Belmond Andean Explorer

We've got a hotel that is in the Citadel.

And then we can take another train, the Andean Explorer, through the Andes and end up in Las Casitas.

Amazing, beautiful.

That's the dream.

In a world of gas holes, befriend a Carmelo.

From Lima, you can fly south to Arequipa, and we're going to cover that on another episode, because the Andean Explorer overnight train journey, manifested by Belmond, needs its own dedicated hour.

But to reach Machu Picchu, as most every traveler does on their first journey to Peru, you'll have to fly from Lima or ride the rails to Cusco.

Cusco was the Inca capital, 11,000 feet high, walls fitted so perfectly you can't slide a credit card between the stones, and Spanish churches built right on top of them.

Belmond, as luxurious as it is a brand, builds community into the service itself.

We rode Peru Rail's Vistadome on the way back from Machu Picchu, which, also nice, huge panoramic windows, and when our train had to stop mid-route, the crew moved everyone onto buses with procedures so calm and well-drilled that it was obvious passenger safety and welfare were top of mind the whole way, even though our train journey was interrupted No complaints.

If anything, Peru Rail earned more of our trust, though next time we might just take the Hiram-Bingham in both directions, or finally do the long Andean Explorer from Arequipa to Puno and Puno to Cuzco.

Then there's Machu Picchu.

So I've gone for, for first off, I've gone for, um, Manisha Rajesh's Moonlight Express, which is, it's a, it's a travel book in which the, uh, British journalist and author of, um, Around the World in 80 Trains journeys across several continents aboard sleeper trains and explores kind of history, culture, endur- enduring appeal of, uh, overnight rail travel.

So it follows, follows Rajesh on routes including, uh, Austria's Nightjet, the Caledonian Sleeper, the Santa Claus Express in Scandinavia, Andean Explorer in Peru, and sections of the, the historic Orient Express route, while also kind of examining and probing the, the recent revival of night trains as travelers seek slower and definitely more environmentally conscious ways to travel.

Hmm.

Full disclosure, uh, Manisha Rajesh is a friend of a friend, [laughs] so that's also the reason why I picked it, which is, uh, uh-