Peru

Nearly every enquiry starts and ends with Machu Picchu, and it's a fair instinct: it's one of the few sites that lives up to the photos. The trip that works, though, is rarely just Cusco and the ruins. Lima deserves at least two nights for the food scene alone, and the Sacred Valley towns between Cusco and Machu Picchu, Ollantaytambo and Pisac especially, are worth slowing down for rather than treating as a transit corridor. Clients with 10+ days and a genuine interest in wildlife are also well served by adding a few nights in the Amazon Basin out of Puerto Maldonado, a short flight from Cusco and a completely different side of the country from the highlands.

Altitude is the planning detail that gets skipped most often and causes the most trouble on arrival. Cusco sits above 3,400 meters, high enough that a decent share of visitors feel it, and flying straight there from Lima and heading out to Machu Picchu the next day is asking for a rough couple of days. I generally route clients through the Sacred Valley first, which sits somewhat lower, before Cusco itself, giving a day or two of acclimatization before the harder trekking or high-altitude days. The dry season, May through September, is when most people want to travel for the reliable weather and clear mountain views, while December through March brings the wet season to the highlands, with the Inca Trail itself closed entirely each February for maintenance.

Lima runs on its own separate climate logic worth knowing about: it's mild and virtually rainless year round, but June through September brings the garua, a persistent grey coastal fog that can make the capital feel overcast for days at a stretch even while the highlands are enjoying their driest, clearest weather. The Amazon Basin runs hot and humid all year, with a wetter stretch from December through May. For the Inca Trail specifically, permits are limited by the government and sell out months in advance for the June through August peak, so that's one booking I always tell clients to lock in first, before anything else on the itinerary.