Please note the tour price reflected on the brochure is subject to change. Due to seasonality, and taxes prices of the tour are subject to change without due notice. Please consult with the operator directly for the recent price.
Amazon Voyage
Overview
Highlights (Bullets)
- View wildlife on hikes, excursion boat rides & even while kayaking in three different habitats
- Enjoy Sample local culture with cooking demonstrations, village & school visits, stops at riverside markets & Shaman blessing ceremony.
- Learn during guided tours, lectures & field interpretation by experienced native naturalists
- Dance to traditional music during nightly Happy Hour receptions.
Short Description
Amazon Voyage
Over the 37 years that International Expeditions has been leading Amazon River cruises, our guests have enjoyed unrivaled access to the Peruvian rainforest’s most pristine areas and the company of the river’s most knowledgeable guides. IE’s exciting daily excursions include dawn birding, school visits in local villages and even piranha fishing! Join IE and be transported to the Amazon of your imagination to discover a rainforest that pulsates with an unrivaled diversity of wildlife.
Itinerary
Day 1: Arrive Lima
Fly independently to Lima, Peru, the nation’s capital and largest city, and transfer to the Swissôtel for the night. (D Aloft)
Day 2: Lima / Iquitos / Embark / Amazon River
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Fly over the Andes to Iquitos. Visit the Manatee Rescue Center, where biologists and volunteers care for endangered Amazon manatees that conservation authorities have rescued. Learn about efforts to help these endearing mammals. See how the manatees are cared for and prepared for reintroduction into their natural habitat. Prior to boarding the elegant riverboat, Zafiro, survey the history of local tribes at a small museum. Enjoy stargazing and storytelling with our local guides while cruising slowly on the Amazon River toward the confluence of the Marañón and Ucayali Rivers.
Day 3: Confluence of the Amazon River / Río Ucayali
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
We awake this morning on the Amazon River, seeing some of the ever-changing panorama of jungle life as the Amazon River cruise ship continues upriver. Small villages dot the shoreline, and channels weaving through island mazes provide close-up views of a variety of birds. The confluence of the Ucayali and Marañón Rivers is famous as the beginning of the Amazon River in Peru. Amazingly, we are about 2,400 miles from where the river flows into the Atlantic. The river drops only about 350 feet the entire way! On our Amazon Voyage adventure, travel waterways aboard sturdy excursion boats to areas where we may find marsh birds such as oriole blackbirds, green ibis, yellow-headed caracaras, black-capped donacobis and white-headed marsh-tyrant. We turn into the Río Ucayali, where we’re apt to find gray river dolphins and Amazon pink dolphins cavorting near the boat and along the shoreline. Later we take an excursion into the surrounding rainforest in search of giant water lilies and elusive wildlife such as monkeys and sloths. As dusk approaches, fishing bats begin their night’s foraging.
Day 4: Río Ucayali / Pacaya-Samiria Reserve
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
After a peaceful breakfast along the black-water Sapote Creek, we explore a small tributary of the Ucayali aboard excursion boats. Look for animals including primates, sloths and an enormous variety of birds. Our Amazon Voyage adventure continues upriver to the Pacaya-Samiria Reserve. Although scientific studies are far from exhausted, the Pacaya-Samiria is the known home to 450 bird species, 102 species of mammals, over 130 species of reptiles and amphibians, and countless plants. This afternoon, an excursion into this largest wetland reserve in the world provides the opportunity to see 13 species of primates, including monk sakis, red howler, saddle-backed tamarin and squirrel monkeys. Explore Caro Lake, connected to the river by way of a very small stream, where we may find flocks of greater ani, often seen following monkeys in search of insects disturbed by the monkeys’ foraging. We enjoy a nighttime boat excursion for a chance to find caimans, capybaras, common potoos, frogs and other nocturnal wildlife.
Day 5: Rio Pacaya / Pacaya-Samiria Reserve
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Spend the day exploring this flooded realm, seeing wading birds such as herons, wattled jacanas and horned screamers. Venturing deep into the rainforest, tour an igapo (seasonally flooded forest), where plant life is very different from what we see along the main course of our Amazon cruise, and walk through the forest. Lucky guests may release turtle hatchlings. A delicious lunch energizes us for afternoon excursions with our expert naturalists, where we may find scarlet macaws, hoatzins, black-collared hawks and red howler monkeys.
Day 6: Pacaya-Samiria Reserve
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
After an early breakfast, we board excursion boats for access even further into the heart of these vast wetlands. As our Amazon Voyage adventure cruises the narrow waterways, we’ll find birds such as canary-winged parakeets and spectacular blue-and-gold and scarlet macaws. Primates also are fairly common, including noisy squirrel monkeys. Once we arrive at a remote ranger station, enjoy a refreshing swim. Gradually make our way back to the riverboat through the maze of waterways. Enjoy an al fresco lunch and time to relax before our afternoon excursion.
Day 7: Río Ucayali
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Head back downriver, with a morning wildlife or other activity. Visit a village along the river, with the chance to learn about the lives of the “Ribereño” people who live there. Accompanied by guides who grew up along the river, this is a fantastic opportunity to stroll through gardens learning about medicinal plants and folklore, visit a school, or join in a game of soccer. The children are especially excited to see their faces on digital cameras and to show off their school and sing Peruvian songs. Depending on the villages visited during your Amazon River tour, you may also have the opportunity to see an IE-funded water treatment plant. The clean drinking water provided by these plants is having an enormous positive health impact in remote river villages. Learn about medicinal plants and enjoy a blessing ceremony by a respected village shaman. Aboard the ship, learn to make traditional Peruvian dishes or enjoying an enriching lecture. After dark, go out in excursion boats to listen to the sounds of the rainforest and look for nocturnal wildlife.
Day 8: Amazon River
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Wake up early for a morning birdwatching excursion along the Yarapa River. After breakfast, try your hand at piranha fishing in Ubos Lake. Piranha are very common in the slower-moving water. With luck, we may catch red-breasted, white or black piranha, and feast on our catch this evening at dinner. Once back aboard your luxury Amazon River cruise ship, we enjoy a farewell dinner.
Day 9: Iquitos / Lima / Depart
Meals: Breakfast and Lunch
Disembark in Iquitos and fly back to Lima for lunch. Dayrooms are provided until you connect with flights home, which depart after midnight.
Day 10: Arrive Home
Arrive Sunday and connect with flights home. (Meals Aloft)
Optional Post-Trip Extensions
A visit to Machu Picchu, the grandest of all the Inca sites, must stand out as a highlight of anyone’s travels. It has the most dramatic of settings, atop an Andean mountain surrounded by other peaks. For all its extent — Machu Picchu has some 200 structures, along with brilliant stone masonry — it was almost forgotten until its rediscovery in 1911 by Hiram Bingham. But there is a great deal more to see, and this Machu Picchu tour includes a variety of experiences in the great city of Cusco and in the Sacred Valley of the Incas.
Day 9: Iquitos / Lima
Meals: Breakfast and Lunch
Late this afternoon, we fly from Iquitos to Lima, and overnight at the Costa del Sol.
Day 10: Lima / Cusco / Urubamba Valley
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Fly to Cusco — the heart of the Inca Empire. Drive into the historic Urubamba Valley, stopping in Chinchero to browse and shop for Andean handicrafts and alpaca sweaters. Visit the Urubamba Market and spend tonight at the Aranwa Hotel.
Day 11: Machu Picchu
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Board the train to Machu Picchu, where we spend the afternoon exploring the ruins with our guide. Our home for the next two nights is the Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel.
Day 12: Machu Picchu
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Today is yours to explore Machu Picchu or simply relax! Wake up early and hike to the Sun Gate or enjoy some early morning birding in the abundant gardens surrounding our hotel, home to 16 species of hummingbirds.
Day 13: Ollantaytambo / Sacsayhuamán / Cusco
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Catch the morning train back to the Sacred Valley. Explore the mighty archaeological wonder of Ollantaytambo, where ancient temples and fortresses were built to protect the Sacred Valley. After a Paso Fino horse show at Wayra Ranch, continue across the valley toward Cusco. We stop at Sacsayhuamán — a huge fortress of massive stones which zigzags across the side of the mountain. Spend tonight at the Aranwa Hotel.
Day 14: Cusco
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Stroll the streets of Cusco, exploring the Koricancha — also known as Santo Domingo, Santa Catalina Convent and the Cathedral. After lunch, the afternoon is free to explore on your own before a farewell dinner featuring Andean fare. Return to the Aranwa Hotel for the night.
Day 15: Cusco / Lima / En Route
Meals: Breakfast and Lunch
Fly back across the Andes to Lima, and transfer to the airport this evening for flights home.
Day 16: Arrive Home
Connect with your flight home. (Meals Aloft)
Availability
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6 International Expeditions Travel Reviews & Ratings
Amazon Voyage
IE puts on a show on the Amazon
It was tremendous:
1. The diversity of wildlife is extreme and up close and personal.
2. The vastness of it all approaches infinity.
3. The staff and guides were top drawer professionals.
The IE mother ship (Zafiro) is in great condition and very comfortable, clean and welcoming. The staff is friendly, helpful, supportive, knowledgeable. The naturalists/guides are the best. Experts in the wildlife and flora and good-natured and personable.
Yes, it is hot and humid, but very bearable. Yes, there are mosquitoes at night, but again very manageable. (We've all experienced much much worse in the US.)
In the wet season (50 feet higher water than in dry season) you don't get to walk as much as you do in dry season because terra firma is so much further into the rain forest than you can reach in a boat. But we did get to visit villages and walk in the rain forest.
We swam. We went out every morning and afternoon in the skiffs to explore smaller rivers and lakes. Sloths, monkeys, iguana, boa, anaconda, caiman, tarantula, piranha, frogs, toads, and more bird types than you can count.
Wow - What a Show!
Company Reviews
Amazon River Cruise
Staff and guides are very friendly and accommodating. If you have food allergies and any sort of problem they take the time to ensure you have a great trip and will help you any way that they can. The river cruise itself was very comfortable clean sheets, beds are nice and rooms are pretty spacious overall for a river cruise.
We always had daily activities to participate in or could choose to stay behind. But I wouldn't recommend that as you get to see so much just within the first couple of days that you're in Pacaya-Samiria Reserve!
The wildlife was incredible and included sightings of monkeys, birds, snakes, a sloth, spiders and beautiful frogs that you get to see during the night boat tour. I loved going into a local village and learning about cultural traditions that have been passed on from generation to generation. We even participated in a spiritual ritual that's supposed to cleanse your body; a very interesting experience! I'd recommend bringing and using insect repellent daily especially during summer peak season, it is the Amazon after all. If you love wildlife and are looking for a great authentic but comfortable experience in nature, I highly recommend this trip.
Outstanding!
Have done three trips with IE
This company is good for trips on the Amazon river
Details
Flight & Transport Inclusions
All internal ground transport
Group Size
Standard Group - 25 + people
Accommodations
The Zafiro
Travel aboard the Zafiro, a luxurious vessel we have chartered for your adventure, which blends stylish design and modern comforts. Classic touches include magnificent floor-to-ceiling windows and — for those on the Upper Deck — private balconies. A ship staff and crew of 25, including a cruise director and local naturalist guides, are joined by an IE Expedition Leader to ensure an unprecedented level of service. All 19 spacious suites are air-conditioned and feature en suite bathrooms, a desk and ample closet space.
Cabins
Lower Deck Suite: Cabins with convertible twin or California King-sized bed and panoramic floor-to-ceiling window. Approx. 226 sq. ft.
Upper Deck Suite: Cabins with convertible twin or California King-sized bed, panoramic floor-to-ceiling window and balcony. Approx. 226 sq. ft.
Master Suite: Cabins with convertible twin or California King-sized bed, panoramic floor-to-ceiling window with 90° view. Approx. 248 sq. ft
Zafiro Suite: Cabins with convertible twin or California King-sized bed, panoramic floor-to-ceiling window with 180° view, balcony and Jacuzzi-style bathtub and convertible sofa bed. Approx. 480 sq. ft.
Public Spaces
Savor regional specialties and contemporary cuisine infused with flavors from the surrounding rainforest. The atmosphere is casual yet elegant as you sample Amazon fusion cuisine while enjoying spectacular views from the panoramic windows.
Connect with fellow travelers, chat with your local guides or enjoy snacks and a drink in the large indoor lounge. The comfortable furnishings make a perfect spot for relaxing with a book or enjoying the passing scenery.
Glide past the Amazon rainforest and clusters of wooden houses on stilts with children playing soccer as you sip morning coffee and take in the fresh air from the river’s most luxurious Observation Deck. Siesta on a cushioned lounger beneath a soaring canopy — ideal for avoiding the sun’s glare. Plus, ease into the Zafiro’s outdoor Jacuzzi to relax after a shore excursion.
Indulge in aromatherapy or a massage in the spa, which is staffed by a wellness specialist.
See The Zafiro
Additional Information
What kind of visas are required for travel to Peru?
Bring a valid passport. We recommend that your passport remain valid for at least six months after your departure date. Visas are not required for US or Canadian citizens.
What kind of weather can you expect during your Amazon tour?
The Iquitos area, near where IE explores on the Amazon Voyage travel package, is located a few degrees south of the Equator and is characterized by strong tropical sun and rainforest. Average temperatures range from the upper 70° to upper 80°F year-round during the day, to the lower 70s at night. It can be cool on the river at night or on overcast days. There is very little seasonal variation between winter and summer temperatures. The average humidity ranges from 60-80%, and rainfall occurs approximately 250 days out of the year. Most showers occur in the late afternoon or evening and are of short duration.
Lima temperatures vary from 70-84°F January through March; 63-81°F April through June; 59-66°F July through September; and 61-75°F October through December.
Trip ID#:
AmaVoyInt
Meals Included
8 Breakfasts, 8 Lunches and 7 Dinners
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