I appreciated the very personalized trip plan...
Peru | Sep 15 - Sep 23, 2026

J
Julie V.
Newark, NJ | Reviewed on Sep 24, 2026

I appreciated the very personalized trip planned by Io. She is exceptionally responsive and understood the kind of trip we wanted....deeper immersion, fewer hotel stays and long car rides, some independent time to explore, great food and stellar accomodations. We absolutely loved every hotel: gorgeous Sol Y Luna, Belmond Sanctuary where we had the best food of our lives, and the warmth and location of Antigua Casona. Highly recommend all three. We loved the cultural immersion trips: Llama trekking and the Potato experience were standouts. Machu Picchu was of course stunning. I appreciated the recommendations for our free days and restaurants. Jimy, our guide was fantastic,knowledgeable, fun and flexible. I also appreciated Lisbeth's efforts to retrieve and return a hat I left in MP.

Overall it was a great trip, however, we had some really basic logistical missteps that caused hassles that should have been avoided on a high end trip such as this. I shared that feedback and frustration directly and felt that they did their best to address it, and treated us to a dinner to offset some of the hassle. This is the second time we've booked with kimkim and the first time we have encountered logistical difficulty on the ground.

Hotel Reviews
Sol y Luna Hotel (Relais & Chateaux)
Urubamba

Exceptional, gorgeous and wonderful food.

Authenticity & Character
Location
Staff
Cleanliness & Comfort
Belmond Sanctuary Lodge
Machu Picchu

Absolutely beautiful, loved the ease of going the MP, exceptional service and among the best food we have every had, anywhere.

Authenticity & Character
Location
Staff
Cleanliness & Comfort
Antigua Casona San Blas
Cusco

Beautiful, well located, exceptional service and food.

Authenticity & Character
Location
Staff
Cleanliness & Comfort
Activity Reviews
Private tour to The Salt Flats of Maras, Llama Trek,  Shared Pachamanca Lunch & Self guided tour to Ollantaytambo town
Private tour to The Salt Flats of Maras, Llama Trek, Shared Pachamanca Lunch & Self guided tour to Ollantaytambo town
Sacred Valley

Loved this, especially the Llama Trek. We learned so much and our guide Jimy was fabulous. It is a very, very long day and the road to Ollantaytambo was really rough. The Pachamance lunch was delicious, but it was a long drive and we ended up there very late due to the road so we missed some of it. The food was excellent, though.

Quality of Experience
Food
Guides, Drivers and Staff
Transport
Potato Experience in the Sacred Valley
Potato Experience in the Sacred Valley
Sacred Valley

This was one of our top experiences. We learned so much and the warmth of the family and stunning scenery on the drive made it so memorable.

Quality of Experience
Food
Guides, Drivers and Staff
Transport
Explore Machu Picchu & Return to Cusco  (Private Guided tour in Machu Picchu) SV
Explore Machu Picchu & Return to Cusco (Private Guided tour in Machu Picchu) SV
Peru

The Belmond Sanctuary is well worth the price. We had two circuits on one day. Worth it, but it is alot so rest up!

Quality of Experience
Food
Best food of our lives.
Guides, Drivers and Staff
Transport
Extremely bad transport experience. We were booked for a private driver up to MP. Turns out that is not even possible, and we missed the last bus up trying to scramble to get bus tickets. Eventually made it. Big hassle. The next day it then took us 6 hours to get to Cusco: bus ride down, late train and an absolutely harrowing drive from the train to Cusco via extremely deserted roads, many with previous rock slides causing the road to become one lane and very, very rough dirt roads. I know there must have been a different route through the mountains. It was a terrible drive. I don't know why we couldn't have gone directly from MP to Cusco and had our luggage delivered. A six hour, extremely uncomfortable journey was competely unacceptable on a trip like this. We loved MP, but the travel hassle in both directions really impacted our impression of what was to be a highlight.
Flight to Cusco & Direct private transfer to the Sacred Valley w/assistance
Flight to Cusco & Direct private transfer to the Sacred Valley w/assistance
Peru

Flight from CUSCO to LIMA I had to ask repeatedly for the boarding passes. We never received them until around 6 pm before our departure at 4 am. As a result of the late check in, we were in a very late boarding group requiring us to check luggage (we always do carry on and always plan for that) and weren't seated together. I shouldn't have had to ask repeatedly for the boarding passes. It would have been easier to handle this myself.

Quality of Experience
Guides, Drivers and Staff
The drivers were fine on both airport transfers. The driver on the transfer from Ollantaytambo to CUsco never said a single word to us, even through a terrible drive over roads that made us nearly sick to our stomachs.
Transport
The route taken between Ollayntambo to CUsco after our MP visit should not be allowed by your company. It was deeply unsettling and extremely uncomfortable.
Local specialist: Io Gillhuber