Lima to Peru by bus with stop-over to avoid night travel?

This is possible breaking the journey in Arequipa, but to do comfortably without night buses you'd need to break the journey more than once.

You can travel from Lima to Arequipa by daytime, sort of - I took this bus boarding at Nazca, it was due into Arequipa around 11.30pm but actually got in at 1am. Between Arequipa and Cusco most buses run overnight but Civa advertises a daytime bus.

There are lots of interesting places to stop if you've got time - Paracas, Huacachina, Nazca, Arequipa and Puno/Lake Titicaca.

Yeah we just came from Peru and they have a great bus company called Cruz Del Sur. They're really safe and comfortable so if you end up having to do any night buses sleeping should be quite easy. If you book early enough you should be able to get the VIP seats for the same price as the normal seats - which just means more comfort and further reclining.

Stopping in Arequipa is probably the best bet in terms of splitting the distance - and it's also good as you'll partially acclimatise to some of the altitude which is important to consider. It seems like you're potentially quite rushed for time so a day here is probably your best option but if you have more time then alexs1's suggestions for where to stop are also great ideas and there's the Colca Canyon which you can do as a day or couple of day trip from Arequipa. If you don't have time for that, Arequipa is a nice city to wander around in for the day and surrounded by Volcanoes- so there's some great views!

As a side note it might be worth getting some Diamox tablets at a pharmacy in Lima and take these at least for a couple of days before arriving to Cusco and maybe for a couple days after arriving as it should help with the altitude.

Can I ask you why you want to avoid night travel?

IMO Cruz del Sur, Oltursa, Moviltours are good safe companies. I would take their night buses any time. Just take one of the good seats, just three in a row "business"-like. You will save time and money. Just sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. If available, take one of the first seats upstairs they have the panoramic view.

If you are worried about safety, take care in Lima anywhere outside Miraflores, and take care in Cusco at night.

Happy travels
Peter

If you want to avoid night travels, you can divide the trip in two parts:
- Go to Arequipa from Lima leaving very early in the morning, when you get there buy the tickets to Cusco.
- Leave Arequipa very early in the next morning.

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