The Great Andean Route for Families

Lima receives the family with the Pacific to the right and coastal mist overhead. The transfer arrives in Miraflores before midday. The afternoon on the malecón: kites, lúcuma ice cream, the cliff skaters. The great Andean route begins slowly, as all routes worth taking should.

The flight to Cusco is short but the altitude change is immediate. The afternoon is for walking slowly through the historic centre: the Inca walls of the Qorikancha, the San Blas chocolate shop, the llamas that pose patiently in the square. No archaeological sites today: there is acclimatisation and hot chocolate.

The Maras salt pans in the morning: three thousand Inca salt pools stepped into the hillside for children to touch and taste. Ollantaytambo in the afternoon: the most imposing fortress in the Sacred Valley climbs in andenes to the solar temples. The family ascends as far as legs allow.

The six o'clock train from Ollantaytambo arrives in Aguas Calientes with the mountain still in mist. The family guide begins at the agricultural terraces: llamas approach, children touch the ancient stone. By midday the entire citadel has been seen and lunch waits in the village below.

The Andean Explorer departs Cusco at eight. The altiplano at four thousand three hundred metres: llamas on paja brava, adobe villages, baroque churches in the middle of nowhere. Children move between the dining car and the open platform counting llamas. We arrive in Puno after dark.

Titicaca from the boat is infinite: dark water, cloudless blue sky at nearly four thousand metres. The islands are the Uros Floating Islands: totora reed woven over the water. Children jump lightly and feel the island give way beneath their feet. There is no solid ground below. The experience is real.

Amantaní has no hotels: a local family receives travellers into their home. The kitchen runs on firewood, the bathroom is outside, the beds have wool textiles. Children sleep as nowhere else on the journey. A night without electricity and the altiplano stars are the most genuine form of luxury.

Arequipa is the city built in white volcanic stone with three volcanoes as backdrop. A family afternoon in the historic centre: the Compañía de Jesús cloister, the ice-cream shops of the San Agustín arcade, the San Camilo market where children taste Arequipa cheese, stuffed rocoto and thick hot chocolate.

The Colca Canyon at dawn: the family arrives at the Cruz del Cóndor before seven. The thermal currents are already rising and condors glide at eye level. Children need no explanation: they see the condor and fall silent. It is the same silence adults feel. There is no difference of age.

The flight from Arequipa crosses the Andes one last time: the children already know how to name what they see through the window. Lima receives with the Pacific and coastal warmth. The final lunch in Miraflores closes the route where it began. The family returns with a different map of Peru in mind.