How traveling with G Adventures through South America changed an industry expert’s view of curated group experiences
By Jeff Gayduk
I have a confession: Even though I’ve spent my entire adult life in the group travel industry, I had never actually taken a group tour.
I’ve been on countless familiarization trips. I’ve traveled with group leaders. I’ve hosted travel agents on cruises. But I had never shown up somewhere as a paying guest, handed over the logistics to someone else, and simply followed the program.
It’s not that I don’t value group travel. Quite the opposite, I’ve always believed in it. But because I’m in the business, I’ve long felt I could be my own group leader.
Then Peru happened.
Traveling to Peru with three kids in tow quickly made me realize I might be in over my head trying to plan it alone. Peru is stunning, but it’s also logistically complex. Five flights. Two train rides. Canoe transfers to remote lodges and hours of bus transfers between ports, cities, and remote destinations. Add in language barriers, unreadable Spanish road signs, and a history that spans centuries of Inca civilization and Spanish conquest, and suddenly, my iPhone and a guidebook didn’t feel like enough.
That’s what led us to G Adventures, a company long respected for its small-group focus, environmental stewardship, and deep commitment to supporting local communities. This particular itinerary was designed specifically for families. Four families, 15 total guests. From the pacing to the accommodations to the choice of guide, the experience was intentionally built with kids and parents in mind.
And it confirmed what I love about group travel. Here’s how our trip played out.
Day 1 – Arrival in Lima
We arrived in Lima and transferred to a small boutique hotel with Spanish architectural influence. Picture rust-colored stucco walls, blooming flower boxes lining balconies, a central courtyard fountain, and public areas filled with quiet corners and shaded nooks. The restaurant spilled into an outdoor courtyard. The bar had the kind of relaxed energy thatmakes you exhale after a long travel day.
Lima surprised me immediately.
Even though Spanish is the language spoken everywhere, classical American music floated through the air with songs from the Bee Gees, John Mellencamp, Elvis, The Police, and Bad Company. It felt familiar in an unexpected way.
The city itself is perched above the Pacific Ocean, dramatically elevated along coastal cliffs. Parks overlook the water. Along the shore, there’s a BMX track, volleyball courts, soccer fields, a skate park, and a bandstand used for concerts and festivals. In land, we found an urban “cat park” that looks like a mini-golf course designed entirely for felines.
At the same time, Lima feels raw and in motion. New construction stands beside unfinished buildings that seem to have paused mid-build. Industrial stretches meet lively public gathering spaces. Lima felt layered, energetic, and slightly chaotic in a way that makes you lean in.
That evening, we met our guide and fellow travelers: a family of five from Idaho, a father and son from Kansas City, and a family of three from Atlanta. After a round of introductions and a briefing from our tour director, we felt prepared to start something memorable.
Day 2 – Into the Amazon
An early transfer brought us to the airport for our flight to Puerto Maldonado in the Madre de Dios region, the gateway to the Peruvian Amazon.
The town felt rustic and distinctly South American with rough roads, open-air shops, roadside bodegas, and a rhythm entirely different from Lima. After swapping out our suitcases for duffelbags, we boarded a motorized canoe for a two-hour journey into the jungle.
The Amazon basin stretched wide and green. A recent heavy rainfall showed that the riverbanks had risen by 9 or 10 feet above the waterline in places. We spotted dozens of macaws nesting on the mineral-rich clay cliffs, families of turtles sunning themselves, capybaras resting along the banks, and small troops of monkeys swinging through the trees.
Our guide explained that some monkey troops can number close to 100; we saw smaller groups of four or five, which felt like enough.
Our remote jungle lodge consisted of about 15 individual hut structures, connected by a winding path, tucked into the rainforest canopy. Accommodations were simple but comfortable, mosquito nets, wood floors, open-air breezeways, and periodic electricity. Each hut had a hammock outside, which quickly became my favorite hangout spot.
The main lodge had bench-style seating in the dining area, open gathering spaces, and a robust collection of board games. No TV, of course, but my son was impressed that he could access Starlink internet intermittently during our stay. Our two nights here struck the perfect balance between engagement and comfort.
Day 3 – Jungle Immersion
The morning began with a guided jungle hike led by two naturalists who seemed to know every sound, tree, and insect by heart. A short lake cruise provided an opportunity to feed piranhas from the safety of our vessel.
In the afternoon, we took another short boat ride to visit a local family farm. They grow coffee, bananas, pineapple, and a wide range of other fruits and crops that support both their family, the lodge, and the local community.
After we walked the property, the farmer had us sample their “just-picked” fruits and veggies. This wasn’t staged tourism; it felt like an honest exchange, and that’s something G Adventures does particularly well, ensuring tourism dollars stay local and experiences remain authentic.
Day 4 – Cusco and Altitude
Back on board the canoe, we transferred back out of the jungle and flew to Cusco.
At 11,000 feet above sea level, the altitudehits you fast. Walking uphill suddenly feels like an athletic event. But Cusco is extraordinary, once the center of the Inca Empire, now a layered urban area with a population of over 400,000.
Picture Inca stone foundations and Spanish colonial architecture. Massive sandstone walls built by the Incas form the base of buildings topped with Spanish tile roofs. An impressive town square with magnificent cathedrals and the world’s highest elevation Irish pub. Authentic open-air mercados, stray dogs, and street vendors.
But just outside the historic center, tin roofs and concrete construction tell a different story. It’s a city of contrasts with elegant plazas lined with tourists and local neighborhoods side by side.
Day 5 – Sacred Valley to Aguas Calientes
Traveling Northwest from Cusco, 30 minutes by bus, the Sacred Valley unfolds in shades of green. Terraced hillsides climb the mountains. Structures stack along steep slopes. Life feels simple here with no billboards or stoplights, few streetlights, and none of the fast-food signage that dominates American roads.
Because of the valley’s unique topography and climate, vast agricultural fields dot the landscape. Farmers can harvest fruits and vegetables twice a year in the valley, a true gift of geography.
We ascended into a small Indigenous village where local women provided a demonstration on how they knit sweaters, scarves, socks, and textiles sold to visitors. Tourism supports their livelihoods, along with assistance from the Planeterra Foundation, G Adventures’ nonprofit arm focused on community development.
Later, we traveled to the village of Ollantaytambo, a lively but charming cobblestone town square, before boarding a vintage train for the 90-minute journey to Aguas Calientes, the base of Machu Picchu. The train followed the Urubamba River, at times paralleling the famed Inca Trail. The forest canopy pressed in close. It felt cinematic.
Aguas Calientes is compact and lively, the basecamp town built around the dream of seeing Machu Picchu. A fast-rushing river cuts through the center of town with hilly, but walkable streets and open-air mercados selling everything from trinkets and t-shirts to fresh juices and empanadas.
Day 6 – Machu Picchu
We roseat the crack of dawn to board the shuttle bus for the 30-minute vertical ascent to Machu Picchu.
While the entrance is touristy, visitor numbers are intentionally limited to between 4,500 and 5,600 per day, depending on season, in an effort to preserve the archaeological site and improve the visitor experience.
Built around 1450 during the reign of Inca emperor Pachacuti, Machu Picchu is widely considered both a royal estate and a sacred site. It was abandoned during the Spanish
conquest in the mid-1500s, reclaimed by vegetation, and largely preserved until 1911, when American explorer Hiram Bingham was led to the ruins by locals. It was never truly “lost.” Indigenous families knew of its existence, but Bingham’s documentation through the National Geographic Society introduced it to the world.
Exploring in small groups with a local guide makes all the difference. The site is surprisingly walkable, and every vantage point reveals another breathtaking angle with terraces cascading down the mountain with mist shifting across the horizon between rays of sunshine. Huayna Picchu rises dramatically behind it, and my boys were brave enough to ascend to the summit. They were rewarded with one of the most iconic views in South America.
No Instagram reel does this justice to prepare you for a truly bucket-list experience.
After our half-day visit and a light lunch, that afternoon we boarded the train back to Ollantaytambo, then continued by bus back to Cusco, with scenic views and the fading sunset unfolding around nearly every bend.
Day 7 – Chocolate in Cusco
Our final full day in Cusco included a hands-on chocolate workshop at a locally owned shop.
Peru ranks among the world’s top producers of cocoa beans and is particularly known for fine-flavor varieties. The experience was 100% interactive: roasting cocoa beans, grinding them, learning the origin story of chocolate, and crafting our own bars and truffles with personalized toppings and take-home boxes of our creations for personalized souvenirs.
It was both educational and delicious.
Day 8 – Farewell
A morning flight returned us to Lima. We checked back into our boutique hotel, enjoyed one final dinner where we shared our favorite memories, and soaked in the city’s evening energy before saying goodbye to our new friends and guide.
Final Thoughts
Though Peru is extraordinary, what surprised me most wasn’t the destination. It was the power of letting go.
By choosing G Adventures, I handed over the logistics, flights, transfers, trains, tickets, timing, and gained something far more valuable: family togetherness, community, and the freedom to enjoy a vacation without sweating every detail. There were no disagreements about when to depart the hotel, what to eat for dinner, and where to go next. We simply let go and followed the program.
Traveling independently has its place. But traveling on a thoughtfully designed small-group tour, especially in a destination as layered and logistically complex as Peru, delivers something deeper.
For the first time in my career, I wasn’t the group leader. And I loved it.
