If I'm being honest, Peru wasn't really on my list of destinations for 2025 … at least not near the top. But after spending eight days in the “Land of the Incas,” I'm here to tell you that it should be on yours.
So how in the heck did I end up there? I did what we tell everyone else to do: I followed the flight deal.
Last fall, our Thrifty Traveler Premium team sent out an alert for wide-open LATAM business class award space from a handful of U.S. cities to Lima (LIM). LATAM's business class cabins looked nice enough – but more importantly, the price was unbeatable: Just 35,000 miles each way! Shortly after sending my wife a no-context message – probably something like “Peru???” – we had roundtrip tickets booked for our family of four to fly from New York City (JFK) to Lima (LIM).
It was the linchpin of a trip that also involved booking flights from our home in the Midwest to New York; sorted out how to get to Machu Picchu; carve out a few extra days in the the Sacred Valley to visit Cusco, the Maras Salt Mines, and Inca ruins; plus a little time in Lima, on the front end of our trip, to see some extended family.
The result? We quickly learned just how delicious Peruvian cuisine is (how did we not know this?), got to see one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and, more importantly, made some unforgettable family memories along the way.
Here's how we did it.
Getting to Peru … via New York
Let me start by saying that getting to Lima via New York City was … far from the most efficient way to go.
I live in Sioux Falls, SD (FSD) – a small city with just a few nonstop routes on American, Delta, United, and a couple of low-cost carriers. Making a connection was inevitable. But choosing to connect twice (on separate itineraries, no less) … well, that's not for the faint of heart.
Sure, I could have booked this ticket with a single (14-hour!) connection in Atlanta (ATL) through Delta … for 250,000 SkyMiles. Thanks, no thanks.
But this whole trip started with a deal. And when life hands you lie-flat seats on an eight-hour flight to Peru, sometimes you just have to say yes. So I said yes to this:
In the end, I booked flights from New York to Lima (and back) using a mix of Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points and Alaska Mileage Plan miles. At the time, there was a 30% transfer bonus from Chase to British Airways that would have made this the cheapest option (just 30,000 points each way), but award availability was more limited and didn't work for our dates.
Both my wife and I had recently earned a 70,000-mile bonus by opening the Hawaiian Airlines® World Elite Mastercard® – and Alaska's merger with Hawaiian made it possible to easily kick those miles over to Alaska's Mileage Plan program to book these seats for 35,000 miles each way. This made paying a little more for the dates we wanted an easy choice.
After fully exhausting the HawaiianMiles Alaska miles we'd earned by signing up for the Hawaiian Airlines card, I had two roundtrip business class tickets booked for 70,000 miles each. The only problem? We needed three seats … actually three and a half, with our then-to-be seven-month old flying as a lap infant.
I could have transferred American Express Membership Rewards to Hawaiian and then turned them into more Alaska miles to book the last seat I needed. But instead, I turned to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club…
The first, and biggest reason I went this route, is that Alaska doesn't allow you to book a lap infant on partner awards, period. This would have meant I'd need to book another seat that wouldn't really be used – and calling LATAM to add an infant after booking proved fruitless.
Virgin Atlantic, on the other hand, has a very generous lap infant policy. You pay 10% of the full fare in points – just 5,000 points, in this case – plus any applicable taxes and fees. That, coupled with a record-setting 40% transfer bonus (no longer available) from Chase Ultimate Rewards to Virgin, meant that even though I was paying more to book the last seat I needed, it was still the best deal by far: Just 40,000 points each way.
All told, roundtrip business class flights to Lima for our family of four cost us 140,000 Alaska miles, 80,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards, and less than $450 in taxes and fees. Compared to the cash cost of these flights – nearly $8,000 – I'd consider that a win.
Now, I'll be the first to admit that's still a lot of points (and cash). Many of you may be wondering whether or not going all the way to New York was worth it. For us, the answer is a resounding yes!
Not only did flying business class on the long flight to Lima mean we each got a decent night of sleep overnight, but we also got to visit the swanky new Delta One Lounge JFK before departure. Even though we weren't flying Delta Air Lines, LATAM's partnership with the Atlanta-based carrier meant we got full access to Delta's private check-in and security screening, as well as all the other amenities inside.
Having visited some really great business class lounges over the years – and even Qatar Airways' Al Safwa First Class Lounge – I can confidently say the new Delta One Lounge at JFK is among the best business class lounges in the world.
For starters, it's not just massive (like 40,000 square feet massive) but beautiful too, with high-end decor that makes even the spiffiest new Delta Sky Clubs® look drab in comparison. There are shower suites, complimentary spa treatments, and more staff pouring champagne than you could possibly count.
Oh, and best of all: A sit-down “brasserie” with made-to-order meals that put even some high-end restaurants in the city to shame. Don't miss the de-constructed New York cheesecake for dessert after your meal in the brasserie. It's three-year-old approved.
After getting our fill of delicious food and drinks in the Delta One Lounge, it was time to board our flight to Lima.
After a big meal in the lounge and a late-night departure, we skipped the first meal service in favor of some much-needed sleep. The business class seats on LATAM's Boeing 767-300 were plenty private (though a bit narrow) and came with all the extras you'd expect from a business class flight: a full amenity kit, with toothbrush, eye mask, and more, a cozy down comforter, pillow, and slippers.
The lie-flat seats made it possible for us all to get decent rest and arrive feeling (relatively) fresh the next morning. But most of all, chasing a deal to fly business class – even one with an out-of-the-way pitstop – meant our vacation didn't begin when we landed in Lima: It started the moment we landed in New York!
That was well worth the extra hassle, points, and planning for us.
Getting to New York
With roundtrip business class flights to Lima booked, we still needed to get to the Big Apple. No problem: Alaska miles helped here, too.
For just 12,500 Alaska miles – transferred to Hawaiian Airlines from American Express – and $19 in taxes and fees each, I booked book economy class seats from Sioux Falls (FSD) to New York City (JFK) to kick off our trip.
On the way home, I used Delta SkyMiles to book a one-stop itinerary for 17,500 SkyMiles and $5.60 in taxes and fees, per person. While it cost more than the flight to New York, the times worked out better for us, making it well worth paying more to get home at a reasonable hour.
It's also worth noting that I'd originally booked an even-more-expensive flight using SkyMiles to begin with. When we started planning our trip, I wanted to be sure to lock something (anything!) in to get us home and make it work.
Shortly after booking, I set up a Google Flights price alert so that I'd get notified if there was a price drop. Even though Google Flights will only alert you if there's a change in the cash fare, I was confident it'd give me a heads up if the price had dropped when using SkyMiles, too.
Sure enough, I eventually got an email letting me know that the price had gone down. While the SkyMiles price was initially unchanged, it eventually dropped, too. We've seen this exact same pattern play out again and again and again with SkyMiles. If you want to get the best deal with your Delta miles, set some price alerts … and then have a bit of patience, waiting until rates drop to match that new, lower price.
Read more: Positioning Flights are The Secret to Saving Hundreds on International Airfare
Flights to Cusco
Once again, we could have turned to our stash of Alaska miles – or more accurately, Amex points – to book flights on LATAM between Lima and Cusco (CUZ). But with plenty of cheap cash fares between the two cities, we decided to pay out of pocket instead.
LATAM operates more than two-dozen daily flights between Lima and Cusco. There are even a couple of low-cost carriers to choose from, so it's not uncommon to see fares going for under $100 roundtrip.
We ended up booking two separate one-way flights on LATAM, and low-cost-carrier SKY Airlines, in order to get the flight times that worked best for our schedule. In total, the cost for these flights was just under $130 each – less than $400 for our family of four.
I could have turned to my stash of Capital One miles to cover the cost of these flights … or even used Chase Ultimate Rewards by booking through Chase Travel℠. But in the end, I opted to pay out of pocket and save our points for more valuable redemptions in the future.
Hotels
For lodging, we needed a couple of nights in Lima on the front end of our trip … and one more night there before heading home. We also spent two nights in the Sacred Valley to acclimate to the elevation before making the trip up to Machu Picchu – which I highly recommend – and a couple more nights in Cusco.
To pay for all these hotels, we used a mix of cash, points, and a free night award.
In Lima, it was no problem finding hotels bookable with points through each of the major chains like Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, and Marriott, but we were a bit constrained with where we wanted to stay.
We were meeting up with my father-in-law and his girlfriend, who's originally from Peru, and wanted to stay in the upscale Miraflores neighborhood to be near them. This limited our options some and in the end, we settled on using Marriott points to stay at the Aloft Lima Miraflores, located just a short walk from family. Our two-night stay here rang in at just under 33,000 Marriott Bonvoy® points in total.
For comparison, the cash cost of this hotel was north of $300 for the two-night stay, making it a respectable use of Marriott points. Beyond its location, the hotel itself was perfect for our needs. Thanks to my Marriott Platinum elite status, we got complimentary breakfast each morning – and our three-year-old enjoyed swimming in the property's indoor plunge pool.
Next up was a two-night stay at the Sonesta Posada del Inca Valle Sagrado Yucay Hotel just outside of Urubamba. For this hotel, we booked for just under $150 per night and it included a full buffet breakfast each morning.
The property itself was quite impressive with llamas roaming the grounds, an old church, colonial architecture, and a couple of different restaurants and bars onsite.
I really wanted to stay at the Tambo del Inka, a Luxury Collection Resort & Spa – an iconic Marriott property with its own train station on the way to Machu Picchu – but cash rates were significantly higher at $500-plus per night. It was bookable with Marriott points, but since we were now traveling with family (without points of their own), it wasn't really an option. And honestly, it was a good lesson for me …
I typically start and end my hotel searches with one of the big U.S. chains like Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, and Marriott. In doing so, I likely miss out on some really great properties and more affordable rates. Our stay at the Sonesta Yucay was one of the best of the whole trip – a good reminder that there are plenty of great properties outside of the major chains.
In Cusco, points hotels were far more plentiful, but we once again used cash to stay at a local property instead. We ended up paying $193 per night to stay at the Antigua Casona San Blas, a boutique hotel in the bohemian neighborhood of San Blas, Cusco. This was no doubt a little steep, compared to some of the other options, but it was worth every penny.
“Casona” translates to “big house” or “mansion” in English and that's exactly what this hotel was: a restored colonial mansion. Originally built in the late 1700s, the property was completely restored in 2016 and features a replica hand-carved wraparound balcony that surrounds the hotel's central courtyard.
The intricate hand carvings extended to the guest rooms with custom headboards and furniture throughout. The hotel's onsite restaurant served complimentary, made-to-order breakfast daily, in addition to lunch and dinner. We ended up dining here both nights that we stayed and the prices were laughably cheap for a hotel restaurant – I'm talking a $12 steak, $4 glass of wine, and $8 chicken caesar salad – and the quality was superb.
For our final night back in Lima, I used an expiring 35,000-point free night award that I get annually with my *bonvoy business* to stay at the AC Hotel Lima Miraflores.
The decor in the room was pretty sterile (and generic) but the hotel has a great location right on the water, and the complimentary breakfast buffet for elite members was great. You really can't beat these sunset views just across the street.
All told, we spent around 33,000 Marriott points, one free night award, and around $700 on lodging for our seven nights in Peru. I could have reduced our cash costs even further by using Capital One miles to cover the cost, but decided to save those miles and pay out of pocket instead.
Exploring Peru
Now for the fun stuff. There's so much to see and do in Peru that I feel like we barely even scratched the surface during our eight-day visit.
Sure, we checked off a bucket list trip to Machu Picchu and spent some time in the Sacred Valley, but Peru has so much more to offer that I'm already dying to go back. And if there's one key takeaway from my recent trip, it's just how far your dollar can go in a country like Peru. From Ubers to meals to shopping, nearly everything felt affordable compared to U.S. prices.
Here's how we spent our time … and money.
Lima
Our first day in Lima was slow moving, we leisurely strolled around Miraflores, checking out many of the local shops and cafes that lined the streets. When evening rolled around, we headed to the Larcomar shopping center for sunset views, a bite to eat … and of course, a little shopping.
On the second day, we took a $10 Uber (for a nearly hour-long ride) to the historic city center to witness the changing of the guard at Palacio de Gobierno del Peru: the official residence of the President of Peru.
While in the city center, we strolled along Jirón de la Unión, a bustling pedestrian street in the historic center of town, making stops at the iconic Gran Hotel Bolivar and Plaza José de San Martín to feed the birds.
For our last night in town, we spent the bulk of our time in the hip Barranco neighborhood, known for its vibrant street art, historic architecture, trendy cafes, and lively nightlife. There were tons of highly-rated restaurants with both indoor and sidewalk seating.
The lemon fettuccini Cacio e Pepe at Siete was the perfect way to end a delicious week in Peru.
The Sacred Valley & Cusco
After flying into Cusco, we were picked up by our guide, Edward of Big Five Tours & Expeditions, who was with us every step of the way during our time in the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu, and Cusco. Unfortunately, this is the part of our trip that you won't be able to duplicate on your own … at least not for the same price.
My father-in-law's girlfriend is a luxury travel advisor with lots of connections in Latin America and arranged this part of the trip for us at no cost (just gratuity). I honestly have no idea what a private guide would run … but I have to say, having a driver and guide take care of nearly everything for a few days was really nice. I can see why people travel like this – I'm just glad I didn't have to pay for it!
Just outside of Cusco, we stopped at a llama farm where you could feed the llamas, alpacas, and vicuñas. They also had weaving demonstrations and lots of custom garments available for purchase.
Honestly, this whole thing felt a little gimmicky and was clearly a stop meant to get you to buy their handmade garments. Nonetheless, my three-year-old really enjoyed seeing the llamas up close and that made it all worth it.
On our way to our hotel – the Sonesta Yucay – we stopped for a photo op at Mirador Taray – a scenic overlook entering the Sacred Valley – and a few other small villages along the way.
After getting a good night's rest, we spent the next day visiting the Maras Salt Mines and Zona Arqueologica Moray (an ancient Inca ruin), before grabbing a bite to eat and checking out a local brewery in Urubamba.
For our final two nights in the Sacred Valley, we stayed in Cusco and spent a day walking up and down the city's historic city center. We spent a good chunk of our time in Plaza de Armas and checked out the Cathedral of Cusco and the Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús. There was some sort of celebration going on – complete with a parade and fireworks – when we were there with plenty of locals dressed up in traditional Inca garments.
The plaza was really lively and fun place to sit and people watch. We also grabbed a bite to eat at Hanz Gastronomique – a traditional Peruvian restaurant with views overlooking the plaza. The food here was excellent and I'd highly recommend getting the lomo saltado and a unique black pisco sour.
If I had a do-over (and I hope I will!), I'd like to have spent an extra day in Cusco wandering the streets and seeing more of the sites. It's a really vibrant city lots of unique neighborhoods and I don't think having more time to explore would have been a bad thing.
Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu is one of the Seven Wonders of the World for a reason.
It's truly breathtaking and was no doubt the highlight of our trip. Our trip to Machu Picchu started with an early-morning departure from our hotel in Yucay and involved an hour-long ride to the train station in Ollantaytambo where we caught a Peru Rail train to the town of Machu Picchu.
The train itself was quite the experience, with wonderful views of the Andes Mountains at every turn.
After arriving in Machu Picchu (town), we had to wait to board a bus that took us up to the entrance. Alternatively, you can make the 2 1/2 hour hike up the mountain – or do the full Inca Trail – if you're feeling more ambitious. While this wasn't much of an option for us with two young kids, I promise, the reward at the top is worth it!
I'll just let the photos speak for themselves.
All told, we spent around three hours at Machu Picchu and I think that was the perfect amount of time. We got to see everything we wanted and our guide was invaluable in explaining the history behind the “Lost City of the Incas.” It's so crazy to me that this 15th-century city of Incan royalty was left untouched until less than 100 years ago.
We lucked out with a sunny day – and at nearly 8,000 feet above sea level it got hot in a hurry – but it's not uncommon to encounter overcast skies and rain. If you go, be sure to dress for all types of weather, as it can change in a hurry!
Bottom Line
It's been nearly three months since we visited Peru and took in the wonder of Machu Picchu, and I still relish every moment.
Checking off a bucket list family trip like this – with the help of points and miles – is something I won't soon forget. Maybe you won't copy this itinerary to a T.
Regardless, I hope it gives you a push to head for Peru. From the food to the people and culture, I couldn't think of a better place to scratch the travel itch.
