. We got a lot of history, information, samples and then fully made two dishes with the Chef. Food was delicious and Chef Fernando was very knowledgable and entertaining. My family loved this!

Quality of Experience

Food

Explore Machu Picchu (Private Guided tour in Machu Picchu) SV Htl

Peru

What's not to love? It's Machi Picchu! We will the third one, seeing and going into many of the structures. It's incredible.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our guide Rosa rushed us from the train to the bus to go to the top and we would never have figured that out on our own so quickly. Be prepared to run from the train to bus. Not sure it's always like that but we did a full uphill sprint! Our guide through Machu Picchu was great was well. Very calm, relaxing voice, fitting for the environment.

Transport

Private Half-Day Walking Tour: Sacsayhuaman, Cusco City & San Pedro Market

Cusco

We had two (altitude) sick kids so I missed this but my husband and older son said it was amazing! They recounted all they saw and learned and later that afternoon, when the kids felt a bit better, we all went back to the museum together and it was great.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff