Peru's best-known route runs from Cusco through the Sacred Valley to Machu Picchu, but the country also covers desert coastline around Lima, the Amazon basin in the east and Lake Titicaca in the south. Altitude is the thread connecting most of the highland itinerary.
The guides here cover Peru as a whole. Cusco sits at about 3,400 metres, and acclimatising for a day or two before hiking is standard advice. Machu Picchu entry runs on timed tickets with daily limits and set circuits, and the Inca Trail requires permits booked months ahead and closes each February for maintenance. The dry season, roughly May to September, is the main trekking window.