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An orange butterfly edged in black resting on a green leaf in Manu National Park

Sample journey · 8–10 days

Manu: from the Andean passes to the Amazon rivers

Cusco, Paucartambo, Tres Cruces, the Kosñipata cloud forest & the Manu lowlands

Photo: Ulrike Langner / Unsplash

Illustrative journey ideas — not bookable packages. No prices, dates or accommodation are implied.

Manu is one of the most biodiverse places on Earth, and the secret is the drop in altitude. The road from Cusco climbs across the high puna, crosses the last ridge of the Andes at Tres Cruces and then spends several days descending: through elfin forest hung with moss and orchids, through cloud forest where hummingbirds and toucans fly, down to warm lowlands where the rivers are wide and monkeys call from the canopy. At the end of each day you are in a different world.

This isn't a comfortable jungle lodge near an airport, as in Tambopata, but a true expedition into one of Peru's most remote corners. The drives are long, the roads winding, a boat journey can take a whole day, and the stays, though carefully chosen, remain simple. The reward is a silence you won't hear anywhere else, and a forest where the animals are not yet quite used to people. It's best for those who have already travelled in rainforest and want more.

The route

The journey

  1. Cusco
  2. Paucartambo
  3. Tres Cruces
  4. The Kosñipata cloud forest
  5. The Alto Madre de Dios river
  6. The Manu lowlands & oxbow lakes
  7. Puerto Maldonado or Cusco
  1. A masked dancer in a colourful sequinned costume during a festival in Paucartambo

    01Days 1–3 · Cusco, Paucartambo & Tres Cruces

    The last ridge of the Andes

    Two nights in Cusco, at around 3,400 metres: a gentle walk through the old town, plenty of tea and quiet evenings to let your body adjust to the altitude. On the third day we leave early. The road winds past mountain villages and the pre-Inca burial towers of Ninamarca to Paucartambo, a colonial town with a stone bridge that comes alive in July with the colourful festival of the Virgen del Carmen and its masked dancers. Then comes the ridge at Tres Cruces, at around 3,800 metres, where the mountains suddenly end and the Amazon basin opens beneath your feet. Especially in the southern winter months, sunrise over a sea of cloud here can be worth getting up before dawn for. By the afternoon the road is already dropping into the forest.

  2. 02Days 3–5 · The Kosñipata cloud forest

    A forest in the clouds

    The road down the Kosñipata valley drops almost two kilometres in just a few hours, and the forest changes every few hundred metres. Up high, low, moss-covered trees hung with bromeliads and orchids; lower down, tall cloud-forest trees, tree ferns and waterfalls beside the road. Two nights at a simple lodge in the forest. Early in the morning, a lek of Andean cocks-of-the-rock, Peru's vivid red national bird: the males gather on the branches and dance for the females, loudly and almost theatrically. By day, slow walks along the road and trails with a guide who can identify dozens of birds by their calls: tanagers, toucans, hummingbirds. Woolly monkeys sometimes appear in the canopy. Rain and mist are frequent here, and they are exactly what keeps this forest alive.

  3. An Amazon tree boa coiled on a mossy branch near the Manu Learning Centre in the Manu Biosphere Reserve

    03Days 5–6 · The Alto Madre de Dios river

    Where the road runs out

    Further down, the road emerges into the warm foothills and soon ends at the river. From here, the whole journey is by boat. On the first day we travel down the Alto Madre de Dios between forested hills to a lodge in the foothill forest for one night. In the evening, a walk by torchlight, when the forest is full of frogs, insects and sometimes tree boas, and at night, sounds you will never mistake for anything else. The next morning brings the longest day of the trip: the boat runs downstream past Boca Manu, where the Manu river joins the Madre de Dios, then turns up the Manu itself. On the sandbanks caimans and turtles often bask, herons fly over the water, and with luck a capybara or a tapir swims across. Sitting in a boat for hours isn't easy, so we stop often.

  4. A squirrel monkey mother and baby on a mossy branch in the rainforest of Manu National Park

    04Days 6–9 · The Manu lowlands

    Otters, macaws and oxbow lakes

    Three nights at a lodge in the lowland forest of Manu, which can only be entered with licensed guides. In the mornings, the oxbow lakes, old loops of the river that we glide across quietly on a raft: families of giant otters live here and are often seen fishing, while hoatzins, strange, prehistoric-looking birds, sit along the banks. Another morning, a clay bank by the river where, when the weather is dry and sunny, hundreds of parrots and macaws gather to eat the mineral-rich clay, in an astonishing blur of noise and colour. In the midday heat, a tower above the canopy; in the evenings, trails where a herd of peccaries sometimes passes. A jaguar or a tapir is possible, but always a matter of luck. On the last day, back downriver to Boca Manu and, when flights are operating, a small plane to Cusco, or otherwise by river and road to Puerto Maldonado.

Experience highlights

  1. 01

    Tres Cruces

    The last ridge of the Andes and a view over the Amazon basin, often above a sea of cloud.

  2. 02

    The cock-of-the-rock lek

    An early morning in the cloud forest as the bright red males dance on the branches.

  3. 03

    The oxbow lakes

    A quiet raft trip, when giant otters are often fishing close by.

  4. 04

    The parrots' clay bank

    Hundreds of macaws and parrots at a riverbank when the weather is dry and the birds are willing.

First, we listen. Then, we explore what's possible.

Make it your own

  • At a slower pace

    One more night in the cloud forest and another in the lowlands give more time for watching and fewer long days in the boat.

  • For birdwatchers

    More days at different altitudes with a specialist birding guide: hundreds of species are possible in a single trip here.

  • By season

    The dry season, roughly May to October, is usually the most comfortable; in the rainy months the rivers rise, trails are muddy and some lodges close.

  • With Machu Picchu or Lake Titicaca

    Cusco is both start and finish, so the journey combines easily with the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu or a few days by Lake Titicaca.

Practical considerations

  • The rainy season usually runs from roughly December to March, the drier season from roughly May to October. Even in the dry months it often rains in the forest, and cold fronts sometimes push up from the south; the weather varies from year to year.
  • The Manu reserved zone can only be entered with licensed guides and under park rules that change; we check them before you travel. The most remote parts of the park are set aside for the communities who live there and are closed to visitors.
  • Flights from Boca Manu are irregular and weather-dependent, so we always keep a fallback route by river and road and a spare day.
  • Before you travel, we check the latest travel advice and entry requirements; for vaccinations and protection from mosquitoes, it's worth asking a travel clinic.

General guidance only. Seasons, weather and wildlife are never guaranteed, and travel requirements are always worth checking before you go.

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