A standard Peru tour package covers private ground transport, hotels, a professional guide on longer itineraries, and airport or hotel pickup. It almost never covers international or domestic flights, tips, travel insurance, or every meal on every day. The gap between what you assume is included and what actually is tends to show up in three places: meals, entrance tickets beyond the headline site, and tips — all covered in detail below. Our full guide to Peru tour packages is the place to start if you’re comparing package lengths before getting into what’s inside each one.
The standard inclusions and what they mean in practice
Private ground transport is included throughout every one of our packages, meaning you’re not sharing a vehicle with another tour group even on a group-departure itinerary. On our 6, 7 and 8-day packages, that transport comes with a professional private guide, not one shared across multiple traveller parties booked separately.
Hotels are included at 3-star, or 3-4 star depending on the specific package, with upgrades to 4-5 star available on request. Airport or hotel pickup and drop-off is included as standard — you’re not arranging your own transfer into the city on arrival. Machu Picchu train transport is included in Expedition class, with Vistadome as a paid upgrade if you want it.
What is almost never included (and why)
International and domestic flights are not included in any of our packages. This is standard across the industry — flight prices and routes vary too much by traveller origin and booking timing for a fixed package price to absorb them sensibly.
Travel insurance is not included either, except that it’s required on the 14-day Peru Mystic Tour specifically and recommended on everything else. Given the strenuous days, altitude exposure and remote stretches on some itineraries, this isn’t a formality — it’s worth actually carrying, particularly on longer or more physically demanding routes.
Meals: the most misunderstood line
Meal inclusion is the line item travellers most often assume is more generous than it is. Without a clear answer here, it’s worth asking any operator directly: is it all meals, breakfast only, or meals on trek days specifically but not in cities where restaurant choice is part of the appeal.
The honest reason many operators — including, in some cases, ourselves — leave meals more open in cities like Cusco is that restaurant variety is part of the experience. A fixed group meal plan in a city with genuinely excellent, varied food can feel like a downgrade rather than a convenience. That trade-off is worth knowing before you budget, not after.
Entrance tickets: which ones are covered
The headline entrance ticket — Machu Picchu itself — is included in every package that visits it. What’s not automatically included are premium add-ons within Machu Picchu, specifically Huayna Picchu, which is a separate permit with its own cost and its own limited daily capacity of 400 permits split across two entry groups. If you want to climb Huayna Picchu, confirm whether it’s bundled into your package price or booked as an add-on, and book it 2-4 months ahead regardless, since it sells out well before the main entrance ticket does.
This is one of the most common places hidden costs appear on itineraries that look complete at a glance but charge per-site once you’re actually in Cusco.
Tips: who, how much, when
Tips are not included in any package price. The standard reference for a guide is USD 5-10 per day per guide in a group setting — this is a common local benchmark, not a fixed requirement, and it scales with group size, service quality and trip length. Drivers and other support staff are typically tipped separately and at a lower daily rate than the guide.
Since tipping culture varies significantly by traveller’s home country, a clear local benchmark is genuinely useful rather than an awkward guessing exercise on the last day of the trip.
Internal flights and airport transfers
Domestic flights, most commonly Lima–Cusco, are not included in any package, and they’re worth booking with real buffer time — the flight itself runs about 1 hour 20 minutes on carriers including LATAM, Sky and JetSmart, but weather delays into Cusco’s mountain airport are common enough that a same-day connection to a tour start is a real risk, not a rare edge case.
Airport transfers within Peru — from Cusco or Lima airport to your hotel — are included as part of the standard pickup and drop-off inclusion. What’s not included is the domestic flight itself connecting those airports in the first place, which you book separately against your own international arrival dates.
The questions to ask before you pay a deposit
Ask specifically which meals are covered on which days, not just “are meals included.” Ask whether secondary site entrance tickets — beyond the headline site — are bundled or separate. Ask what the guide-to-traveller ratio actually is if you’re booking a group departure rather than assuming “small group” means something specific. And ask what happens if a flight delay or regional strike disrupts the itinerary — whether rebooking costs fall on the operator or the traveller.
A package that answers all of these clearly before you commit is a stronger signal than the marketing copy on the package page itself. For the fuller picture of budgeting around all of this, what a Peru trip costs breaks down how these inclusions and exclusions add up across a real trip, and if you’re still deciding between a packaged trip and planning independently, package tour vs travelling independently covers that broader decision. If schedule flexibility specifically is your concern, group vs private departures is the more relevant comparison, and when to book your Peru tour covers timing once you’ve settled on inclusions.
If you want a shorter route to test what’s included before committing to a longer trip, our 6-day Cusco and Machu Picchu tour covers the core inclusions above at the more compact end of our range. For travellers planning the full two weeks, our 14-Day Peru Mystic Tour bundles the ceremonial and coastal legs into the same inclusion structure described here, with the added requirement of travel insurance given the trip’s length and scope.
| Included | Not included |
|---|---|
| Private ground transport throughout the tour | International flights |
| Professional private guide (6, 7 and 8-day packages) | Domestic flights (e.g. Lima–Cusco) |
| Hotels, 3-star or 3-4 star depending on package | Travel insurance (except required on the 14-day tour) |
| Airport/hotel pickup and drop-off | Tips for guide, driver and support staff |
| Machu Picchu entrance ticket | Huayna Picchu permit (separate, limited capacity) |
| Machu Picchu train, Expedition class | Vistadome train upgrade |
| Hotel upgrades to 4-5 star on request | Standard hotel category is the base price; upgrades cost extra |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is usually not included in a Peru tour package? International and domestic flights, travel insurance (except where required on longer itineraries), tips, and premium add-ons like the Huayna Picchu permit or optional flights over the Nazca Lines.
Are meals included in a Peru tour? It varies by operator and package, and is one of the most commonly misunderstood inclusions — always confirm which specific meals on which specific days are covered rather than assuming “meals included” means every meal.
Do I need to bring cash for tips in Peru? Yes. Tips aren’t included in package prices, and the local benchmark for a guide is USD 5-10 per day per guide in a group setting, with drivers and support staff typically tipped separately at a lower rate.
Is the Machu Picchu entrance ticket included in a tour package? Yes, the standard entrance ticket is included in any package that visits the site. The Huayna Picchu climb is a separate, limited-capacity permit that’s usually booked and priced separately.
