Day 1 Departure from London Heathrow
Your adventure starts at Heathrow. Here you meet your Tour Manager and companions whilst enjoying complimentary drinks and snacks in the Executive Lounge before your scheduled Iberia flight to Lima from Heathrow, via Madrid. Arriving later that same day.
Meals: Inflight
Hotel: Swissôtel
Day 2 Lima
This morning you tour Peru’s capital – a UNESCO World Heritage treasure. Perhaps most memorable is Casa Aliaga, lived in since 1535 by seventeen generations of one family, with a series of rooms showing life in Lima in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries.
Meals: Breakfast
Hotel: Swissôtel
Day 3 Lima to Sacred Valley
You fly to Cusco, seeing first the Sacred Valley of the Incas with its astonishing terraces, flowering meadows and snowcapped mountain backdrop. Then you visit the colourful market in Pisac (have a haggle!) and the Inca astronomic observatory.
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Hotel: Sol y Luna
Day 4 Sacred Valley
You see Ollantaytambo, the Inca fortress, with some of the oldest continuously occupied dwellings in South America. Lunch is at Casa Hacienda Orihuela – hosted by the Orihuelas family.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Hotel: Sol y Luna
Day 5 Sacred Valley to Machu Picchu
Today starts with your vistadome train ride … up, up, up … to the 'Lost City' of Machu Picchu. In an impossibly dramatic location, the staggering views will stay with you forever. You see the Main Square, the Royal Quarters, Temple of the Three Windows, Circular Towers, the Sacred Sun Dial and the Burial Grounds.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Hotel: Inkaterra
Day 6 Machu Picchu to Cusco
Revisit the citadel – there’s so much to see – then take the train through deep wooded canyons and hillside terraces to join the coach to enchanting Cusco – Spanish colonial splendour on massive Inca foundations.
Meals: Breakfast
Hotel: Libertador
Day 7 Cusco
This afternoon you tour the city. The Santo Domingo Convent Monastery was once the Koricancha temple, devoted to worship of the sun … the Plaza de Armas is a renaissance masterpiece that took a century to build. Afterwards see remarkable Inca ruins nearby.
Meals: Breakfast
Hotel: Libertador
Day 8 Cusco to Santiago
Today we fly via Lima to Santiago, where you will stay three nights.
Meals: Breakfast
Hotel: Grand Hyatt
Day 9 Santiago
Santiago is cultured, cosmopolitan and fun with lively cafés, fine restaurants and leafy parks. So today, take it all in – or just do nothing!
Meals: Breakfast
Hotel: Grand Hyatt
Day 10 Santiago
After the Presidential Palace of La Moneda, see the pre-Columbian Art Museum, with over 1,500 examples from the Inca, Maya and Azteca cultures. Following the Plaza de Armas and the 18th century Cathedral and National Historical Museum is a real treat: wine tasting and lunch before you tour Tarapaca winery.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Hotel: Grand Hyatt
Day 11 Santiago to Puerto Natales
Today you fly to Punta Arenas – ‘the town at the end of the world’ on Magellan Straits, South America's tip. In the evening relax and enjoy your dinner at the hotel.
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Hotel: Costa Australis
Day 12 Puerto Natales to Torres Del Paine
Today you explore the Torres Del Paine National Park, named for the soaring granite towers (torres) soaring above the landscape. Here live pumas, foxes, soft-eyed guanaco llamas and flightless rheas amidst lakes, rivers, waterfalls, forests and valleys. You visit the Grande Fall and after lunch at Lake Pehoe continue the drive, keeping your eyes peeled for the mighty condor.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Hotel: Hosteria Rio Serrano
Day 13 Torres Del Paine
Today, a colour symphony. First, the green Amarga Lagoon, home to the Chilean flamingo, then the milky coloured Cascada Rio Paine falls, before you reach Azul Lagoon – named for its blue waters – and a picnic lunch.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Hotel: Hosteria Rio Serrano
Day 14 Torres Del Paine to El Calafate
After a scenic drive (all the drives here are spellbinding) you enter Los Glaciares National Park at El Calafate, named for the berry that, once eaten, guarantees your return to Patagonia.
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Hotel: Alto Calafate
Day 15 El Calafate
Another day to die for, sailing the blue waters of Lake Argentino between aquablue icebergs, their surfaces glowing as the light refracts from billions of icecrystals. After Upsala Glacier – 50 kilometres long and 10 kilometres wide – we disembark at Onelli Bay to walk through the forest to dark emerald green Onelli Lake. Back on the boat you see Spegazzini Glacier – an impressive 360 feet tall, passing beneath mountain crags where condors nest.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Hotel: Alto Calafate
Day 16 El Calafate to Buenos Aires
This morning you see the glacier to end all glaciers – the Perito Moreno. Two miles wide and 165 feet high, it is a reminder of the Ice Age. You watch from a wooden catwalk in front of the Canal de los Tempanos (Icebergs Canal) as ice falls thunderously down … then leave, silently reflecting. Later, you fly to Buenos Aires and transfer to your hotel.
Meals: Breakfast
Hotel: Emperador
Day 17 Buenos Aires
Grand colonial architecture, the parks and gardens of Palermo, the old quarter of San Telmo, colourful La Boca, and Recoleta Cemetery, with Eva Peron’s grave – a fascinating city! Stroll round in the afternoon before your dinner and tango evening. World-class performers mesmerise you with intricate dance steps – you’ll be humming the tunes for days.
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Hotel: Emperador
Day 18 Buenos Aires
The day is yours. Following last nights performance why not have a go yourself with an optional Tango lesson?
Meals: Breakfast
Hotel: Emperador
Day 19 Buenos Aires to Iguazú Falls
Today we fly to Iguazú Falls. Iguazú Falls are taller than Niagara and, twice as wide. 275 cascades extend in a horseshoe shape over nearly two miles. You take a short train ride to the paths leading to the Devil's Throat, the most spectacular of the falls. Here you enter a lush tropical basin. Beautiful flowers, ferns, tropical plants, exotic birds and thousands of butterflies – paradise!
Meals: Breakfast
Hotel: Sheraton
Day 20 Iguazú Falls
Today you’re free to explore Iguazú at your own pace. Perhaps take an optional helicopter ride over the falls for spectacular views
Meals: Breakfast
Hotel: Sheraton
Day 21 Iguazú Falls to Rio de Janeiro
From the Brazilian side of the Iguazú National Park you get fantastic views – especially of Devil's Throat. This afternoon we fly to the Brazilian capitol of Rio de Janero.
Meals: Breakfast
Hotel: Sofitel
Day 22 Rio de Janeiro
A literal high point – Corcovado and the famous statue of Christ the Redeemer. The view of the Tijuca National Forest and surrounding mountains is astounding, only to be challenged later when you reach the top of Sugar Loaf Mountain by cable car. The sun sets over the city before your carnival style farewell dinner, preceded by Brazilian music with the contagious beat of Samba drums.
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Hotel: Sofitel
Day 23 Rio de Janeiro
No hurry – your room is booked until 3 pm – before your Iberia flight home, via Madrid.
Meals: Breakfast, Inflight
Day 24 Arrival into London Heathrow
Journey’s end – we arrive in Heathrow and say farewell to our friends.