A one-hour flight in Peru usually costs between four and six hours door to door, once the transfer to the airport, the check-in margin, the wait for luggage and the transfer at the other end are counted. Bus journeys of six to ten hours are normal between regions and tend to run late.
Plan each travel day as a day with little else in it, and add a spare day before any flight home.
The flight time is the smallest part
A route on a booking site may say one hour and ten minutes. The real cost is larger. Airports are often reached by a taxi or transfer that takes anything from twenty minutes to an hour in traffic, especially in Lima. For domestic flights, arriving at the airport at least about ninety minutes before departure is a common recommendation, and arrival luggage can take some time to appear. The transfer at the destination adds the same again.
The sum for a short flight is therefore around four to six hours between hotel door and hotel door, and more when the airport is far from town. A day with a flight is a half day for sightseeing at best. The overview of flights in Peru explains the airlines and the usual routes. See airports to understand how far each one is from the centre.
Buses are slower than they look
Long-distance buses are comfortable and widely used, but routes through the mountains are winding and slow, and journey times given in timetables are approximate. A distance that looks like a few hours on the map can take most of a day. Overnight buses save a hotel night but cost you a sleepless one for many travellers, and you arrive tired on a day you may want to be active.
Delays happen for roadworks, weather, protests and breakdowns. In the rainy season, landslides can close a road for hours or longer. If you have an important connection the same day, a bus is a poor choice. For the types of service, see long-distance buses. See weather blocking a route to understand what closures look like.
Altitude changes what a day can hold
Arriving at altitude shortens how much you can do. The first day in Cusco is, for many people, a day of walking slowly and resting, not of sightseeing. This effect is not travel time, but it behaves like it: the day after a flight into the mountains is less productive than the same day at the coast.
The sensible approach is to treat arrival days as lost for sightseeing and to place the harder activities later in the stay. Sleeping at 3,400 m describes what the first nights are like, and the first days of a route such as the 7-day itinerary show how to arrange them.
Hidden minutes inside a transfer
A transfer is rarely one journey. It is a chain: waiting for a taxi, loading luggage, traffic, a queue at the terminal, a security check, boarding, taxiing, the flight, baggage, a second queue for a taxi, and check-in that may not be possible until the afternoon. Each step is short, but they add up, and each can fail independently.
Small items also add: changing money, buying water, finding a toilet, sorting a SIM card. On a bus the same applies to the terminal departure tax, the baggage check and the rest stops. The effect is greatest on days with two legs, such as a morning bus followed by an afternoon flight, where the second leg is at the mercy of the first. Avoid such days unless you have a buffer of several hours.
How to plan around it
Count nights, not days. A trip with six bases in ten days has at least five transfers, each of which takes half a day or more. Keep travel days light, put no fixed-time bookings, such as a Machu Picchu entry, on a day that follows a long transfer, and give the last day before an international flight to the flight alone.
Where possible, buy flights on a single ticket, take the morning flights that are less likely to be cancelled or delayed by weather, and keep one buffer day in the second half of the trip. For a rule of thumb for counting bases, see too many cities. See how many days to spend to understand what each length buys.
Where the time goes in a typical route
Take a ten-day route with Lima, the Cusco region and Arequipa. It has three internal flights and two train or road transfers. At about half a day each, that is two and a half days of travel inside ten, before counting arrival and departure. The remaining days are for sights, and some of them are slowed by altitude.
The result is that a route that looks like ten days of sightseeing is closer to six or seven. That is not a fault of the route; it is the cost of moving between regions in a country of this size. Accepting it, and choosing the places that justify the travel, is what separates a relaxed trip from a rushed one. The 10-day itinerary is built around this arithmetic.
What to do when the clock is against you
If you find yourself behind schedule, cut a place, not a night of sleep. Skip an optional site rather than hurry a long transfer, and take the flight rather than the bus for a leg that would otherwise use a full day. Ask your hotel to arrange the airport transfer, since a prearranged driver saves time and reduces risk.
If a flight is missed or a road closed, see what to do after a missed flight for the first steps, and travel insurance for what to keep. The best protection remains a plan with slack in it, which is why first-timer mistakes makes slack the first rule.
Frequently asked questions
How early should I arrive at a domestic airport?
Airlines publish their own advice, and about ninety minutes before departure is a commonly given rule of thumb.
Are overnight buses a good way to save time?
They save hotel nights but you arrive tired. On mountain roads they can also be slower than expected, so avoid them before a fixed booking.
How many travel days should a two-week trip have?
Three to four moves are comfortable in two weeks. More than that leaves little time at each place.
How long does the transfer from Lima airport to the centre take?
It varies widely with traffic, and can be much longer at rush hour. Allow generous time.
Is it better to fly or take the bus between Lima and Cusco?
Fly. The bus is a very long journey over mountain roads, and on a normal trip it costs more than a day of your time for a modest saving.
Can I take a night bus before a Machu Picchu day?
It is unwise. You arrive tired and a delay can cost the timed entry. Spend the night in a bed and take a train or bus the same morning, or arrive a day early.
Should I schedule anything on the day I fly into Cusco?
Keep it very light. Many people are tired and a little breathless on arrival, so a slow walk and an early night are enough.