Peru and beyond.

plan to travel for 3 weeks December 2014. I’m a nursing student and have limited time off so this is the only available month & time available. I plan to leave London on December 12th and travel for 3 weeks till January the 2nd 2015. I will be traveling over Christmas and New year. A total of 21 days.

My trip is to include the following countries and places.

Peru-The Inca trail
Bolivia-Salar de Uyuni
Chili/Patagonia-Torre Del Paines, Atacama (Valley of the moon & The Mano de Desert.
Easter island.

I would very much if someone could take a look at my temporary itinerary and offer me some advice about getting places, time, money etc. Number of days at certain places breakdown.

I have a budget of 1,500-£2500. I plan to hopefully not use all of this. Stay in very cheep budget accommodation. This money does include flights from london which I have worked out at about £500.

My rough Itinerary,

*Leave London and fly to Cusco.
See Machu Picchu.
From Cusco I will head to Puno on the shores of Lake Titicaca & the floating reed islands, hopefully staying with a local family
From Puno I will then go onto La Paz (Bolivia)
I will then head south and get a 4X4 tour through the huge salt flats at Salar De Uyuni ending up on the Chilean border and will head on to San Pedro de Atacama. I want to see the Valley of the moon.
I will then take a 6 hour bus journey down To a small Town called Antofagasta to see ‘The Mano De Desierto” (3 days in total)
I will then go onto Patagonia flying from Antofagasta to Torres Del Paine.
Will then do a 4 day hike, with a friend. The W trek. (total 4 days)
I then plan to take a cheep flight (£300) to Easter island and spend 2 days there before heading back to mainland and back to London.

My Questions.

How is the best way to see Machu Picchu from Cusco?
Is there a way to travel to Torres Del Paine National park from Antofagasta or will I have to backtrack to Punta Arenas and get a 3 hour drive to Puuerto Nateles? Any advice on the best route to save money and time is very welcomed.
Does anyone have experience with day tours to Salar de Uyuni and ‘Mano De Desierto’? any advice on the cheapest way to book etc.
How long do you lovely folk think I should stay in each place? I have 21 days to play with.
Any cheep accommodation tips in Torres Del Paine national park (the cheapest the better. I have a sleeping bag so all I need is a bed).
As you can see I have a rough itinerary and the number of days but get confused when knowing how many days to spend in each place with traveling to each place taken into account. I could really use the kind help of you guys who perhaps have the experience in this matter.

Any other advice greatly appreciated as well. Be nice, I'm new.

couple of small points to mention / think about ...

for the homestay part in Puno , Im not aware of any homestays ON the floating islands (ive recently researched this in the last week for an inquiry I received) but your can arrange homestays of Taquile and Amantani island (visting the floating islands on the way to these). These are usually 2 or 3 day trips.

For teh salt flats, as you are getting close to Christmas make sure you try to do your tour before 23 dec because most operators stop tours between 23rd dec and Jan 6 . During this time it is much more likely to encounter drunk driving on these tours so you cannot considered them safe,
Also if you are thinking of a day tour on teh salt flats , then it is not possible to include a transfer to chile with this - only three day tours can offer a transfer to san pedro de atacama (or two day tours with long days usually privately arranged so expensive if your less than 5 or 6 people)

Dont forget to include at least a day or two just for cusco and surrounding area apart from Machu Picchu. "Best way " to see Machu Picchu is a personal preference thing really - many would say by doing the inca trail , other would say one or two day trips by train. There are also multiactivity options that include biking, horse riding etc .

Hope ive helped a bit - there will be plenty of others chipping in with more advice im sure (ill leave the Chile and beyond parts to those that know better than I)

Thak you. I'm avoiding any travel or tours on the 23rd, 24th or 25th I think I may have a 3 day rest day someonewhere if I'm honest. I'm no longer doing Easter island. I will book all my flights far in advance to avoid high prices. This obviously is a rough itiniary. I'm not to sure how I will avoid travelling at christmas time but I will try my best.

I have also decided to leave out Peru for a completly different trip. I was looking at prices of flights to peru from London at peak season and it comes to well over £1000 which is half my budget gone. It is far more reasonable to cut out peru for another trip and fly from london to Bolivia, thus giving me more time and saving me money.

My new itiniary is this.

Fly from London to La Paz (Start day)*


A day or two in la Paz seeing the sights and arranging further travel
Bus to Uyuni (13 hours) (over night perhaps) (or I could take a flight depending if budget allows)
Have a 4X4 tour to Salar de Uyuni ending up in San padro where I will see the Valle de la luna. (one week)

Flight from the nearest airport which is Calama so I wil get a shuttle from Sky and fly back to Santiago.
Spend a day in Santiago seeing the sights before taking a flight from Santiago to punta arenas then bus to puerto Natales.I will then do torre del paines w circuit. (one week)

this will leave me a week to play with and perhaps squeeze in some more things.

ok, i can provide a few more quick tips with this new itinary ....

try looking at flights from madrid to la paz with both Boa and Air Europa (usually do return flights for around 1000usd /750ukp ) . You can book you connecting flight with easyjet to get to Madrid for less than 50 UKP most likely.

Yes take a bus LP to Uyuni , it will be at night as direct buses only run at night. They arrive in time to start tour next day - no reason to hang out in uyuni as there is nothing to see. Bus will cost you 33.50usd if using todo turismo toureist bus or if using local bus about 17/18usd$. 3 day tours with transfer to san pedro will cost you inteh regionof 110 to 200usd depending on the operator (most around the lower part of that range)

Prices for flights from Calama to Santigio with Sky airlines were going for 225usd$ leaving at about 8am.)i checked for someone yesterday so thats how I know the price off the top of my head). Sky will most likely be the cheapest..

I think your best off having some rest days like you say and not trying to squeeze too much in . Things get delayed in SA and it is tiring to do too much also and can stop you enjoying things as much.

Thak you this information has been most useful.

try looking at flights from madrid to la paz with both Boa and Air Europa

Air Europa doesn't fly to La Paz but to Santa Cruz de la Sierra. BOA flies to Santa Cruz de la Sierra too but you can connect to another BOA flight to La Paz, if you want.

Great information. Thak you
Wil def look into that.

Air Europa only flies to Santa Cruz, but recently it was reported that they had done a deal with AmasZonas for the connexion onward to La Paz. This doesn't show up on the web site (or didn't a few days ago) but it would be worth checking. I think AirEuropa only flies twice a week to Santa Cruz, which would put some constraints on your schedule.
I've used BoA for domestic flights without any problems, but a couple of people I know who have travelled on BoA's Santa Cruz-Madrid-Santa Cruz flight recently (different dates) were very unhappy. Both complained of delays, poor information and support at Madrid, and one only received his baggage here in La Paz after 5 (five) days and a lot of hassle.

i talked to our amaszonas rep about the connection with air europa the other day and she said yes there is a deal in place but it isnt something amaszonas are publicising - it just means that when booking and air europa flight you can choose to go all the way to la paz (via santa cruz) and they will handle the connection. So whilst it may not be on the air europa site it should show up in the travel agent systems like SABRE, Amadeus etc when searching for that route with Air Europa.

Yes, there's a recent (is less than 2 months old) codeshare agreement between Amaszonas and Air Europa (well, not fully sure if it's a codeshare agreement or an interline agreement but it doesn't matter too much for the topic) but that means an extra flight. I mean, as the OP is departing from London, it would need to change planes in Madrid and Santa Cruz while with American Airlines would only need to change planes once (in Miami)...

Fly out on the 12th of Decemeber, fly back o the 5th of January.

Thank you for the help. I just realised that I would have to fly into Santa Cruz regardless due to no international flights from London flying directly into La Paz. I think I would have to get a connecting flight to la Paz the same day.

I have done some more research into my trip, browsing and reading etc. Would be nice if someone look at my imput, taking a critical eye to it and seeing what they think.

(12th of Decemeber) Fly into Santa Cruz and get a connecting flight to La paz , hopefully all included in the same price. (Start day)
* Spend a day in La Paz. Getting over jet lag, getting my bearings and seeing a few sights, staying at the adventure brew hostel (£5 a night) seeing the sights and arranging further travel
* Return flight to Rurrenabaque (amazon) Three day tour. Was Looking at prices and tour companies $207 USD each for a 2 night/3 day tour with Madidi Travel to their Serere Lodge. But I know if I look around and do research I can find cheeper. Is this bit worth it? I have read its not to be missed.
Flight back to La Paz. from Rurrenabaque.

Bus to Uyuni (13 hours) (over night perhaps) 33.50usd if using todo turismo tourist bus or if using local bus about 17/18usd$. 
Have a 4X4 tour to Salar de Uyuni ending up in San padro (The border) (110 to 200usd)
Then getting a bus from the border to San Padro where I will arrange another day tour to see the Valle de la luna.

Flight from the nearest airport to San Padro which is Calama so I will fly back to Santiago. Prices for (flights from Calama to Santiago with Sky airlines were going for 225usd) (total of 7 days)

Spend a day in Santiago, staying at La Casa Roja (£9)seeing the sights before taking a flight from Santiago to punta arenas (£200) then bus to puerto Natales.I will then do torre del paines w circuit. (5) staying in very cheep accommodation. ($400 food and full board tours)
Fly from Santiago to Santa Cruz and then to London. (total 7 days)

I have a budget of £3000.
I have assigned a week for each section. Although many of the parts will take less than 7 days in total I'm airing on the side of caution and including a few spare days for connecting fights and travel days, and basic 'we are up shit creak' moments.

( Now the tricky part is this. I have made sure that all My tours to Uyuni happen before the 24th and 25th of Decemeber as a reader advised, but does anyone know if flights to PA and transfers to PN and the Torres Del Paine operate as semi usual over the Christmas period. I Think Christmas day etc I will try and spend in Santiago or the park. Hopefully all guided tours will run as normal within the park, but who knows, will have to do more research. Any information that anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated.)

I just realised that I would have to fly into Santa Cruz regardless due to no international flights from London flying directly into La Paz.

There aren't direct flights from London to Santa Cruz. You have also to change planes somewhere (e.g.: Madrid or Miami). The only difference is there's more choice of airlines for flights from London to Santa Cruz changing planes in a third airport than from London to La Paz changing planes in a third airport.

Can anyone recommend any tour operators for el Salar de Uyuni?

Gracias

T