A lttle help with Peru itinerary

If you have to visit Puno, the lake is only interesting for a day. Its just a lake. And to me its not very 'pretty'. But if you need to stop over there, sure go for a night or two. Puno itself is not exactly the best town imo. With that limited time, I'd go straight to Arequipa.

If you want to trek the Colca Canyon, then make it 4 nights. Arequipa is a great little town to visit.

You could stop at Huacachina and visit the surrounding area (Ballestas and Pisco etc). As for Nazca lines - theyre only worth seeing from the air - so if you stop there make sure you take a flight.

I would if possible fly straight to Maldanado when you arrive. And spend a few days at the end of your trip in Lima.
Also, you cannot bus to Aguas Caliente. You'll have to either catch a train or walk along the train tracks.

Hello for what is amazon to cusco, the trip in rainy season is a little dangerous since in the course of the road can be encountered with a slip of some hill and thus lose half a day or there are cases of a full day, there are different places To take bus from Cusco to Ollantaytambo, from Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu there are two train or bus forms up to hydroelectric but preferably train since by hydroelectric one walks around 4 hours to reach the town of AGUAS CALIENTES and likewise return of Machu picchu to ollantaytambo by train, now in cusco there is a new trek that is not very heavy but beautiful that is the mountain of colors that I was reading that is very good do not realize but would be an alternative. I hope I have helped

We went to Peru for 30 days and decided to skip Lake Titicaca and the Amazon. But the advice we got for Lake Titicaca was to stay overnight on one of the islands (homestay). And this is the advice I got when I asked about the Amazon: "For a good experience I recommend at least 5 days if going to the Tambopata area out of Puerto Maldonado or 9 days if going to Manu". So you might want to add a day there.

You might want to go to Ollantaytambo first (lower elevation) by taxi or minibus. Ollantaytambo is a nice town: visit the ruins and do the short hike to the granaries and maybe a day hike or a homestay. Also visit Chinchero, Moray and the Maras salineras. Then take a train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes for Machu Picchu. You can buy train tickets online (Peru Rail or Inca Rail). You can also buy MP (+ mountain) tickets online:

http://www.machupicchu.gob.pe/

If you like to hike consider hiking up one of the mountains at MP: Huayna Picchu or MP Montana (we chose the latter). Take the train back to Ollantaytambo (that way you can leave most of your luggage at your hotel in Ollantaytambo while you visit MP). And then a minibus or taxi to Cusco. With two days Cusco you have time for Cusco, the ruins north of Cusco (don't miss Sacsayhuaman) and Pisac (walk down from the top of the ruins to the village so you get to see the amazing temple complex, also great scenery).

As mentioned above, it is possible to take buses or a shuttle to Hidroelectrica and then walk to Aguas Calientes (12 km). The walk is lovely (the river, birds, butterflies...) and took us 2.5 hours. But that way you need a whole day to get to AC.

2 days Lima would be enough for me. Arequipa is nice but one day was fine for me. You can take a tour of the Colca valley (without hiking in the canyon) or you can take a tour that has hiking in the canyon. There are 2 day tours but I think 3 days would be better. You can also do it on your own like we did: take a bus to Cabanaconde and hike down into the canyon. Most hotels in Cabanaconde can help you plan. This website helped us a lot:

http://www.pachamamahome.com/cabanaconde.htm

Hiking down is steep but not that hard. Hiking back up is quite hard but it is possible to rent mules.

If you want to go to Nazca you can take a bus there from Arequipa. We skipped Nazca but if you go do a bit of research as Nazca has more to offer than the lines. We took a bus to Ica and visited Huacachina: we liked the dunes and the oasis but one night was enough. Then we took a bus to the highway just outside of Pisco and a taxi to Paracas (there are a few direct buses to Paracas as well). Paracas has a small beach and the Ballestas Islands boat tour at 8 am and 10 am. We loved it (tons of birds, even penguins, and lots of sea lions). You can't stay on the islands but you can stay in Paracas for a night and also visit the Paracas Reserve (where the desert meets the ocean). You can take a tour or explore by bike like we did. Then it is a 4 hour bus ride from Paracas to Lima.

This is all really helpful. So I'm now thinking we spend the minimum time in Lima at the beginning (have to spend 2 nights because we arrive at 1:45 a.m.) and then go to Puerto Maldonado immediately. From there, Cuzco, Ollantaytambo, Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu. Back to Cuzco after visiting the site. I am inclined to skip Puno and Lake Titicaca altogether. I still want to do 3 or 4 nights in Arequipa (and around). And I would add one night onto Lima at the end, if possible.

So the question now is - Paracas and the Ballestas Islands OR Ayacucho? If Ayacucho, how would I add that to the itinerary? I know they are very different places, but both appeal to me. Probably don't have enough time to do both of them so would have to make a choice. Ayacucho is sort of out of the way, if we are coming from Arequipa to Lima. Any suggestions?

Considering you want to go to Arequipa. The logical route would be to go to Paracas/Ballestas/Huacachina....as its on the route back to Lima.

The only way I could envision adding Ayucucho is to add it in at the start and go Lima-Ayucucho-Cusco.

Yeah, I guess you're right. We're going to have to drop Ayacucho.

Still thinking about Puno and Lake Titicaca and will likely include Paracas/Ballestas/Huacachina. Will semi-fine-tune the itinerary in the next week or so and post the revision once I get it sorted out. As always, you think that 3 weeks is plenty of time...but it never is.

Thanks for the feedback.

It may be better to fly from Puerto Maldonado to Cusco, it will save you a day. And follow Sonia's advice to stay in Sacred valley (lower elevation) before Cusco.
We skipped Lake Titicaca on this trip but visited it years ago in Bolivia and we liked it. There are tourist buses with stops from Cusco to Puno and from Puno to Chivay (near Colca Canyon), so you can go to Colca Canyon first and than to Arequipa, with less backtracking. If you skip Puno, you can also take 4M tourist bus from Cusco to Chivay, we did that, nice scenery but tiring drive on a bad road. Or fly Cusco to Arequipa.
Nazca is great and very underestimated, I don't know why people think it's only lines. I also liked Ballestas and Paracas reserve. Keep Lima at the end, it gives you more flexibility. We were quite tired after several long bus drives and did less In Lima than we planned. We also had 3 weeks but did a trek (Ausangate) instead of the jungle, you should have enough time for all your plan.
Here is a our itinerary and trip report (2 parts) with some details about Nazca, sites in Sacred Valley, buses etc. Especially part 2 may be helpful for you.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g294311-i818-k9623343-Trip_report_20_days_in_south_Peru_part_1_around_Cusco-Peru.html

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g294311-i818-k9623456-Trip_report_20_days_in_south_Peru_part_2_Colca_to_Lima-Peru.html

My reason for wanting to take the bus from Puerto Maldonado to Cuzco was to experience the landscape enroute. I get that it's a full day on a bus but would like to think it will be worth it. Since we plan to spend 3 nights in Cuzco, perhaps that will be enough time to adjust somewhat to the altitude, if we take it easy for the day. Also think that since we are travelling by bus, it's a slower climb than if we were to just arrive by air. Don't know how it will affect us but hoping for the best and will try to be flexible.

The tourist bus from Cuzco to Puno sounds like a good option. I think we will do that. And then bus to Arequipa/Colca Canyon (whichever makes more sense to do first). I think we will fly from Arequipa to Nazca or Paracas or whatever works to cut out the long bus trip. Will re-think Nazca too - haven't yet read your trip reports but will do. Thank you for those links.

It's coming together!

There are no flights to Nazca or Paracas, you can fly Cusco-Juliaca (near Puno) or Cusco-Arequipa or Arequipa-Lima.
It really makes sense to go to Ollanataytambo as soon as you get to Cusco, visit Sacred Valley sites on the way, visit Ollanataytambo ruins, make a trip to Machu Picchu, visit other sites on the way back to Cusco and stay in Cusco at the end, it is much higher than Ollanataytambo, and Machu Picchu is at the lowest elevation. After few nights in Ollanataytambo you will adjust to Cusco much better. Going by bus will not help, it's sleeping elevation that counts.