Puerto Maldonado Itinerary

Are you planning a trip to the Peruvian Amazon Jungle? If so, you are in the right place! Puerto Maldonado is a city that gives direct access to the Tambopata Rain Forest which is one of the best ways to experience the jungle in Peru. 

We spent hours researching where to go and where to stay in the Amazon because there is not a lot of info online, so we decided to do a blog post giving every detail we possibly can on a Puerto Maldonado Ecolodge trip!

The Peruvian Amazon Jungle

There are two main cities you can access the jungle in Peru: Puerto Maldonado & Iquitos. As you can see below Puerto Maldonado is a lot closer to Cusco (another popular travel destination)

We decided on going to Puerto Maldonado because we read that you have a better chance of seeing more wildlife and it made more sense in our itinerary to go straight to Cusco after. Puerto Maldonado takes you strait to the rainforest by boat and we ended up seeing a ton of wildlife!

How to Choose an Ecolodge?!

Puerto Maldonado is surrounded by many hotels, but if you truly want to experience the jungle, you need to stay at an ecolodge on the river! There are ecolodges Northeast and Southwest of the city. 

Stay in the ecolodges Southwest of the city! There are many reasons for this, but the main reason is you get to see the Chuncho Macaw Clay Lick (thousands of macaws and parrots are coming together to eat clay off the side of the river). It is an incredible experience, but you can only see this if you stay in a place that takes you through Tambopata National Reserve by boat. 

The Ecolodges Southwest of the city are also less touristy and you get to travel way deeper into the actual jungle where there are more opportunities to see animals and there is no light pollution!

Now if you want to know where the BEST ecolodge to stay it is SACHAVACAYOC LODGE which is ran by a company called Jungle Pro. 

We did our whole trip through Jungle Pro, and it was the best experience we could have asked for. The prices are the best you will be able to find for the value you get. The company was extremely professional, knowledgeable, and the lodge was amazing!

The best part about Jungle Pro are the people that work there. Our guide (who stayed as our guide the whole trip) was named Joel and he made each excursion so much fun. You can tell the people who work at Jungle Pro truly care about the animals and the jungle. 

Sachavacayoc Lodge is a couple hour boat ride from Puerto Maldonado and during the boat ride there you get to see many animals and birds.

The lodge (by Jungle Pro) offers:

- Private Cabanas
- Amazing food (some of the best we had in all of Peru)
- Full bar and hang out space with hammocks
- direct access to lake hikes in the jungle
- private boat and very talented boat drivers
- experienced guides
- private transfer to and from the airport

Do not hesitate to book through Jungle Pro. We promise you won't regret it!

Activities and Excursions

There are so many activities that are offered through the different companies in Puerto Maldonado. The ones that we got to do through Jungle Pro were:

1. Night Walks 
2. Boat trip to see the Macaw Clay Lick
3. Day Hike to Condenado Lake
4. Day Hike to Sachavacayoc Lake
5. Nighttime Cayman Search by boat

All these excursions were a ton of fun and we got to see multiple types of monkeys, capybaras, lots of insects and spiders, caimans, many birds, frogs, and a few other animals!

We also had a crazy experience where hundreds of monkeys came through the ecolodge to pick the lodge's fruit off the trees!

When you aren't participating in the excursions, you get the opportunity to relax in your cabana, have a drink at the bar, or eat (breakfast/lunch/dinner) with the group you are with

On the last day, you will ride the boat back and Jungle Pro will take you to the airport whenever your flight is taking off!

Important Things to Know

1. What to Pack
You are only allowed to bring one bag each and the rest of your stuff gets left at Jungle Pro's main office. We have a separate blog explaining all the stuff you will need for this trip HERE.

2. How to Pay
We booked our trip through trip advisor HERE. This way you don't have to worry about getting any cash out in the atms in Peru (which all have limits).

3. Arrival Time
If your flight getting to Puerto Maldonado is later in the day, you may want to start your trip with Jungle Pro the next morning. This is what we did because our flight got in at 4:00pm. We stayed at Kapievi Ecovillage which is another amazing hotel right outside of the city. Jungle Pro picked us up from this hotel in the morning!

4. Food Allergies
Jungle Pro was very sensitive to any food allergies. There were multiple people in our group allergic to a few things and the cooks accommodated any request. The food was seriously amazing too.

5. Vaccines and Immunizations
There are no requirements for vaccines prior to traveling to Puerto Maldonado. Some websites recommend getting the yellow fever and typhoid vaccine. We did not get either and we were perfectly fine. In fact, when we went in September, there were not a lot of mosquitos at all. This was because it was dry season (highly recommend going in dry season)

6. Getting There
You can take a bus from Cusco or a plane from Cusco or Lima. Flights were cheap and it was simple to fly so we recommend doing that. Also, if you have THIS CREDIT CARD,  you can get into the little lounge at Puerto Maldonado and have some free airport beers!

7. Can you take Kids?
Yes! When we first got there, there was a family with a little kid, and it looked like they were having a ton of fun! Just make sure if you do, your kids can handle a very humid environment!

8. Is the water safe?
Yes! Jungle Pro treats their water. However, we still brought a LifeStraw which you can purchase here for extra caution.

9. Is it worth it?
Absolutely, staying in an ecolodge in the Amazon was one of the best parts of our entire trip to Peru. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity and is something you can't do in most places of the world. We chose to do Puerto Maldonado instead of going to Lake Titicaca and we both agreed it was the right decision.

10. Can we ask you more questions?
If you have any more questions about our stay in the jungle feel free to email us at [email protected] or send us a message on Instagram! (Link is at the top of our website)