Machu Picchu Peru
Packing List

Planning Your Trip

Taking a guided tour of Peru is an easy way to see many of the cities and historical sites with little effort. The guides arrange transportation, hotels, tickets, wake up calls and other logistics. Evenings are free on most tours for you to explore the cities and try the local food.

Altitude sickness (sorocho) is common for visitors in the mountainous region around Cusco and Nazca. You might want to get some altitude sickness pills from your doctor. If you don't bring altitude medication, try drinking coca tea or chew on some coca leaves.

Our Experience in Peru

Last spring we went to Peru and visited Machu Picchu. The weather was transitioning between the rainy and dry seasons and was unpredictable. Some days it was very warm and sunny and other days were cool and rainy. Depending on where we were in Peru, some nights dipped down into the 40s.

We took the easy route and rode a train and a few buses to reach Machu Picchu. The more adventurous make the 4-day hike along the Inca Trail.

As we traveled across the country, we got to see Lima, Cusco, Paracas, Ica, and Nasca and their different climates. Lima was a modern walkable city with lots of delicious food and views of the Pacific Ocean. Paracas was small but had the best ceviche and local seafood of the trip. Nasca was a smaller town isolated in the high dessert. We had great grilled meats and super cheap ceviche in a tiny crowded place packed with locals. Up in the mountains, Cusco offered many traditional Peruvian dishes including cuy (guinea pig), alpaca meat and a fermented corn based drink called chicha.

Map of Machu Picchu Peru

Must-Pack Items

Universal Packing List

This packing list contains stuff we bring on just about every trip.

A carry-on shoulder bag contains:

• passport
• hotel reservations
• car reservations
• flight itinerary
• photocopies of important documents, license and credit cards
• top 10 travel guide or print outs about where we are headed
• Moleskine notebook
• 4 color Pen
• wicked tiny flashlight
• chapstick
• hand sanitizer
• tissues (toilet paper)
• inflatable neck pillow
• handkerchief
• face cloth
• couple of protein bars or trail mix

Toiletry bag from LL Bean contains:

• electric razor and charger
• toothbrush
• toothpaste (trial size)
• floss
• earplugs
• glasses
• spare contacts
• shampoo
• soap
• contact solution (trial size)
• contact case
• vitamins
• extra large condoms
• sunscreen (trial size)
• nail clippers
• tweezers
• small plastic mirror
• Q tips

Electronic Gear (all in a gallon ziplock)

• compact camera
• 2 spare batteries for compact camera
• compact camera charger
• 4 4gb memory cards
• backup (old) compact camera
• backup camera spare battery
• backup camera charger
• wind-up solar am fm weather radio flashlight cellphone charger
• travel alarm clock
• iPod
• headphones
• iPod charger
• Gorillapod
• headphone adapter for old airplanes

First Aid & Miscellaneous Items (all in a gallon ziplock)

• small first aid kit (bandaids, moleskin, neosporin, aspirin, pepto, laxatives, space blankets, water purification tablets)
• binder clips – handy for keeping curtains closed, holding papers and tickets together
• compass – Are we heading in the right direction? how do we get back?
• clothesline and a tiny bottle of detergent – if you have a sink you can do some laundry
• extra shoelaces
• extra velcro straps
• small s-biners
• my old swiss army knife and or leatherman (if we check our bags)
• good luck charm (optional)