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Making your Peru family vacation getaway more memorable with a little extra knowldege.We had been planning a Peru family vacation for several years before we finally mustered up the money and time to go. See my wife and I had always thought it would be a lot of fun to take a family vacation to Peru, but we knew that if we went we wanted to be able to spend some time there. Time to us meant at least 3 weeks. As it turned out, that is exactly how long we stayed and we decided that for us, this made a perfect amount of time to see everything we wanted to see on our Peru family vacation. Now, most people are going to discourage taking kids along on a trip like this, unless they are older. We tend to agree. Even though we didn't have kids along, we watched and spoke to other families that did and here is what we learned: Families that brought children along, tended to have kids that were at least 10 years old, and in most cases the children were in their teens. Families with children had more difficulty with transportation, because taxis in Peru are very small compact cars or Toyota Corolla station wagons, thus making it difficult or impossible to fit a family in one taxi. 
Therefore, these families were forced to travel by van taxis, which are available, but limiting you to having to wait to spot a van and then get to your destination a little later than expected (do not rent a vehicle!-more on that later). Children that are older are not going to get as fussy as younger children when you can't eat right at lunch time or find a banos (restroom) immediately. By the way, most public restrooms charge one or half a soles (currency) to use it, so always carry change in your pocket. All this is not to discourage you from bringer younger children, since we did run into several families that had kids in the 5-8 range. We even ran into a couple from Germany who had a child that was only a couple years old and they had gone hiking with her! That being said, we still encourage you to take your kids along on a family vacation like this, because they will remember it for the rest of their lives and be exposed to another culture that is drastically different from ours. If you can afford it, do it. You will not regret it. 1) Taking a Peru family vacation is going to be expensive, so just be ready for it and budget accordingly. If you need some tips about travel before you leave, read this page. Obviously, you will need tickets before you leave to Peru. We watched different websites for several months and ended up buying our tickets through Delta's website. When you buy your tickets, we suggest you get them 3 months in advance from the date you leave. After studying the prices pretty extensively, we felt this was the best time to buy and after talking to many people on our Peru family vacation, we found that we paid less than most and the same as some. Another option is to go with Orient-Express in Peru. Book online. 2) Most people recommend getting a tour package before you arrive in Peru. We recommend an alternative to this with a disclaimer! If you know what you want to see, where you want to go, and what you would like to do when arriving there; then you can save a significant amount of money on your Peru family vacation, by not buying a tour package. You can schedule your flight to Lima, then take buses, flights, taxis, or trains to your destination. A tour guide will essentially charge you for their services, and if you know what you want to see, then don't bother paying for someone to book your transportation. Here is the disclaimer: do not do this unless you have travelled to a third world country before and aren't afraid to be flexible in your travel plans. For some families, this is too much stress. For other families, this is fun and part of the adventure! If you choose to go this route, then you will need to book your hotel reservations. You can do this on the fly, when you arrive in country, or you can go to this excellent website and book your hotel in advance. If you want a recommendation for tour operators, then SAS Travel is definately a good option, since they are the largest tour operator in Peru and can book you on any adventure or site you want to see. Another recommendation is Peru Expeditions who was cheaper and we felt just as good as SAS, although the operator will take longer to respond, since he is a small operator. He was very professional and we were very satisfied with his services.
3) Don't buy the Peruvian nuevo soles (currency) before you leave on your Peru family vacation. You can check out what the conversion rate is before you leave by clicking here. This gives you an idea of what to expect when arriving in Peru. Be forewarned, whatever rate you see on the net or at your local bank is really about .15% less than the actual rate. We learned it was easier to bring US dollars with us and exchange it on the street or market place at a better rate than at our bank in the States. Besides, you can get US dollars or soles out of most ATM's in the larger cities, and the fee is no more than you would pay in the States. Also, don't worry about carrying traveler's cheques (most small merchants don't take them anyways). 4) Remember you are in a third world and they run on a different schedule than we Westerners are used to. If someone tells you a time, be on time, but ready to wait for up to an hour. Learn to be patient! 5) Do not rent a vehicle. I repeat, Do not rent a vehicle! Unless you are a NYC taxi driver or simply have a death wish; leave the driving to the Peruvians. You don't want your Peru family vacation ending in an accident, because you failed to see that crazy driver who ignored the stop sign and ploughed into you. 6) You will need to get typhoid shots or pills before going, preferably a Hepititis shot, and maybe a yellow fever shot if your doctor thinks it is best. Malaria medicine is only necessary if you plan to visit the jungle areas. If you plan to stay in the Lima, Cusco, and the mountain or desert areas, don't bother getting Malaria medicine, since the mosquitoes don't carry it around there. The best place to find out what you need to get is to visit your local public health clinic and have them educate you. Don't bother talking to your doctor, because he will just send you there anyways, unless you live in a small town and don't have a public health clinic. There are basically 3 big malaria medicines to take: Chloroquin, Malarone, Tetracyclin. If your insurance can pay for it, take Malarone. Chloriquin doesn't work well on most strands of Malaria and Tetracyclin is just downright nasty on your system. Alright, these are just the basics, but it will help you start planning your Peru family vacation. Here are some places you should consider visiting:
Cusco-The Archeological Capitol of the Americas
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