“Honeymoon trip – 12 days – 11 nights from Arequipa to Cusco”

This was genuinely the best trips I've done in my life. Me and my wife we've decided to go for our Honeymoon to Peru, but originally was thinking to do it like any other trip - by planning everything ourselves. We've quickly realised that it would be better to have a guided tour since we might get most out of it. I've used ChatGPT/Gemini to compare several of the companies that do this - and generally they split into 2 : ones that do groups , and the ones that do private. Machu Peru was one that was clearly highlighted by the AI due to positive reviews across the board and because it was offering private tours. We decided to go with them and I can honestly say it was a fantastic choice.

So what made it so good?
- The fact that the team is super responsive to WhatsApp calls during planning of the trip / pre-booking , for clearly explaining the plan and the payments as well.
- The flexibility - we've originally picked the 11 days trip with 10 nights to which we've added 1 more day to do Puma Punku+Tihuanaku across the border in Bolivia. So they've had to tailor the trip a bit.
- Pickup in the morning from Lima airport hotel and introduced us to one of their people who helped us with dropping our luggage
- Pickup in Arequipa and the lovely tour guide Dioseline who was with us from that moment until Puno ( Arequipa + Colca Canyon/Valley + trip to Puno ) - the car was great and it made the trip so much more comfortable ( we had space to stretch or take a nap ).
- Guide in Puno - Titikaka Lake and all the way to Sacred valley - the car again was great and made the 8h journey much better. We enjoyed also the fact that the guide knew local hidden gems.
- Then the final part was in Cusco - Machu Pichu - with Guilermo who was a fantastic tour guide explained everything very well with patience and a lot of knowledge.
- The food choices during lunches were very good - especially the Hacienda Sarapampa and the one at Rio Sagrado, A Belmond Hotel. Also, the one on the way to Sacred Valley ( Feliphon Restaurant ) was very good . I think the only meal that was a bit of a miss unfortunately was the dinner at Café Inkaterra in Aguas Calientes - the restaurant was a bit "tired" and the food was just not even close to everything we've had on the trip - the hotel that has that restaurant needs a bit of a refurbishment and probably a management change - so I suggest to avoid sending people there for a while.
- The hotel choices - we've picked the 3* and 4* choices - in all honesty all were pretty good hotels and I didn't see the point in going one tier up but the one in Sacred Valley ( San Augustin Recoleta ) probably I would next time swap it for another one just because it's a bit dated and the team there was understaffed - they did try to upgrade us because of our honeymoon ( thanks to Machu Travel team probably letting them know ) but the room was a bit of a miss, so we've had to ask them to put us in a different room. The ones in Colca Valley, Arequipa , Puno.
- The trip - all locations are fantastic - that was expected , and next time I'd spend a bit more time in Sacred Valley - it's definitely a growing location with the new airport being built in-between Cusco and the Valley , it will grow and develop even further.

We think that overall was the best trip we've had ( and we've travelled quite a lot ).
Thank you to the team in HQ and the tour guides. We will be back.