Getting Around Peru

The short version

Fly for the long hops. Use reputable companies for buses and avoid overnight journeys where you can. Book the Machu Picchu train early, because it is a bottleneck rather than a transport choice. And never get into a car you have not arranged.

Domestic flights

Peru is roughly twice the size of Texas with the Andes down the middle, and a route that looks short on a map can be a full day on the ground. Flying between Lima, Cusco, Arequipa, Juliaca, Iquitos and Puerto Maldonado is what makes a two week itinerary possible.

Two practical points. Book early, because fares for the Cusco route rise steeply close to departure. And leave a buffer before an international connection: weather closes the Cusco airport, and protests have closed airports outright.

If you are connecting through Lima rather than starting there, note the airport use fee described in our Peru visa and entry requirements guide. It is not included in airline tickets.

Buses

The long distance network is extensive and covers places flights do not. It is also where the biggest difference in quality sits. The established companies run modern coaches with reclining seats and are a reasonable way to travel; at the cheap end, standards drop sharply.

The source is direct about this: driving standards are poor, fatal crashes are frequent, and bus crashes are common, especially at night. Armed robbers have also held up provincial and intercity buses.

What that turns into in practice:

• Use a reputable company and book directly rather than through a tout at a terminal.
• Prefer daytime journeys on mountain routes. The scenery is the point anyway.
• Keep your passport on you rather than in a stowed bag, and do not leave a bag unattended.
• Take a warm layer. Overnight coaches at altitude are cold and the air conditioning is enthusiastic.

The Machu Picchu railway

This is the single most important booking of a Peru trip and it is not really a transport decision. Access to Aguas Calientes is by train, on foot over a trek, or by the long alternative road and walk. Services run from Cusco and from stations in the Sacred Valley such as Ollantaytambo, and the Sacred Valley departures are shorter and more common.

Book train tickets and sanctuary entry together and early. Entry to Machu Picchu is timed and capacity controlled, and a train seat is no use without a matching entry slot.

Trains in the south, including the Machu Picchu services, are occasionally suspended or disrupted by protests, without notice. This is the reason a buffer day before an international flight is not optional on this itinerary.

Taxis and ride hailing

This is the one piece of transport advice with no exceptions, and it is covered fully in our Peru travel safety guide. There is a documented risk of robbery by people posing as drivers, concentrated at Jorge Chavez International Airport and the bus terminals.

Use a licensed telephone or app based service, have your hotel book the car, or at the airport use one of the official companies at the desks directly outside the baggage hall. At a bus terminal, use a taxi registered at that terminal. Do not accept a ride from somebody who approaches you, and do not accept help with luggage from somebody who says they are meeting you.

Ride hailing apps operate in the larger cities and have the advantage that the vehicle, the driver and the route are recorded before you get in.

City transport

Lima has a segregated bus corridor and a metro line, both useful on their own routes and neither covering the city. The combi minibuses are cheap, crowded and not recommended with luggage. Cusco is small enough to walk, with the caveat that walking uphill at 3,400 meters in your first two days is harder than it looks.

Driving

Most visitors should not. Driving standards are described as poor, drivers frequently ignore stop signs and traffic lights, fatal crashes are frequent, and drivers do not reliably give way to pedestrians. Mountain roads are narrow, unlit and subject to rockfall and landslide in the rainy season.

If you do drive, carry your passport or valid identification at all times, take particular care near any protest, and never attempt to pass a blockade. Check what license and permit Peru requires of a driver holding your own country's license before you book a car; the rules differ by nationality and the rental desk is the wrong place to discover them.

Be extra cautious as a pedestrian too. That is the same warning pointed the other way, and it is the more useful version for most visitors.

Boats

In the Amazon, boats are the roads. In the high water months they reach places nothing else can. Check that an operator is licensed and that life jackets are on board, and confirm your insurance covers river travel.

Verify before you travel

Timetables, ticketing platforms and route availability change, and disruption can be sudden. Confirm with your operator and with iPeru close to travel.

Sources

• 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.
• UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office: Peru travel advice: the two areas under a standing advisory against all but essential travel, the strip within twenty kilometers south of the Putumayo River and the Colombian border in Loreto, and the Valley of the Apurimac, Ene and Mantaro rivers, and the statement that no travel can be guaranteed safe. Accessed 16 September 2026.