I recently travelled to Peru on the G Adventures Peru Multisport trip. I love G Adventures’ active trips because I find I meet the most like-minded people. On these tours you get a great mix of sightseeing, culture and physical activity.
On the Peru Multisport trip I visited several Peruvian cities, towns and villages, spent two days mountain biking, five days hiking, and two days kayaking.
This post is a review of what to expect from the trip, which I hope you find helpful! The short version is that I LOVED it, and you should probably go!
If you’ve booked it already, make sure you check out my posts What to pack for the Inca Trail.
G Adventures Peru Multisport Review
Arriving in Lima
This trip starts and ends in Lima, which is great as it’s easy to get flights to and from this city. As with all G Adventures trips, you meet your group around 6pm on the first day for introductions and your first meal together.
My group this time was made up of Brits, Canadians, Kiwis, Americans, and our Peruvian guide, who was aptly named Guido.
Most of the flights from the UK to Lima arrive late at night, so I arrived the night before and booked the G Adventures transfer.
The Transfer
This was the first time, in all my travels, that my transfer hasn’t been there to greet me. The good news, though, was that it was easy to sort. There is a sectioned off customer information area right next to arrivals, and the staff saw me looking lost and called G Adventures for me. I was in a car within 15 minutes.
So I had a free day in Lima (two in fact, as I had one at the end of the trip also) but I’m going to be honest – I didn’t explore. I slept, went out only for coffee and dinner, and on my last day in Peru I sat by a pool.
The hotels were nice though! The G Adventures hotel, Hotel Santa Cruz, is in a nice area called Miraflores. There’s a decent coffee shop literally next door if you’re as lazy as me.
My last night I stayed in the Dazzler by Wyndham and I recommend it for a treat at the end of your trip. It’s a ten-minute walk from Hotel Santa Cruz, has huge comfy beds, and the friendly staff let me check in a few hours early so I could enjoy the swimming pool on the roof. The hotel restaurant is great too.
Getting used to the altitude in Cusco
The trip doesn’t include any time in Lima after the first night, so you’re off to the airport to fly to Cusco early the next morning. Our guide sorted boarding passes and luggage tags for the whole group, so all we had to do was queue up and drop our bags.
Arriving in Cusco, you immediately feel the change in altitude. The air is thinner up there as the city is at an elevation of 3,399m. So expect to feel a bit light-headed and out of breath as soon as you leave the plane.
Once transferred to the hotel in Cusco (we stayed in the Cusco Plaza II, which is centrally located and comfortable, if a little chilly – the central areas are open air.) we had a group lunch in a local restaurant followed by an orientation walk and a free afternoon to explore.
Cusco is a pleasant place to walk around, take photos, have a coffee, or visit markets. If you don’t manage to do everything you want this afternoon, don’t worry, you have another free afternoon here after the trek (if you have the energy!)
Exploring Inca sites in Ollantaytambo
Ollantaytambo was perhaps my favourite town in Peru. It’s small, cute, and has a mix of Inca and Spanish influence, and a relaxed vibe.
You get entry to Ollantaytambo (the Inca site) included in the Peru Multisport trip and you’re free to explore at your own pace.
We had an extra free day in Ollantaytambo after the Mountain Biking, and our guide offered to take us on a hike up to the Inca store. It takes only about 30-minutes of relatively steep steps to get to the store, then it’s fun to enjoy the views of the town.
Mountain Biking in Maras
I had never tried mountain biking before. I cycle to work and back every day on my hybrid bike, but where I live the only hills are actually bridges!
The first day of mountain biking was really very tame. Just an hour or two on the bikes, all down hill, and most of it on tarmac. This was no problem at all for beginners, but disappointing for those used to mountain biking. For me, it was sort of nice to get used to the bike, which had much more bouncy suspension than I’m used to.
Day two was a bit more challenging. The first section, for about an hour or so, was ‘level 1’. It was mostly downhill, some of which was really quite steep, sandy, and close to the edge of the mountain. There were a couple of uphill sections too, which were quite hard given the elevation. I loved it and everyone had fun.
The option to opt out
After a break for snacks, we had the option to carry on and try ‘level 2’, but the catch was that if you did, you also had to do ‘level 3’. A lot of us opted out and bought some beers instead (mostly worried about getting injured before the Inca Trail), but the more advanced bikers carried on and really enjoyed it.
The cyclists’ route took them right down to the Maras Salt Mine, which I was jealous of. Those of us that opted out were taken by minibus to a high up viewpoint, which was great, but no quite as impressive!
Hiking the 4-Day Inca Trail
The Inca Trail was incredible and worthy of its own post (which I might write later!). There’s so much to say about the experience.
Before I went to Peru, I read a lot of articles about how tough the Inca Trail is. Honestly, I wouldn’t say it was easy, but I really didn’t find it that hard. I expect it depends on your general fitness level, and how affected you are by the altitude.
For reference, I’m 34, I climb three times a week, cycle 30mins to work and back every day, and walk around a lot.
There were one or two members of the group who found it really quite challenging, but none were part of the Multisport trip (for the trek, we had combined with a Classic group).
The trail was beautiful, the weather was changeable, the guides and porters were fantastic and the food was frankly incredible!
Day one was a very easy walk, day two was a challenging steep incline, day three was a challenging steep downhill, and day four was a very early start!
If you want to do the Inca Trail you’ll need to book the G Adventures Peru Multisport trip around 6 months in advance, at least, because they only let so many people on the trail per day and the passes sell out. There are other treks you can do instead, such as the Lares Trek or the Salkantay trek.
Related post: What to pack for the Inca Trail
Learning about Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu is the main reason that most of us had travelled to Peru. It’s one of the Seven New Wonders of the World and it is just wonderful!!
If you’re not into hiking, you can get the train to Machu Picchu from Cusco or Ollantaytambo, but I think you’d be missing out. If you hike the Inca Trail, you arrive from the back of the Sun Gate, so there is no glimpse of the city until you walk through the gate. And that moment is pretty emotional!
If you get the train, you arrive in Agua Caliente and then get the bus up to the entrance of Machu Picchu. Nice and easy, but no challenge to make the reward great! Up to you!
The G Adventures Peru Multisport trip includes a guided tour of Machu Picchu with the trek guide, which is really interesting and it’s amazing to explore.
Hiking Rainbow Mountain (optional, but totally worth it!)
On the G Adventures Peru Multisport trip, you can opt to visit Rainbow Mountain, which is a really amazing striped mountain. It makes for some great photos!
I had read blog posts saying it wasn’t worth a visit as the Instagram photos you see have been heavily photoshopped. That probably is true in many cases, but the above photo is pretty true to the actual colours and I personally think it’s rather nice to look at!
I guess the catch is that the only day you can visit Rainbow Mountain is the day after the four-day Inca Trail. It’s an early start and you have to be ready to be picked up at 4am. However, I thought it was totally worthwhile and they do give you blankets on the bus in the morning 🙂
I loved the hike too. It takes about 1.5 hours to walk to the top, and most of it is a relatively gentle incline. The elevation is higher than the Inca Trail though, so it doesn’t feel that easy.
There’s a really steep bit at the end to get the best views that takes you to an elevation of 5,000m. The air is really thin up there, so you can’t stay too long. You’ll get great views of Rainbow Mountain and other snow-capped mountains around it.
You can pay to take a horse most of the way up if you want to. But, for me, that’s cheating!
Lake Titicaca Islands and Homestay
Lake Titicaca has over 40 islands, and I visited two islands and two ‘floating islands’ on this trip.
The journey from Puno to the first kayaking spot takes about 2 hrs and you travel on a comfortable boat. The lake is usually quite calm, so it’s a pleasant journey. The lunch spot on Taquile island has a beautiful view of the lake, and I enjoyed a short walk around the island afterwards.
We stayed the night on Amantani island (pictured above) with local families. Before meeting the hosts, we played friendly games of football (soccer) with the locals. Then they dress you up in their traditional outfits (which honestly I could have done without, but interesting all the same!).
What is the homestay like?
For the homestay you split into groups of two or three and spend time in their kitchen helping to chop veggies for dinner. I was lucky in that the couple I was staying with spoke Spanish, where some only speak Quechua.
My Spanish is VERY limited, so I was also lucky that our G Adventures Peru Multisport guide was staying in the same house as me and was happy to translate.
I really enjoyed this part of the trip, aside perhaps from being woken up by the donkey at first light! But others had a more awkward experience and didn’t enjoy it so much. That said, it is just one night and worth it for the experience.
On day two you visit two floating islands. One traditional small island (around 15 metres across) where a few families live, followed by lunch at a larger commercial island.
On the small island we learned about how the islands are made, constructed out of reeds, and the local way of life. It’s unlike anything I had seen before, and was incredibly interesting, though did feel a little intrusive looking into their homes.
Kayaking Lake Titicaca
The kayaks we used were two-person sea kayaks and, whilst a couple had a few niggles, the boats and equipment were pretty good. The G Adventures Peru Multisport tour notes said they would be sit-on-top kayaks, but they were actually proper sea kayaks and we were provided with waterproof jacket, life vest and spray skirt. So better than I was expecting.
On day one you kayak up to two hours from the start point to the lunch spot on Taquile island. We had a really calm day so it wasn’t too much of a challenge. Some people were more experienced, and so faster, than others but it didn’t matter at all.
(Some of) the group were given options for day two: one hour kayaking, or two hours kayaking. I say some of, because we weren’t all there and those that were chose one hour. It was a nice trip around the shoreline, but a few of us were disappointed that it was so short.
Although I would have liked more of a challenge, the kayaking was really great and I loved it. Just be aware that it is quite tame (and so really good for beginners!).
Should you book the Peru Multisport trip?
Well, of course that’s up to you, and I hope that this post has helped you to make a decision! I had a brilliant time and I’d love to do it all over again! The only thing I would say is to make sure you are fairly fit before you go, to make sure you get the most out of the trip.
You can see the full itinerary of the tour and book on the G Adventures website.
If you have any questions about the trip that I haven’t answered here, please drop me an email – I genuinely do reply to them all and I enjoy it!
To keep things above board, I do get a small commission (at no cost to you) if you click on the links in this post and go on to book a trip. I only recommend things here that I really like though!
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