Peru Motorcycle Tour: Andes to Machu Picchu

Your Peru motorcycle tour begins with arrival at Lima's Jorge Chávez International Airport. A hotel transfer takes you to the Miraflores district, where you can recover from the flight and meet the group before the tour sets off the next day.

Lima, the City of Kings and capital of Peru, welcomes you with a tour of the old town around the Plaza de Armas and the Presidential Palace. This Machu Picchu motorcycle tour thus opens with a cultural introduction before the first day on the bike.

The first leg of this Lake Titicaca motorcycle tour takes you south on the Pan-American Highway via Ica, staying close to the Pacific coast the whole way. After around 300 km you reach the oasis of Huacachina, tucked among dunes hundreds of meters high.

Those who want to can start the morning with a dune buggy tour through the dunes or a ride down on a sandboard. This Andes motorcycle tour then continues on the Pan-American Highway past vineyards to the small town of Nasca, around 150 km away.

In the morning you can optionally take a small-plane flight over the famous Nasca Lines. Only from the air can you make out the giant ground drawings such as the monkey, fish, spider or hummingbird – a highlight of every Nasca Lines motorcycle tour.

After 165 km you reach the picturesque bay of Puerto Inca, home to penguins, pelicans and sea lions. Here you'll also find the ruins of an old Inca fishing port, from where fresh fish were once carried to Cusco in a relay run.

On this Peru coast motorcycle tour you continue 230 km to Camaná. Along the barren coast, people live from fishing and mining silver, copper and gold, while river valleys flowing down from the Andes make farming possible.

This Colca Canyon motorcycle tour leaves the coast via 90 km of asphalt and 210 km of gravel to one of the deepest canyons in the world. Condors with a wingspan of up to three meters circle above the cliffs before you spend the night in Chivay at 3,635 meters.

Over the Pata Pampa Pass at 4,890 meters, this South America motorcycle tour takes you through wide pampas dotted with glittering mountain lakes. Vicuñas, alpacas and llamas define the 300 km leg to Lake Titicaca, 60 km of it on gravel.

An optional boat trip takes you to the floating reed islands of the Uros and to Taquile Island, where a rustic lunch with the islanders awaits. Lake Titicaca sits at 3,812 meters and is the highest navigable lake in the world.

This Cusco motorcycle tour covers 380 km into the former Inca capital, set at 3,326 meters. The historic city, with its well-preserved colonial buildings, is one of the most visited destinations in South America.

By bus to Ollantaytambo and onward by train to Aguas Calientes, around 180 km in total. You spend the night in the small mountain village at the foot of Machu Picchu, ready to visit the ruined city the next morning.

As one of the first visitors, you reach the ruined city of Machu Picchu by bus while it slowly emerges from the clouds in the morning mist. The early light is perfect for photography before the crowds arrive later in the day.

By motorcycle you head into the Sacred Valley of the Incas and to the historic salt pans of Salinas. A traditional lunch in the garden of a house in Pisac rounds off this leg of the Andes motorcycle tour beautifully.

A free day in Cusco invites you to stroll through museums, churches and cafés around the plaza. If you like, visit the massive stone walls of Saqsaywaman above the city on this guided Peru motorcycle tour.

Via Abancay, the ride continues to Andahuaylas, an Andean town of 60,000 residents at 2,900 meters in the valley of the Rio Chumba. A winding 340 km over several passes takes you through changing climate zones.

On the mountain road 3S there isn't a single straight stretch – 240 km of pure cornering away from the tourist trail. Quechua is still the majority language in this region, and you experience this authentic Peru on this Andes motorcycle adventure.

Over the Abra Apacheta Pass at 4,746 meters and a sweeping series of switchbacks, you return to the Pan-American Highway and the coast. After 360 km you reach Paracas, the destination of this Peru motorcycle round trip shortly before the tour ends.

By speedboat you optionally head out to the Ballestas Islands, Peru's little Galápagos with sea lions, penguins and seabirds. In the afternoon you explore the dunes and lagoons of Paracas National Park by motorcycle.

The final leg of this off-road Peru motorcycle tour covers 230 km along the coast back to Lima. In the evening you look back on the whole tour together over a farewell dinner at a great restaurant.

A last free day in Lima leaves room for souvenirs, a museum visit or a walk through the coastal district of Miraflores, before this Peru motorcycle tour ends the following day with the flight home. Time also to reflect on the past weeks with the group.

The flight back to Germany gradually brings your Peru motorcycle tour to a close. Time to look back on the many impressions of the Andes, the Pacific coast and Machu Picchu during the long flight, and to start planning the next South America motorcycle tour.

Landing in Germany marks the end of this Yamaha Ténéré Peru tour through the Andes and to Machu Picchu. What remains are memories of Lake Titicaca, Colca Canyon and the cultural capital of Cusco.