Looking for a Peru homestay experience? Stay with a Peruvian family and learn a little about their life! This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to experience a traditional Andean lifestyle. Homestays not only provide an enriching experience for you, but they also contribute to the local economy, improving rural development in traditional communities for local people. Peru homestays are definitely a win-win!
Our Peru homestays can be booked as an extra on many of our Lares or Salkantay treks. You can also choose a Peru homestay experience on its own with our 2-day Overnight Huilloc Community Tourism tour.
Stay with a Peruvian family and really connect with the real Peru!
High quality personalized experience
Unique, off-the-beaten track routes
Experienced staff
Verified sustainability practices
$20 of every trek donated to Threads of Peru
It can be an incredible, eye-opening and culturally enriching experience stay with a Peruvian family in a traditional Andean community. However, please be aware that a Peru homestay is an adventurous option. Bring an open mind and a sense of humor, be flexible and most of all, be prepared to go with the flow!
Also remember that you are visiting someone’s home. Practice Responsible Tourism and follow our guidelines for Being a Responsible Tourist.
Available on: any of our Lares treks. You must book a private tour.
Cost: $10 per person.
Style: Very rustic. Remote; high altitude; very basic and cold conditions.
Altitude: 4200m / 13,780 ft
Spend the night with a Quechua family who will open their traditional Andean home to you! This is a real, culturally immersive experience. You will be invited into the homes of people who still wear traditional dress on a daily basis, and who live a traditional agrarian lifestyle.
Homestay rooms are specially prepared for visitors but are extremely basic. For many people, this is a challenging experience. Traditional Andean homes are small, stone or adobe brick structures with just one or a couple of rooms, dirt floors, and small or no windows. They are cold, dark, drafty and often have no electricity. The beds consist of wood bed frames with a basic mattress and some heavy blankets; you should bring your own sleeping bag to ensure you are warm enough.
The kitchen can often be very smoky as cooking is done over an open fire, and ventilation is poor. There may be a tap with running water, but no shower. Most homes have an outhouse, though this is changing. Little by little, many homes in these villages are improving things like sanitation – thanks in part to the money they earn from responsible community tourism!
The families you will visit during your Peru homestay mainly speak Quechua, and some Spanish. They do not speak English.
Available on: Salkantay Trek 5D, Salkantay Trail 4D, Choquequirao trek to Machu Picchu 7D and Choquequirao to Machu Picchu Adventure trek 8D treks. You must book a private tour.
Cost: $40 per person
Style: Basic. Simple but modern infrastructure; temperate climate.
Altitude: 2400m / 7874 ft.
On this Peru homestay, skip the loud music and parties of La Playa campsite on the Salkantay route and spend the night with a coffee farmer and their family! Your host family is part of the Huadquiña Coffee Cooperative and Cocla Tours Tourism Cooperative. With microfinance assistance, families in these cooperatives have been able to construct basic homestay rooms and a bathroom with hot shower.
Lucmabamba is located at lower altitudes and is generally warm, making this the least challenging of our homestay experiences. Infrastructure is simple but modern, and the families do not wear traditional dress.
Not only will you have the opportunity to visit a typical family and experience life in the Andean jungle on this Peru homestay, but you will also have a welcome chance for a hot shower, and to sleep on a bed with a comfortable mattress. You will also learn about the process of growing, harvesting, selecting and roasting high-quality coffee!
Note that large groups will be divided up among homes where they do not speak English, and your guide can only stay in one of the homes, although they are situated near to one another.
