Sports in Peru

Sports in Peru are mostly about altitude and sand. The headline sport is trekking in the southern Andes: the Inca Trail, Salkantay, Lares and Choquequirao routes to or near Machu Picchu, and the Inca Jungle route, a four-day mix of downhill biking, rafting on the Urubamba and walking. Arequipa's Colca Canyon, more than 3,000 metres deep, is the other trekking ground, with two- and three-day descents to the oasis on its floor. The coast has its own list: dune buggies and sandboarding at Paracas and Huacachina, off-road driving and sandboarding in the desert outside Lima, cycling along the Lima cliffs and swimming with sea lions at the Palomino Islands. On Lake Titicaca, kayaking and cycling replace boots, and in Iquitos the sport is piranha fishing.

Peru sports tours range from an hour on a dune buggy to eight days on a trail. The dune sessions at Paracas are short, with a buggy and sandboard taking about an hour, while a 17-hour group day from Lima adds a boat tour at Paracas. The Lima bike ride takes three hours and the off-road and sandboarding day seven. Kayaking and cycling around Puno fill four to nine and a half hours. Treks run from two to eight days, as group departures or private services, and Salkantay is the longest in the offer.

Practical. The Andean trekking season is the dry half of the year, roughly May to September, with the rains from December to March. Cusco's afternoons reach about 21C all year, but July nights fall to around freezing, and the colder camps sit higher. On the coast Lima runs 26 to 28C in January and February and 19 to 22C under cloud in July and August (SENAMHI's 1991–2020 normals). Spend two days at Cusco's 3,400 metres or on Lake Titicaca before a trek or a long paddle. Dune and sea trips run in sun, so bring a hat and closed shoes, and boats stand down in heavy swell.