Peru is a remarkably diverse country. One day you find yourself in the heartland of the Incas perched high in the Andean mountains, and the next you are surrounded by the dense jungle canopy of the Amazon Rainforest. This mountain bike tour has been designed to capture this contrast at its most spectacular, utilizing a network of roads and trails that span the Sacred Valley of the Incas and parts of Manu National Park in the Amazon Basin. Included in the tour is a visit to Machu Picchu, simply a must-see when visiting Peru!
SpiceRoads CyclingStarting in Cusco, one of the world’s highest altitude cities (3,300 m ASL) and the former capital of the Inca Empire, you'll ride north surrounded by towering peaks and scenic valleys where agricultural terraces cascade down the hillsides. You'll then rise to the Peruvian Altiplano before making a gradual yet epic descent to Manu National Park, experiencing a mesmerizing visual shift as you drop from the edge of the Andes to the cloud forest of the Amazon.
You'll spend a day at a remote lodge in the jungle (only accessible by river boat!) before returning to the Sacred Valley of the Incas where you'll enjoy 3 days of blissful cycling to discover Incan ruins, colorful towns, indigenous villages, the picturesque Maras Salt Pans and oh so much more. On Day 9 you'll visit the “Lost City of the Incas” – Machu Picchu – and get there and back via one of the world’s most stunning train journeys. A hallmark of this tour is the frequency of exhilarating downhill blitzes, and some of the best have been saved for last when, on Day 10, you'll ride 1,500 m downhill from the Lares Valley into the town of Calca. The tour concludes back in Cusco.
This tour follows a wide mix of roads and riding surfaces including gravel roads, dirt tracks, broken roads and some good sealed roads as well as a few sections of single-track. Most of the trails you'll ride are wide dirt and gravel tracks with about 30% on tarmac.