PERU: PLACES & PRICES

The best way to explore the Choquequirao ruins is to fly into Cuzco and then drive to the town of Urubamba (9,400 feet above sea level), in the Sacred Valley. In Cuzco, a handful of tour operators can arrange trips to Choquequirao. Roger Valencia of Auqui Tours has a reputation for quality customized trips to all the famous sites in the Sacred Valley—Machu Picchu, Ausangate—and into the rain forest as well as to other parts of Peru. A five-day hike to Choquequirao includes tents, cots, three-course dinners with wine, and transportation to and from Cuzco or Urubamba (84-261517; auqui.com; five-day hike, $800 per person with a four-person minimum).

Travelers who don't mind carrying their own equipment can take a public bus from Cuzco to Saihuite, where they can hire a taxi or walk the 40 minutes to Cachora, the head of the trail. Farmers host the campsites (a donation is expected), and mules can be rented from concessionaires. Dario Cunza and his wife have a dozen horses and mules for hire at the Hospedaje San Pedro ($10 per day).

High-altitude hiking is best done with a hat, sunscreen, and insect spray. A sturdy rubber-tipped walking pole will save wear and tear on your knees.

The country code for Peru is 51. Prices quoted are for March 2009.

The 30-room Hotel Sol y Luna, in Urubamba, is the luxury choice, with everything from massages to horseback rides to special pachamanca feasts (84-201-620; bungalows, $200). The Sonesta Posadas del Inca, in Yucay, has 84 rooms, a colonial chapel, and even a ghost (84-20-1107; doubles, $160). Part of the Libertador chain and with a private train to Machu Picchu, the Tambo del Inka Luxury Collection Hotel is scheduled to open later this year in Urubamba.

The road from Cuzco to Cachora passes through plenty of small towns, all of which have at least one shop where you can stock up on provisions, including (if you're lucky) the pita-shaped local bread. Campsites along the trail itself also have shops that may sell fruit, bottled beverages, and packets of instant noodles. Fresh water is abundant, but it pays to ask the locals where the stray horses are grazing—and to avoid those streams.

Hiram Bingham's Lost City of the Incas is a classic that, like the best non-fiction, is only partially true (Phoenix Press, $13). Joseph Conrad's Nostromo (Everyman's, $20) and the photographs of the mid-20th-century Cuzqueñan Martín Chambi ( martinchambi.com) are still my favorite introduction to the complex culture of highlands Peru.