Don't be confused, it may be a ingredient of cocaine, but still Cocoa leaves is perfectly legal to buy in Peru. But it is illegal in most of the neighboring countries, so don't carry the cocoa bag with you while leaving Peru and entering another country.
Cusco Tourists Tickets -Boleto
Boleto (Boleto Turístico General, or BTG) is the admission tickets to some sites in around Cusco. If included sites matches with your plan, it is wise to purchase the Cusco Tourist Ticket.
Inca Mystery
How do they lift those 15 tons stones? How they place those stones so neatly?
If you are planning to visit most of the cities in short time, then the major problem you will face is to acclimatize. If you don't acclimatize, there is always a chance that you will be sick. Not all the person become sick due to the lack of acclimatization, but chance to be sick is more with less acclimatization. For more information on how to acclimatize, read my page on acclimatization. So before you plan your tout, you need to know the altitude of different cities of Peru.
Height of Cities in Peru
City
Height (Ft)
Height (Meter)
Lima
5080
1550
Cusco
10800
3300
Ollantaytambo
9150
2790
Machu Picchu
8040
2450
Puno
12420
3860
Arequipa
7740
2380
Lake Titicaca
12420
3860
Are Peru cities really high in elevation !
You can see in the table above, Cusco and Puno are two cities ( lake Titicaca is at Puno) with more than 10,000 ft height. Other cities are not really that high. Many of the cities in USA are at above 5,000 ft elevation.
Here is a list of some US states with there average elevation and another list with cities and the highest elevation in the city.
US State
Elevation (ft)
Colorado
6,800
Wyoming
6,700
Utah
6,100
New Mexico
5,700
Nevada
5,500
Idaho
5,000
Arizona
4,100
US City
Highest Point (ft)
Albuquerque
6,120
Denver
5,470
Los Angeles
5,074
El Paso
4,080
Honolulu
4,020
Here is another list of European cities with highest town in each country. From all these table you can get some idea on how to rank Peru cities comparing to other cities in different countries.
Country
Region / State
Town / City
Height (ft)
France
Savoie
Val Thorens (seasonal)
10564
Russia
Dagestan
Kurush
8134
Turkey
Ardahan
Damal
7217
Georgia
Svaneti
Ushguli
7216
Switzerland
Graubünden
Juf
6973
Italy
Lombardy
Trepalle
6788
Austria
Tyrol
Obergurgl
6332
Armenia
Kotayk
Tsaghkadzor
5741
Spain
Teruel
Valdelinares
5553
Greece
Macedonia (Greece)
Samarina(Grevena) AND Seli(Imathia).
4800
Liechtenstein
Balzers
Rotenboden
4645
Macedonia
Krusevo
4455
Germany
Black Forest
Feldberg
4190
Bulgaria
Smolyan Province
Chepelare
4042
Norway
Finse
4000
Croatia
Primorje–Gorski Kotar County
Begovo Razdolje
3478
Portugal
Guarda
3464
Romania
Predeal
3389
Poland
Zakopane
3280
Germany
Saxony
Oberwiesenthal
2998
Sweden
Högvålen
2739
Hungary
Mátraszentimre
2657
Finland
Lapland
Kilpisjärvi
1607
United Kingdom
Scotland
Wanlockhead
1532
San Marino
Acquaviva
1168
Iceland
Mývatn
944
Ireland
County Wicklow
Roundwood
781
Netherlands
Vijlen
656
Denmark
Region Midtjylland
Ejer
520
Estonia
Otepää
518
Actually acclimatization (the process where body tries to adjust with the lower amount of oxygen available at high altitudes) is very important for mountaineers. Since they go really up, 10,000/ 12,000 ft do not mean much to them), they need acclimatization. For general people below 8000 / 7000 doesn't mean much.
That is why many people don't feel anything while visiting Peru. But if you are coming from a low elevation country, then you may try to acclimatize your body if you are planning to go to Cusco or Puno. Read my page on acclimatization for more information.
Cusco: one of the high altitude city in Peru
Planning your tour and elevation of the cities
Many tour agencies try to organize the tour looking
in such a way so that you can acclimatize while enjoying the tour. If you are planning a tour of longer time, 2/3 weeks, you must move from cities of lower elevation to cities of higher elevation. Like from Arequipa and at the end Lake Titicaca, Puno. But if you going Peru for a short visit, like for 2/3 days, acclimatization is not a practical option. Because if you are planning to go to Machu Picchu in that 2/3 days stays in Peru, you have to go to Cusco first, and now Cusco is one of the highest city in Peru. Before stepping on Cusco you should stay 2/3 days in Lima, by that time your whole tour period will be finished. Actually each day hundreds of people land Lima, and head for Cusco by plane, then next day the reach Machu Picchu and come back to Cusco, and finally Lima to leave Peru. So to reduce the effect of acclimatization you may take other measures, which I explained in my page on acclimatization.
Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward. Here's how...
Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?
Click on the HTML link code below.
Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment,
your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.