Cusco Travel Forum

Will be in Cusco soon for Machu Picchu. Thinking on doing a 2 day Inca trail tour. Only have about a week in Cusco.

Does anyone know, have any suggestions on trying to do a 2 or 3 day trip to get a taste of the Amazon?
I see for Maldonado you have to fly. May be out of my budget.
Can you bus reasonably with some tour group into the Amazon and maybe stay in a lodge for a night or two? I know itīs sort of scraping on time and money, but I just figure to at least try something.
This is a last minute booked trip, coming all this way to Peru for Machu Picchu, itīd be nice to get in some of the Amazon if possible.
Time and budget sort of work against me.

Anybody have any experiences with this?
Checked about 12 tour websites today. See many offer the Maldonado and Manu, but itīs either too much money for me, or too long of time.
I can afford maybe another $150-$200US and another 2-3days in additon to the Machu Picchu part.

Thanks in advance!

No one takes the bus from Cusco to Puerto Maldonado since it takes forever (something like 12 hours). This is due to the mountainous terrain. Since you have such a short amount of time there, it would only make sense to fly.

Thanks for your reply.

Ok, well what about going to Manu? Itīs about 100 miles away. A bus shouldnīt be too long I assume as itīs going down the back or side of the Andes.

Has anyone done this? Bus, Cusco to Manu?

I found some more sites for Manu expeditions so Iīm going to check them out now to see if there is a 2-3 day leaving from Cusco by bus for about $150-$250US.

Thanks.

The issue isn't the distance it is the state of the roads and the Andes mountains. To fly to Puerto Maldonado from Cusco is less than an hour.
During the rainy season the road can be closed.

For Manu see
http://www.andeantravelweb.com/peru/amazon/manu.html