E-Bike Peru: Cusco to Machu Picchu

Experience the beauty of nature and uncover hidden gems of a destination on our E-Bike trips. The e-bike isn't just a fitness shortcut—it's your gateway to exploring further, reaching more remote and wild places. Rather than being seen as an "easy option," the e-bike serves as a powerful enabler, giving you the freedom to discover areas that would otherwise be difficult to access.

On our cycling trips, we’ve found a local guide who has put together a perfect route and will navigate for you all the way. We also send a van that transports your overnight luggage and provide high-quality bikes and delicious snacks to keep you going. Faff eliminated!

Riding an e-bike is your key to unlocking a whole new level of adventure! It feels similar to riding a regular bike, but with a little extra oomph from the electric motor. The motor provides a smooth, effortless boost on tough climbs or rough terrain, allowing you to focus on the journey and soak in the surroundings without getting overly fatigued. You’ll still need to pedal, but you can easily adjust the level of assistance to match your preferences. Essentially, it’s great fun and a fantastic way to explore further.

On an average ride with an e-bike, you'll provide about 75% of the effort, with your E-Bike assisting with the remaining 25%. There will be moments when you'll need to switch to Boost mode for short bursts of power, especially on challenging terrain or steep sections. However, most of your ride will be in Eco and Trail modes, with Eco mode often being your go-to on climbs to conserve battery life throughout the day. This balance ensures a smooth, enjoyable ride while still giving you the thrill of exploration.

E-bikes are designed to be user-friendly and accessible for all skill levels. That said, having some off-road experience and basic bike-handling skills is important, as e-bikes tend to be heavier than regular bikes. It's also helpful to be comfortable riding a variety of trails, including downhill sections, along with managing your balance, and making sharp turns, as this will make your experience more enjoyable.

You’ll be riding a Mookraker Chaser, high-performance aluminum framed e-bike designed for a variety of terrains, from smooth roads to trails. These bikes are equipped with a Bosch Performance Line CX Cruise motor (25Km/h) for excellent power on climbs and descents, and a Bosch Powertube battery (625w/h) for long-lasting rides. Each bike comes with a mounted LCD digital display mounted for easy tracking of speed, distance, and battery status.

Before your trip, your host will ask for your height to ensure the correct frame size is provided. Each bike is equipped with a water bottle cage, standard flat pedals, and male/standard saddles. If you prefer to use your own saddle and pedals (including SPDs), feel free to bring them, and they’ll be fitted for you.

The power assistance on e-bikes is typically capped at around 25 kilometers per hour (15.5 miles per hour). If you want to go faster, you'll need to pedal harder! You can adjust the power levels to match your pace and terrain. Your cycling guide will brief you on how to use the different modes to optimise your ride and make the battery last: Eco Mode: Low power for energy efficiency, giving you a longer battery life on flat terrain. Auto Mode: Automatically adjusts the power based on terrain and your peddling effort for a more balanced ride. Sport Mode: Provides mid-range power, ideal for moderate hills and faster cruising. Turbo Mode: Delivers maximum power, perfect for steep hills or when you want to ride fast.

The e-bike batteries are typically charged overnight, usually at your accommodation. Each day’s route is designed to be comfortably doable on one e-bike battery with sensible use of the motor assist. If you whack it into ‘Turbo’ and freewheel your way through the Andes, you’ll likely run out of juice before lunch. Spare batteries are limited (they're tricky to import to Peru), so sensible battery management is all part of the adventure.

On some days, you'll cycle point to point; on others, there'll be a transfer of less than one hour to get you between locations. This helps keep you off busy roads and on the best cycling routes. The backroads of the Scared Valley take a bit of piecing together to ensure the riding will be fun and stress-free, and the van will provide some time to kick back and take it all in.

The guide ratio on this is trip is one per seven customers; this means that for groups of eight or more people, there will be two cycle guides. Throughout, you will be accompanied by a support vehicle driven by a bike mechanic.

The support vehicle will carry large containers of purified drinking water, so you’ll be able to top up your bottles throughout the ride. While a few hotels may have water filters, most don’t and sadly prefer to sell single-use plastic bottles. To help reduce waste, we recommend bringing a refillable water bottle with an integrated filter.

In the event of poor weather such as heavy rain, strong winds and/or storms, it is possible that conditions may become unsafe to complete the planned rides on this trip. Your guide will assess the conditions and weather forecasts and make a decision with your safety in mind. If it becomes necessary to make a change to the planned itinerary, an alternative route or activity will be offered.

Sure can! Over 70% of our travellers travel solo, it’s a great way to meet like-minded people.

Our team of Adventure Hunters co-create exclusive adventures which are run by highly vetted, specialist hosts. The trip is run by our trusted host partner in the destination. We only work with independent, local, in-destination experts who know the very best places to explore and how to stay safe. Read more information about the local teams we partner with. You’ll be introduced to the host straight after making a booking via the Much Better Adventures platform.

Much Better Adventures refer to the UK Government’s official travel advice when designing trips and monitoring trip operations. We recommend that all customers are familiar with the practical information provided on the Government’s FCDO website, where current travel advice can be found by searching for the applicable destination(s).

For customers joining this trip from other international destinations – please also read the official travel advice applicable to your country of residence/origin, as this may differ.

We recommend checking out the country-specific information and also talking to a travel nurse.

We automatically convert prices from the local currency that a host receives to your chosen currency. We update our exchange rates on a daily basis so this does mean that prices displayed on the site are subject to currency fluctuations, which is why you may see them change over time.

If you wish to change the currency you pay in, head to the bottom of the page.

All of our group adventures are specially designed for adults to enjoy as we want these adventures to bring together outdoorsy people who are truly like-minded. You must be over 18 to join one of our trips.

You're always in good company on one of our adventures.

Our trips are typically made up of a mixture of solo travellers and small groups of 2 or 3 friends, with most in their 30s-50s.

Our sociable adventures are solo-friendly by design and naturally attract outdoorsy people with a shared mindset; a love for adventure, a desire to push themselves and meet awesome, like-minded people along the way.

It’s this camaraderie that has so often turned a great adventure into a life-changing one.

Don't just take our word for it:

• 95% of people rate the group dynamics on our trips 5/5
• 90% of people recommend joining a trip to make new friends
• 75% of people have met people on our trips that they would now consider friends

See here for more info about the Much Better Adventures tribe.

The one thing you can say for sure about the weather in Peru is that it is difficult to accurately predict. You can have beautifully clear hot days in the middle of the wet season and hail storms in the dry season. In the Andes, there are two distinct seasons – wet and dry. The dry season runs from May to October and you can expect clear skies, sunny days, with daytime temperatures of around 18-25ºC. The nights tend to be colder, and temperatures can drop significantly, so it's advisable to bring layers. The wet season runs from November to April and the weather can be unpredictable. Daytime temperatures are relatively mild, and it tends to be cloudier, with a higher chance of rain. Rainfall is usually heaviest from December to March.