dream trip Peru Bolivia (3 weeks in May)

Thanks Sonia,
So Ollotaytambo requires a night there (not relevant as day trip from Cusco)? I will do ot first then. For Aguas Calientes, is it not to short to do Macchu Picchu and Wayna Picchu the same day? Second time to enter Wayna Picchu is 10am so i wonder if its a shame to have to rush Macchu Picchu? And maybe there are other hikes i dont know for the afternoon. Thanks for the bus infos. I will add more time in La Paz and probably Puno on the way. Maybe skip Mancora as beach far and maybe not so great but we like to have a cosy place to relax at the end. Is there anywhere relevant or is it just not the country for that?

Thank you very much. Do you recon its relevant to rent a car for parts of a trip on Peru/Bolivia?

Is it three weeks, as in the title of your topic, or 25 days, as in your itinerary ?
Firstly, you haven't accounted for travel time between places, secondly Mancora is out of your way and exceeding the time frame of your travel.

For Aguas Calientes, is it not to short to do Macchu Picchu and Wayna Picchu the same day?

Although lots of people visit Machu Picchu on a day trip and enjoy it, the time available means leaving at around 1600h; after this the main ruins are far less busy and it's a good time to explore them, however this means staying two nights. I suggest that it's also worth climbing Monte Machu Picchu, which takes 3-4 hours, so if you want to climb Huayna Picchu as well, you have a long day, and staying two nights make sense.

Do you recon its relevant to rent a car for parts of a trip on Peru/Bolivia?

In the sense of being a valuable option - yes, however it's very much a case of how you want to travel. With your own vehicle you ahve complete freedom to go where you want, when you want, etc. This is also true if you rent a vehicle with a driver.

Thank you
Its a big 3 weeks. 23 nights.
Ok will put more time to consider travel.
Is there any comfy and nice place to stay relaxing before flying back or is the area just not relevant for that.
Best
Severine

For Aguas Calientes, is it not to short to do Macchu Picchu and Wayna Picchu the same day?

They are one site and not really sensible to do in two days. Before MP became as popular as it is today, it used to be visited as one site and on one ticket, covering MP and WP.

As for Mancora and beaches, depending on what your expectations are it might be not what you looking for. For me, personally, having been brought up near nice sandy beaches of southern Baltic, Mancora was a big letdown. Neither is the beach nice, nor is the infrastructure, such as you'd normally expect at a good beach.
You can have some beach time in Lima instead. Go to Barranco, where there is a beach and some nice cafés.

Ollantaytambo: I think you will want a night there because it is a nice town, you can visit the ruins and do the short walk up to the granaries. MP is of course amazing but there are many other great sites in the Cusco/Sacred Valley area like Ollantaytambo, Pisac (walk down from the top of the ruins to the village), Chinchero, Moray and the Maras salineras, Sacsayhuaman...

We had one day for Machu Picchu and that was enough for us. We chose MP Montana and loved it. We stayed in Aguas Calientes the night before. We walked up to MP (most people take the bus) and entered at 6:30 am. We explored the site till 9 am and that was really all we needed. We then hiked up MP Montana at 9 am. We were back down around noon. We stayed till 2:30 pm just because we could. Actually, my husband waited for me at one point while I went back for more pictures. I did not feel the need to hike up both mountains and also not to walk to the Sun Gate after the views from MP Montana which were amazing. We went in 2016 and there are now new entrance rules for MP but they have not been enforced yet. You do now have to choose a morning ticket or afternoon ticket. If you hike up a mountain you have to choose a morning ticket. If you choose HP (under the new rules) you get 6 hours at the site and if you choose MP Montana 7 hours. If the new rules were being enforced with a regular morning ticket (without a mountain) you could only visit in the morning and with an afternoon ticket only in the afternoon. But apparently they still let people with morning tickets stay for the whole day. Especially if you hike up the mountain first and then go to the actual site. You will have to keep an eye on travel forums (check TripAdvisor too) to see if/how the new rules are being enforced in the future. So if you want to make really sure you can stay a whole day you would have to buy a morning and an afternoon ticket. Or you could stay 2 nights and buy two morning tickets. If I went back I would do the same as what we did: morning ticket and hike up MP Montana. You can buy MP tickets here:
http://www.machupicchu.gob.pe/
HP (Huayna Picchu/Wayna Picchu) does sell out so if you choose HP you have to buy tickets soon. Not so if you choose MP Montana. You can buy train tickets online as well (Peru Rail or Inca Rail). I would take the train from Ollantaytambo, not from Cusco. More departures and generally cheaper. Also, the Ollantaytambo train station is in the town. The Cusco train station is not in Cusco but in Poroy.

You could consider Paracas (beach, Ballestas Islands, Paracas Reserve) at the end of your trip. But I think you will need all the time you have available for traveling to all the places you already mention.

Hi Sonia,
Thank you so much for your detailed tips. The key reason we picked the destination is Macchu Picchu so it makes sense to do it and the area of the Sacred Valley well informed.
Have a nice evening.
Severine

I just added some of the things I loved during my Peru trip with a *:

2 nights LIMA: nice dinners, Larco museum
*magic water fountains at night, visit Barranco during the day.
3 nights CUSCO: Cusco, Sacred Valley
**definitely go for the alternative rainbow mountain tour, that was my favourite sight after Machu Picchu in all of Peru! even if you'd need a day more for it, I'd highly recommend it.

Hope it helps :)

Thanks for your tips!
I heard about the rainbow mountain and scenery seems beautiful.
I was hesitating to go since i have quite some time in bolivia in sud lipez. Did you go to Bolivia sud lipez and you still recommend rainbow mountain?
What do you call alternative route? You mean outside the sacred valkey itself correct?
Best
Severine