In this Travel Miles 101 success story, Pat from California details how she was able to use airline miles and flexible points to save significantly on a 15-day trip to Peru (including Machu Picchu).
Pat filled this article with tips on where to stay and eat and how best to get around the country, so if a trip to Machu Picchu is in your future (like it is mine!) then be sure to bookmark this one:
Pat’s Travel Miles 101 Success Story
If you’re looking for adventure, Peru is an excellent place to find it.
I’ve been wanting to go to South America for years, but with kids in high school, travel was difficult.
Last June, however, two things helped make this trip happen. My kids graduated from high school, and I discovered travel rewards.
The miles
Our trip to Lima was my first ever trip booked with miles. I flew to Cuzco, Peru with my husband using 50,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards miles for each ticket. I got these by opening the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card and Chase Ink Plus Business Credit Card. Tickets right now are running $754 each or $1,508 for two, but I paid just $165 in taxes.
The trip was booked through United Airlines (Ultimate Rewards transfer partner), but most of the actual flights were on their partner airline Avianca.
The trip
We flew into Ollantaytambo, then immediately took a taxi to Urubamba to acclimate to the altitude. The next day we took a “collectiva” (taxi/van) to Ollantaytambo. We hired a guide who led us through the incredible Inca ruins and told us about some of their accomplishiments. The Inca were around only about 200 years, but during this time they built earthquake-proof structures and bred more than 50 types of corn and 300 types of potatoes!
Ollantaytambo was just the beginning though. We saw the salt “mines” in Salinas, and terraces built for agricultural development in Moray. Here they built circular testing grounds for crops, and each level of this structure allowed them to experiement with different micro-climates – more than 100 years before the scientific method was developed in Europe.
Ruins of Machu Picchu from Mount Machu Picchu, with Huayna Picchu in the background
There are Inca ruins all around Peru, but the most complete and best preserved are those at Machu Picchu. When the Spanish destroyed city after city, the Inca decided to preserve Machu Picchu by abandoning it. It remained hidden until it was rediscovered by Hiram Bingham in 1911.
It deserves its designation as one of the ‘7 man-made wonders of the world.’ The construction of the stone walls is a feat of engineering that held through 500 years of earthquakes. The architecture of many Inca cities was also incredible. Part of Machu Picchu, for example, was designed in the shape of a puma, a part of the Inca trinity that represented the earth.They not only constructed part of the city in this image, but also modified part of the mountain Huyana Picchu itself to take on more of the Puma form.The Inca were engineers, architects, astronomers, and scientists.
We topped off our stay in the mountains with a dinner at the best restaurant in Urubamba – 3 Keros, which cost about $50 for the 2 of us, including the best Pisco Sour in the country, according to the owner. He may well have been right – it was excellent.
Our trip also included a week at a Spanish school in Cuzco. The school, Fairplay, is staffed by single mothers, and includes an extensive volunteer program. Twenty hours of classroom time was enough to give our Spanish a good boost.
We finished our trip with 2 days in Lima where we toured the coastline and had amazing ceviche (Brujas de Cachiche). If you have half a day, the Museao Larco is a stunning museum and well worth a tour. Allow several hours, and keep in mind that a taxi from one part of Lima to another will take about an hour.
Some costs
Fine Inca construction that withstood centuries of earthquakes (Notice the two built-in water canals)
Long taxi rides (Cuzco to Urubamba) were $30-40; short ones only $1 to $5. Collectivas (minivans) cost a couple of dollars, and are just as fast.
Train to Machu Picchu: $63 (“Backpacker”), $93 (“Vistadome”) per person one-way
The Barclaycard Arrival Plus® World Elite Mastercard® gave a signup bonus of $400 in travel credit at the time, and I gained more by purchasing our hotels using this card. As a result, I got a $300 credit for the train to Machu-Picchu (for 2 people), and an additional $175 off our hotels — $475 in total.
Bus to Aguas Calientes: $22 per person. Tickets to Machu Picchu ruins and the mountain Machu Picchu: $53 per person.
Language School: $235 for 20 hours of instruction per person, plus room and board for one week: $100 per person.
Hotel in Urubamba: Amaru Valle Hotel – We really enjoyed this hotel tucked in a back corner of Urubamba.
Hotel in Ollantaytambo: Samanapaq – Lovely hotel with a solid rock wall to insulate it from the noise from the constant flow of busses through the incredibly touristy town of Ollantaytambo. Still, the ruins there are a must-see, and it’s the best launch point for Machu Picchu.
Trip total for 2 people, 15 days, including flights: about $2,300