Peru Food Tour

“Peruvian cuisine, the result of a nearly 500-year melting pot of Spanish, African, Japanese and Chinese immigration and native Quechua culture, is on the lips of top chefs worldwide.” – Wall Street Journal

Ceviche, the cured seafood dish, is now ubiquitous in fine restaurants. Sales of the liquor Pisco have doubled in five years. And Zagat lists four times the number of Peruvian restaurants in major US cities than it did ten years ago.

On our eight-day Peru food tour, we explore many different aspects that make up Peruvian cuisine. We dine at Astrid y Gastón, the number one-ranked restaurant in Latin America and #14 in the world. We visit the actual town of Pisco, eat local African-inspired foods, and stay overnight in a hotel located in a vineyard. We learn how to make ceviche, tour a home corn-beer brewery, shop at an Andean market, and visit a chef’s home in Cusco for a cooking class.

All this with the added bonus of visiting Machu Picchu makes our food tour in Peru a delectable choice of travel.

Interested in learning more about Peru? Check out our blog:

• Trends in Food: Peruvian Food
• Who Makes It Best? A Ceviche Comparison
• Pisco Sours – A Rivalry For The Best National Cocktail

Tour Details

• Private Tour Only: Choose your own dates
• Trip Price Per Person: $4,950
• Flight from Cuzco to Lima (estimated to be $400) is additional. We will purchase this for you and include this cost on your invoice.
• Single supplement: $1,200
• Minimum: 4 people
• Guide: Santiago
• Meals: Meals start with breakfast on Day Two and include all meals except two lunches and one dinner
• General Tour FAQs

Private Tour Bookings

• Private Tours are available to book with your own group on any date you choose, given guide and lodging availability
• Please note –  Our pricing is based on double occupancy lodging. If upon finalizing your private trip, your group has a solo traveler in a room without a roommate, the single supplement becomes mandatory. This amount will differ depending on the itinerary. Please contact our tour operations team for specifics
• Customizations to the itinerary are possible with additional per person fees

Have Questions? Request a Free Consultation

Day 1

Arrive any time you wish and we will pick you up at the airport. Because most flights arrive at night, no other activities are scheduled for this day. The Casa Andina is centrally located and, if you have time, you can walk around the downtown area on your own.

Day 2

In the morning we visit Lima’s main square and then a nearby local food market. Your guide will explain about all the foods available in the market. Lunch is on your own at one of the many available restaurants.

In the afternoon, we visit the House of Gastronomy – Peru’s one and only food museum. This unique museum details the history and present state of food in Peru and is an excellent introduction to the tour. This evening we dine at Astrid y Gastón, the number #1 rated restaurant in Latin America and #14 in the world!

Day 3

Today we head south to the black community of Chincha and taste their local dishes, a mix of Spanish, Peruvian, and African flavors. After lunch, we head to the town of Pisco, famous for this distilled wine and the yummy pisco sours made from it, where we tour a factory and taste the product.

We’ll continue to Ocucaje Hacienda, one of the rare wineries in Peru, for a wine tasting and cooking demonstration. This is also our home for the evening as we stay in the only hotel in Peru located within a vineyard.

Day 4

In the morning, we will hop on a boat to Ballestas Island, part of the Paracas National Reserve, and learn about the variety of species of fish, sea life and birds on the Peruvian coast.

Back in Paracas, we’ll enjoy a master class that centers on cooking ceviche and tiraditos, also a raw fish dish cooked in a spicy sauce. In the late afternoon, we will drive back to Lima with dinner on your own en route. We’ll stay close to the airport in preparation for an early flight tomorrow.

Day 5

This morning we head to the airport for our flight to Cusco. Because Cusco is at 11,200 feet, we immediately hop on a bus and descend into the Sacred Valley of the Incas.

We’ll visit the local market in the village of Pisac where you can choose your own lunch, explore the Maras salt pools – founded by the Incas and still operating today – and taste the wares at a family-run Chicheria, a home brewery that produces chicha from fermented corn.

In the evening we’ll have a cooking class at our hotel, followed by dinner and a dancing demonstration.

Day 6

We visit the nearby Ollantaytambo Incan ruins, our first real exposure to the amazing architecture of the Incas. From there, we’ll travel to the village of Cachiccata, which is well known to us as it is where our sister company Zephyr Adventures hires all the porters on our Inca Trail tours.

In Cachiccata we’ll participate in the preparation of the traditional Pachamanca underground barbeque. Late this afternoon we’ll take a scenic train ride along the Urubamba River to Machupicchu Pueblo (formerly Aguas Calientes), deep in the jungle and surrounded by steep mountain peaks.

Day 7

We get up very early to be some of the first today to peer into the preserve of Machu Picchu. In fact, if the weather is right, your Host might try to convince you to rise early enough see the sun rise over this Unesco World Heritage Site.

This amazing “lost” sanctuary of the Incan rulers is perched on a ridge between two peaks and is as otherworldly as the photos suggest. You can choose to wander the grounds on your own, imagining what life must have been like over 500 years ago, or hang with your Host as he explains the intricacies of life among the Incas.

In the afternoon, we return to Cusco and dine in the MAP Cafe, one of Cusco’s top restaurants.

Day 8

In the morning we’ll check out of our hotel and then meet up with a local chef, Gabriel Alfredo Velásquez Castañeda, who will take us to Cusco’s market. We’ll learn about the local food products and purchase goods for lunch – at Chef Castañeda’s home!

In the afternoon we head to the airport where you will catch a flight to Lima and then your late evening flight home. (Most flights back to the US depart very late in the evening.)

Nights 1 & 2: Casa Andina Private Collection Miraflores, Lima – Located in the upscale Miraflores section of the capital, this hotel has all the services you will require to rest from a day in Lima, including pool, sauna, and fitness room.
Night 3: Viñas Queirolo, Ica – This is the only hotel in Peru located in the middle of a vineyard, an excellent chance for us to become familiar with the small wine industry in the country.
Night 4: Costa del Sol, Lima – We stay overnight at the Lima airport in preparation for an early flight the next morning to Cusco.
Night 5: Hotel Sol y Luna Located in the Sacred Valley in the town of Urubamba, our hotel is halfway between Cusco and our train pickup in Ollantaytambo. The chef here is known for creating inventive dishes using local products from the valley.
Night 6: Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel, Machu Picchu – Located in the forest near the ancient ruins, the individual luxury casitas are located on 12 acres of private land.
Night 7: Casa Andina Private Collection Cusco, Cusco – Located in Cusco in a Spanish colonial-era mansion dating back to the 18th century and only four blocks from the central Plaza de Armas.
Accommodation upgrades available upon request.
Please note: Hotels are subject to availability. If listed hotel is not available at time of tour, a hotel that is equal or better to the original will be secured.

Have Questions? Request a Free Consultation