We're going to Machu Picchu!

Between great advice here on the boards (and a few nice PM's), and some time on tripadvisor, I had the confidence to book our trip more or less a la carte - saving a lot of money.

JetBlue Getaways is covering our airfare and Lima hotel, and then I booked the flight to Cuzco and all of the travel there a la carte. We will use Urubamba as a home base. It is much lower than Cuzco, and supposed to be a beautiful area. I have booked a tour guide to do a full day Sacred Valley tour for us, and will use the same people the next day for Machu Picchu ( we will get there on our own). It is someone who got great reviews on tripadvisor. We'll actually just have the last day to explore Cuzco.

Have a wonderful trip.  Do let us know how it worked along the way.

Thank you.

Is much of Chile also high altitude?

It was wonderful!

Picture perfect!

any problems with altitude?

Awesome!

Good for you! We loved it... and my wife was fine but I had some altitude sickness issues

We did not have any altitude sickness, although I found the climb quite taxing.

We stayed in Urubamba, rather than Cusco, so it was a much more. Gradual adjustment. I took Diamox prophylactically, as did one son. The other son and my husband did not.

This is my favorite picture: the Salineras at Maras

unicorn33 said:
any problems with altitude?

I suffer badly from altitude. I and several others took Diamox during a recent trip to a town in the mountains of Mexico. Unfortunately, the doctor wrote the script for 500 mg caps, which were way too strong. (I believe the recommended dose for altitude is 100 or 250 mg.) The Diamox was a huge help in keeping me breathing and sleeping through the night, but I stopped taking it because the high dosage made me feel weird and the altitude caught up with me later. I'll be spending time in the mountains later this summer and plan to get a script for a smaller dose.

That is the dose I was given. I felt weird the first day only. My son had an upset stomach

How many days did you go?? Is there anything you would do differently in retrospect

We were four nights in Lima and four nights in Urubamba (my husband's family is in Lima). The only thing I might do differently is have another day to explore Cusco; it is a lovely city.

Other than that, I wouldn't change a thing. It was a wonderful trip. I'd say the two best decisions I made were the hotel in Urubamba, and the private tour guide for Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu. hey really made the trip.