Accessible Travel in Peru

The honest position

Peru does not have the accessible infrastructure of North America or Western Europe, and this page will not pretend otherwise. Pavements in historic centers are narrow, high and frequently broken; many of the places visitors come to see are five hundred years old and built on slopes.

What is also true is that Peru is visited successfully every year by travelers with a wide range of mobility, sensory and health needs, and that the limiting factor is usually planning rather than possibility. The country is also accustomed to visitors of all ages, and staff are generally willing to help when asked directly.

The question that comes before all the others

Altitude. Cusco is at 3,400 meters and Puno is higher. Altitude sickness is named as a serious risk in Cusco, Puno, the Colca Canyon and Kuelap, and thinner air affects anyone with a heart or lung condition, anyone on supplementary oxygen, and anyone whose stamina is already limited.

Discuss the altitude with your own clinician before booking anything. That conversation should happen before flights, not after, because it may change the shape of the trip entirely. Some travelers are advised to stay below the highlands; others are advised to go up slowly and acclimatize over several days. No page can make that judgment, and this one publishes no medication and no dose.

It is worth saying that a Peru trip without the high Andes is a real trip and not a consolation. Lima, the coast, Paracas, Nazca and the northern archaeology are all at or near sea level.

Lima

The most workable part of the country. International chain hotels in Miraflores and San Isidro have accessible rooms, the newer shopping and restaurant developments have lifts and ramps, and the coastal clifftop parks are paved and level. Museums vary; the larger national ones are better than the small ones in colonial buildings.

Taxis are ordinary cars. Accessible vehicles exist through specialist operators and need to be booked in advance. The general warning about not using an unarranged car applies with more force here, and is set out in our Peru travel safety guide.

Cusco and the Sacred Valley

Cusco's historic center is cobbled, steep and at altitude, which is a demanding combination. Some hotels in converted colonial buildings have lifts and some have none, and photographs will not tell you which. Ask directly, and ask about the route from the street to the room rather than about the room.

The Sacred Valley is lower, at around 2,800 meters, and flatter in places. Several hotels there are modern, single story and set in gardens, which makes them a considerably easier base than Cusco, and the lower altitude is better for acclimatization in any case. For many travelers this is the single most useful adjustment to a standard itinerary.

Machu Picchu

Be clear about the geography. The citadel sits at more than 2,400 meters on a steep ridge, and it is crossed by stone terraces and stairs that are original, uneven and without handrails. The circuits inside the sanctuary involve continuous ascent and descent on that surface.

The train to Aguas Calientes and the bus up the mountain road are both assistable with notice. Inside the site, the upper circuits are not adaptable and the lower ones are less demanding but are still Inca stonework.

Arrangements have been made for visitors with limited mobility, and they change. Ask the official ticketing service and your operator about the current circuits, what assistance is permitted and what a companion may do, well before booking, because entry is timed and capacity controlled and tickets are not flexible.

Travelers with other requirements

• Vision. Uneven ground is the main hazard, and it is everywhere in historic centers. Guides are used to descriptive commentary if asked. Some museums offer handling sessions on request.
• Hearing. Written confirmation of arrangements avoids most difficulty. Ask operators for the itinerary in writing and for a way to contact them by message.
• Existing conditions generally. Medical treatment is harder to reach outside Lima, so carry a written summary of your condition and medication in Spanish, carry more supply than the trip needs in original labeled packaging, and confirm your insurance covers your condition at altitude.
• Anxiety and sensory load. Markets and festivals are loud and crowded. Quiet alternatives exist at every site; morning visits are calmer everywhere.

Questions worth asking an operator

• How many steps are there between the street and the room, and is there a lift?
• What is the walking surface at each site, and how far is it from where the vehicle stops?
• What altitude does each night of the itinerary sleep at, and in what order?
• Can the itinerary absorb a rest day without losing a booking?
• What happens if the train is disrupted?
• Is there a doctor reachable from each location, and how long does that take?

An operator who answers these precisely is the one to book. An operator who answers that everything will be fine is not.

Verify before you travel

Site access arrangements, circuit rules and hotel facilities change. Confirm each of them directly and close to travel rather than relying on any published description.

Sources

• UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office: Peru health: the ambulance number 106, the eight week lead time before travel, altitude sickness named as a serious risk in Cusco, Puno, the Colca Canyon and Kuelap, the dengue outbreak following floods, and the difficulty of accessing medical treatment outside Lima. Accessed 16 September 2026.
• UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office: Peru safety and security: protests and strikes and their effect on the southern railways, street crime in Lima, Cusco and Arequipa, robbery by criminals posing as taxi drivers at Jorge Chavez airport and the bus terminals, express kidnapping, counterfeit notes and the withdrawn intis passed by street changers in Cusco, methanol in spirit drinks, the requirement to carry identification, the prohibition on photographing military sites, the illegality of carrying coca leaf out of the country, driving and overnight bus standards, the rainy season from November to May, and the earthquake and volcanic risk. Accessed 16 September 2026.
• UNESCO World Heritage Centre: the inscription of the Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu in 1983 as a mixed property, covering 32,592 hectares of mountain slopes, peaks and valleys around the citadel at more than 2,400 meters, its roughly two hundred structures, its fifteenth century construction and abandonment after the Spanish conquest, and its reintroduction to the outside world in 1911. Accessed 16 September 2026.