Our adventure tours in Peru are the perfect choice for those wayfarers and eco-travelers who want to pack a bag and seek out experiences that they’ll never forget. Sure, city breaks and vacations on the beach have their place, but adventure travel is about stepping outside your comfort zone to encounter landscapes unlike any you’ve seen before!
If you are itching to journey to far-flung lands and experience something really unique, browse our full range of Adventure Tours & Activities. Paddle, cycle, swim and climb in the epic Peruvian wilderness. Cross desert sand dunes, trek deep into the dense jungle, and discover thousands years of Peruvian history and culture!
Want to learn more about what to expect from our adventure travel in Peru tours? Read on as we explore some of the defining characteristics of this style of travel. But remember, at Impactful Travel, we design tours for all types of travelers. If food is your great love, you can check out our Culinary Tours. If you’re traveling with family, we have Family-Friendly Peru Tours. Whatever motivates you to travel the globe, our selection of Travel Styles is sure to have something just for you.
What is Adventure Travel?
In recent years, ‘Adventure Travel’ has become an increasingly popular term within the tourism industry. But what exactly does adventure travel mean? Well, it can all depend on who you’re talking to! The range of activities and travel experiences that fall within definitions of adventure travel is wide. However, we think we can identify some core traits.
Perhaps it’s because so many of us spend too much time stuck to our smartphones and computers. Or maybe cheap flights have led to us taking regular travel for granted. But ever greater numbers of people are seeking out-of-the-ordinary, adventurous travel experiences.
Adventure tourism trips tend to involve: 1. A physical challenge, e.g. long treks, steep climbs, rowing or swimming across open water, and much else besides; 2. Interactions with cultures considerably different to our own; 3. A deep connection to the natural world; 4. Finally, a sense of personal growth and development when the adventure comes to an end.
We’ll touch on these aspects of adventure travel in Peru in more detail below and touch upon some of our adventure tours that best embody these qualities. Though, even if you don’t find a tour that sounds just right for you, remember that we offer a Peru Trip Planner & Custom Itineraries service – craft a custom Peru travel itinerary with the help of our local expertise.
Physical Challenges of Adventure Tourism
Adventure travel (in Peru or elsewhere) will typically involve physically challenging treks or activities. For some travelers, this will mean trying their hand at activities such as mountaineering, trekking, mountain biking, canoeing, diving, rafting, kayaking, paragliding, hiking, canyoneering, sandboarding, caving, or rock climbing.
Adventure travel is a style of travel that traces its origins back to the golden age of mountaineering and exploration. As such, it can at times place physical demands on travelers.
If you want to journey in a landscape quite unlike anywhere else in the world, then check out our Top of the Desert: Nazca adventure tour!
Ascend the Cerro Blanco (aka Duna Grande), one of the tallest sand dunes on earth. Enjoy breathtaking views of the Nazca Valley and explore a biodiverse desert landscape dotted with archeological sites revealing the history of Peru’s ancient indigenous peoples.
The elevations involved in this 3-day adventure tour mean that we assign a difficulty rating between medium and hard, making it an excellent option for those who love a challenge. Our Sweet Iquitos Rainforest tour is a less-demanding alternative in an equally beautiful natural environment – encounter some of Peru’s most enchanting animals in their natural habitats.
However, at Impactful Travel we want our unforgettable tours to be as accessible to as many people as possible. We’re intensely proud of the eclectic range of Multi-Day Experiences, Day Tour Experiences, and Custom Itineraries that we’ve crafted for visitors to Peru.
Our Camping and Rowing Lake Titicaca tour is an adventure tour suitable for family groups. Taking in the idyllic waters of Lake Titicaca by canoe, this tour features a significant amount of travel by boat, but the journey is managed in stages that make the tour popular with those at all levels of rowing experience.
Cultural Exchange While Traveling in Peru
Meaningful, cross-cultural experiences are at the center of everything we do. We are equally dedicated to ensuring that our visitors get an authentic, insider’s knowledge of Peruvian life and that the local communities and individuals that we collaborate with see the positive effects of tourism in their areas.
Our job as tour providers is to celebrate the magic of Peru while taking care to operate in a way that is not only ethical but beneficial to local communities. Through adventure tourism, we have an opportunity to sow the seeds of micro-economies in the rural villages and towns where we travel.
For too long, agricultural workers have felt the need to relocate to urban centers in search of sufficient wages. In the rise of adventure tourism, we see an opportunity to give rural workers a chance to earn a living wage without having to become economic migrants and leave their homes.
On our Adventurous Coffee Route Hike to Machu Picchu, guests get to stay with coffee farming families while making an epic journey from Cusco to Machu Picchu, the Lost City of the Incas! Climb through stunning mountain ranges and enjoy some of the most beautiful scenery in all of Peru. Learn about the unique coffee culture of the region, enjoy local food, and strike meaningful friendships with welcoming host families.
To learn more about this incredible tour option, head over to our Lost in Peru blog and check out the Route of Many Things, our guide to one of our most popular tours.
Connecting With Peru’s Natural Environment
Perhaps the most apparent aspect of adventure travel (in Peru): a desire to reconnect with nature. With each year bringing us more concerning reports about the climate crisis facing humanity, more travelers than ever before wish to escape their urban environment, ditch their smartphones, and get back to nature.
In our experience, travelers tend to be inspired by a need to reconnect to the wild. They feel a sense of responsibility they should be doing more to support sustainable tourism and green causes..
Our Amazon Full Adventure in Iquitos tour takes you camping in a remote area to establish a base right in the heart of the jungle.
Take a trip aboard a night boat to see alligators, nocturnal birds, and mammals. Visit a remote lagoon where you can spot monkeys and sloths. Explore the jungle, seeking out tarantulas and frogs. Fish for piranhas and prepare your fresh catch for dinner.
If you have a passion for wildlife and conservation, then Impactful Travel is the right Peru travel company for you.
Personal Growth Through Adventure Tourism
The final characteristic of adventure travel (in Peru) that we wish to draw attention to is the traveler’s desire to develop through the unique experiences that traveling in foreign lands offers. Men and women have been setting off on adventures since time immemorial in the hope of discovering ways of seeing, living, and experiencing the world, unlike anything they’ve known in their hometowns.
When we step out of our comfort zones, we’re forced to call upon inner resources we sometimes forget we possess. There’s nothing like a magnificent natural landscape to inspire a person to undertake a long hike. Meeting people from different cultures introduces new languages and cuisines, ultimately leading us to reflect on our everyday habits and behaviors.
By choosing to travel with Impactful Travel, you will enjoy travel that incorporates the physical challenges, wild landscapes, and depth of cultural experiences to return home completely changed.
When you travel on a tour like our Amazon Full Adventure in Iquitos, you’ll get to spend time in stretches of rainforest unspoiled by human interference. Through the extraordinary beauty of such natural environments and the hospitality of the local community you’ll encounter, we’re sure you’ll come away as a believer in the importance of sustainable, green tourism.
What Makes an Impactful Adventure Unique?
Impactful Travel combines adventurous travel with a set of core principles that inspire everything we do. We tailor journeys that travelers will never forget while promoting the message of sustainable travel.
We work to mitigate the effects of over-tourism, teach our guests about environmentally friendly habits they can cultivate while traveling, and forge lasting partnerships with local people wherever we go.
Please explore our Lost in Peru blog to learn more about the Impactful Travel ethos. There you will find a wealth of guidance on being a responsible traveler, along with plenty of articles on Peruvian cultures and tips for the things you mustn’t miss when in the country!
If you have any questions about our adventure tours or any other tour options, please get in touch.
