Peru Travel Essentials

Essentials

The practical layer: money, documents, safety, health, and what to pack. Dated where it matters, honest where it counts.

Money

Peru's currency is the sol (PEN). Unlike dollarised Ecuador, Peru means an exchange step for everyone — and a cash habit outside the big cities.

• Cards are widely accepted in Lima, Cusco, and Arequipa hotels, restaurants, and tour operators. Smaller towns, markets, and rural stops run on cash.
• ATMs are plentiful in cities. Follow the advisory-grade habit: use machines inside banks or malls, in business hours, and be discreet at the kerbside — phone and cash snatches from motorbikes are a named risk in the big cities.
• Carry small notes. Market stalls, taxis, and small restaurants cannot always break large bills, and a cash float in soles is what keeps small days moving.
• Book the big things in advance, in dollars or soles as quoted: Machu Picchu tickets, trains, and top Lima restaurants are reserved ahead — the trip's expensive layer is largely prepaid before you land.

Documents

US, UK, and EU citizens — and Canadian, Australian, and many other nationals — enter Peru visa-free for tourism. Your passport should be valid for at least six months on entry, with blank pages available. Verified Oct 2026

• The days granted are the officer's decision. Guidance describes up to 90 days (and some sources describe longer grants), but the number recorded for you on arrival is the number that governs. Since May 2023 it is recorded digitally in the Migraciones system rather than reliably as a passport stamp — check the days actually granted and plan to that figure.
• Onward travel: airlines may check for proof of onward or return travel at boarding. Carry it.
• The passport-match rule — the one that ends trips: the passport you enter on must match Machu Picchu, Inca Trail, and train bookings exactly. Renewing a passport between booking and travel is a known denial risk. If a renewal is unavoidable, notify operators immediately and carry the old passport's details.
• Yellow fever: no certificate is required for a general Lima/Cusco arrival, but vaccination is commonly recommended for Amazon itineraries — verify per route with a travel-health professional.

Safety

The honest picture, per the US advisory as reissued in September 2026: Peru overall is Level 2 — exercise increased caution, citing crime, civil unrest, and kidnapping risk. Named within it are Level 4 — do not travel zones: the VRAEM (the Apurímac, Ene and Mantaro river valleys, including Vilcabamba) and the Colombia–Peru border area in the Loreto region, along with the boundary areas of Abancay, Ayacucho, Huancavelica, and Huancayo as specified in the advisory. Verified Sep 2026

• The standard circuit is not in the Level 4 area. The same advisory states explicitly that Cusco city, the Sacred Valley, the Inca Trail, and Machu Picchu sit outside it. Lima's tourist districts, Arequipa and Colca, and Puno complete a southern circuit that is open and heavily travelled under Level 2.
• Iquitos is not the border strip. Mainstream Amazon lodges and cruises around Iquitos and Puerto Maldonado are distinct from the Level 4 Loreto border area — but river itineraries should be routed away from the border, and routing is worth verifying with the operator.
• The everyday risk is opportunistic: pickpocketing and phone snatching in markets, stations, and crowds; taxi scams; ATM theft. Use app-based or hotel-dispatched transport, indoor ATMs, phones away at the kerbside, and valuables in the hotel safe.
• Disruption is the other standing risk. Demonstrations occur regularly and can close roads, trains, and highways without warning, including access to airports and to Machu Picchu. Keep a buffer day before any international departure and a stated plan B.
• Ayahuasca and Kambo retreats: the State Department warns against these products, citing deaths, serious illness, assault, and robbery. XSCOPE does not sell or endorse them.
• Check the live advisory before you book and again before you fly. Levels and zone lists move.

Health

• Altitude is the main event. The ladder runs Lima 0 m → Arequipa 2,335 m → Machu Picchu 2,430 m → Sacred Valley about 2,790–2,900 m → Cusco 3,400 m → Puno and Titicaca 3,810–3,827 m, with side trips and passes reaching 4,750–5,200 m. Sequence sleeping altitude upward (see the Cusco page), keep the first 24–48 hours gentle, and descend and seek care if symptoms worsen. Altitude medication is a pre-travel conversation with your own doctor.
• Coca caution: coca tea is traditional in the highlands, but coca products are a controlled substance in the US and can interact with medication. Do not carry coca leaves or products home.
• Amazon legs: yellow-fever vaccination and malaria advice are route-specific — get them per lodge and zone, not from general country guidance.
• Sun and water: high-altitude sun is intense even on cold days — sunscreen, hat, and sunglasses are load-bearing. Drink bottled or filtered water.
• Insurance with medical evacuation cover is strongly recommended, particularly with Amazon or high-trekking components in the plan.

Packing

Peru is three climates in one bag:

• Andes: layers, a warm shell, a hat and gloves for early starts — Cusco days can be T-shirt warm and its nights near freezing, sometimes in the same 12 hours.
• The lake: your warmest layer. Titicaca nights are cold year-round.
• Amazon: quick-dry everything, dry bags, headlamp, binoculars; lodge boots are usually provided.
• Coast: light clothing for the summer months; a proper jacket for garúa-season Lima.
• Everywhere: the passport you booked your tickets with (see the match rule above), a small daypack that meets train luggage limits, and copies of documents kept separate from the originals.

Connectivity

• Mobile coverage is good in the cities and along the main circuit, thinner in the Amazon and on remote altiplano legs. Local SIMs and eSIMs are easy to arrange on arrival; bring an unlocked phone.
• Wi-Fi is standard in city hotels and cafés; jungle lodges and trains are the places to expect — and enjoy — a gap.
• Language: Spanish. Tourism-facing staff in the main circuit speak English; in the Sacred Valley and Amazon, Quechua and local languages sit alongside Spanish, and a phrasebook app with offline Spanish downloaded transforms small interactions.