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Peru is the ideal South American country for backpackers of all ages to travel around. The varying landscape from mountains to jungle, to sea, and sand (dunes!) ensures that there is something of interest for everyone. However, the public transport system is notoriously not excellent, and like many other backpacking countries, tourists are often the target of crime. The solution? Peru hop – the safe hop on/off bus for travellers in Peru. Here’s our (Gemma and Craig) Peru Hop review taking your from Lima to Cusco with scenic stops along the way.
» Plan your trip to Peru with our popular Peru itinerary
Peru Hop – safe and fun travel in Peru
Why Choose Peru Hop?
Craig and I (Gemma) can’t believe how quickly we have progressed through Peru without feeling rushed.
After our fast-paced five-week trip through South East Asia in 2013 (Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand) we were adamant we would take our time.
We do have 18 months worth of career break after all (annoying, I know!) The reason?
Peru Hop’s well-organised itinerary which offers enough flexibility to avoid the feeling confined. Maybe the coca tea is partly to blame too.
Peru Hop is a hop-on/off bus company is similar to those in Australia and New Zealand.
Their buses travel to/from six to ten stops along the Western coast of Peru from the capital, Lima then inland towards Cusco, where you acclimatise before your trek to Machu Picchu which is one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
Thinking of hiking to Machu Picchu? Here our guide on the 14 ways to get there.
We did the Lares Trek, a less saturated alternative to the Inca Trail.
Peru Hop Guides
Peru Hop is more than transportation.
Each bus ride has a guide (a local who can speak Spanish and English) and depending on where you are going, the guide may be getting off with you (the bus that is).
Big shout out to Carlos who we partied with in Huacachina! Is Peru Hop worth it? We think so for the local knowledge.
Salud from me (Gemma) & Craig – try the Peruvian pisco!
Peru Hop and Hostels
Peru Hop is a hostel booking service. Not booked your hostel?
No bother.
Most guides will call ahead and book you into their partner hostels at a discounted price.
For example, Kokopelli Backpackers in Paracas is 35 Peruvian soles 8-bed dorm normally but 30 Peruvian soles exclusively for Peru Hop customers. The company offers 20% off all dorms and 10% of private rooms.
Peru Hop attempts to suit everyone’s needs too by offering a ‘party’ hostel option for the Pisco-loving Hopsters and a ‘quiet’ option for… us (although we loved Kokopelli in Cusco).
Have your hostel booked already?
No problem!
We wanted to stay at Bananas in Huacachina but still met up with everyone that night and you can use the facilities at the Peru Hop partner hostels anyway. No pressure to book through Peru Hop.
Peru Hop organises tours. We weren’t going to bother going to Paracas but Will (co-founder of Peru Hop) suggested we researched it online.
I’m glad we did because we would have missed out on the cute penguins on Islas Ballestas!
These tours are discounted, for example, this trip with Paracas Explorers is not even available on their website but $15 USD with Peru Hop.
The tours are not mandatory. The company has attempted to make your life easier on the road but they are not forceful.
We skipped the sandboarding tour and opted for a more professional experience with Sandboarding Peru because we wanted to sand-ski too. Some stops have free Peru tours to break up the journey.
We enjoyed the Pisco vineyard tour on the way to Arequipa.
If you’ve seen Peru on Instagram then you’ll know Rainbow Mountain. Peru Hop offers an additional tour there too.
Isla Ballestas, can’t believe we nearly missed this!
Peru Tour Routes
Peru Hop has developed a variety of tours to suit all time frames and budgets starting from $70 USD (Canyon to Lake to La Paz) to $199 USD ‘The Full South’ Lima to Cusco which includes Paracas, Huacachina, Nazca, Arequipa and Puno (minimum 6 days).
The backpacker’s bus can start at Lima in Peru, La Paz in Bolivia or Copacabana on the border. Here’s an example of four Peru Hop itineraries.
Peru Hop Bus Facilities
Peru Hop is equipped for long-distance journeys.
The bus has a toilet which is only for ‘number ones’ though (the guides are very clear about this).
The guide will democratically let Hopsters choose a film from their collection. Meet The Millers is genuinely funny, who would have thought it?
The overnight bus from Huacachina to Arequipa was as comfortable as sleeping on a bus gets.
The guide gives you a blanket and the seats are semi-reclining.
For long-distance journeys, such as Arequipa to Cusco) the guide takes your food order and calls ahead to the stop point (such as a truck stop or restaurant) and puts in your order. You are paying for that convenience and communication.
This meal was around ten Peruvian soles each (food options – chicken, rice and veg, chifa, vegetarian omelette etc).
Friends For Life
The bus is safe but most importantly you make friends!
Hello to Jess, Liam and Ryan who we met on our first Peru Hop journey and partied with on our last in Cusco!
Hester, gutted we missed you! I bought your sweatshirt by the way…
Hola to B, Ben and Simon who we trailed from Huacachina to Arequipa then on to Cusco with.
Us Two Scots (Gemma and Craig) are social creatures; we need a break from each other for our own sanity!
Can Peru Hop Save You Money?
Peru Hop is actually cost-effective, for what’s included.
I was pricing the individual journeys we wanted to do with Cruz del Sur, the bus company mostly used by tourists in Peru, and Peru Hop popped up in the search engine. I was pleasantly surprised to see the comparison between the two services.
For example, ‘regular class’ seat prices with Cruz del Sur:
- Lima to Paracas ($18 USD)
- Paracas to Ica ($6)
- Ica to Arequipa ($32)
- Arequipa to Cusco ($42)
- Total: $98
If you want VIP seating (160-degree reclining seats), add approximately $3-5 per trip, $110-118.
Peru Hop’s price for this above itinerary is $179, which is the ‘To Cusco Without the Lake’ option as the Cruz del Sur route does not include a Lake Titicaca crossing. That was some experience!
Cruz del Sur rides don’t include:
- English and Spanish speaking guides
- Convenience calls like booking food ahead on long-distance trips
- Local tours
- Discounted accommodation
Naturally, not everyone wants that. If this is your style of travel, go for the public buses. Tranquillo!
We measure how cost-effective something is by not just taking money into an account and also the time saved.
Peru Hop has saved a massive amount of time, and arguments, the main reason we fought in Asia was through planning.
Check out this post on South America bus travel for another comparison.
» We saved £20K to travel! Discover the 5 S’s of saving
A Soft Warning – An Honest Peru Hop Review
The only warning – Peru Hop does not leave from every destination every day so you need to do a bit of forwarding thinking to ensure your itinerary is met.
However, this is probably the case with other forms of transport too.
Peru Hop has factored in how long they would recommend staying in each place so if you are taking a fast route through Peru you can do with missing the hot spots.
Oh and don’t forget to check out our Peru guide which details what not to miss, and all the other vital information required for your trip to Peru.
If you fancy heading to Chile from Arequipa it can be done independently, check out this article on how to take the bus from Arequipa to San Pedro Atacama.
Peru Hop Testimonial
Don’t believe our glorious review (they are partnering with Peru Hop so obviously they are raving about it…)?
Here is a testimonial from Simon, our Hopster amigo, explaining why this service is one of the best Peru tours –
The pickup service makes travelling in Peru very easy.
The guides made bus rides interesting with their explanations about local culture and Peruvian history. Every effort was made to ensure that arriving at your hostel was simple, no more stressing about finding a taxi and attempting to communicate an obscure address.
Included tours removed the hassle of trying to plan events ahead while remaining competitive in price.
Hopsters at the Red Beach
Frequently Asked Questions
I am a more ‘mature’ person, is Peru Hop for me?
Thanks to Marty for leaving a comment about his experience ‘I am a 61-year-old man and did the Peru Hop with my nephew and had a great time. There were other middle-aged people on the bus but most were the younger traveller types. Everyone got along fine and had a great time’.
Is Peru Hop really worth the money?
It really depends on what you are in Peru for. Do you want a safe, efficient trip where destinations are planned out for you with support in finding accommodation and the chance to make friends? Yes!
Are you on a very tight budget and willing to spend longer than necessary on public transport? Go for the alternative local route.
Is Peru Hop suitable for solo travel?
Peru Hop was made for solo travel. You have a ready-made family waiting for you four wheels.
Final Thoughts
A serious round of applause to Will and Connor (travellers themselves) aka Peru Hop.
The company is now well established in South America, working effectively in a ‘foreign’ country (the boys are Irish) they’re doing a great job keeping the rest of us safe and connected.
This is an honest review (as always) in exchange for two Hop passes. Well done lads and thanks for all of the advice. We look forward to our next trip with… Bolivia Hop!
- Peru Hop Lima office address: Centro Comercial “Torre Larco” Office 206, Avenida Jose Larco 812, Miraflores, Peru
- Contact: [email protected]
Going to Peru? Pin to your Peru board
Are you going to hop on/off in Peru? Do let us know in the comments below. Gracias!
» Read next: everything you need to know about travelling in Peru
Thanks to Peru Hop for partnering with us. An honest review as always.
I’m very disappointed that we have to cancel our trip to Peru in June 2020 due to Covid 19 outbreak. I’m concerned that Peru Hop is not willing or unable to not extend a refund to myself and my husband because I will be 67 years in June and concerned that by the time a vaccine is found and implemented I may not be able to do the trip and certainly not without a doctors okay due to altitude issues. My family is very small and no one has interest in travelling to Peru. This is not acceptable that we loose money because of the virus. As of writing Peru Hop is not operational due to Covid 19. Would someone please respond to my request. Thank you.
Hi Cheryl, I can’t speak for Peru Hop as I am in lockdown in Scotland myself. Many of the companies that we have worked with have been forced to furlough their staff and it is unknown whether they are going to survive this. I hope you hear from Peru Hop soon and I am sorry to read about your cancellations.
I laughed out loud at “ the guide may be getting off with you (the bus that is)” I’m not sure anyone outside Scotland would get the meaning of that! I have loved your blog about Peruhop and Peru. We’re a couple of travelling oldies and It’s my 60th next year so we’re spending three weeks Peru and Bolivia hopping ???? hoping we have enough time to do the Uyuni salt flats tour as well. Thank you ????
Pahahahaa, my getting off days are long gone. Oh I love Uyuni, I hope you squeeze it in. Happy birthday, what a braw trip!
I agree with Jean, so much hype re the hop bus, older buses and as the two Scots say you are restricted given their timetable on how long they think each destination requires. After 5months heading south from Colombia via Ecuador and Peru Cruz Del Sur are by far the best bus company for reaching destinations very comfortably and safely. New or close to new Mercedes buses. Perhaps if you have limited time the hop bus is the go. If on the other hand you prefer moving at your own pace and seeing what you want to see determining how long you spend at each destination Cruz Del Sir is the go. Given the number of travellers on the buses the word is spreading.
Depends what kind of trip you want whether you prefer Peru Hop or public buses. Both offer different services. Thanks for commenting.
This is a very misleading and biased article. It is super-sad that people planning their trip get to read this and simply get misinformed. Have you used other services in Peru and can honestly stand behind Peru Hop???
In 3 months in Bolivia and Peru, the company that you advertise for was the worst value and service we encountered.
“However, the public transport system is notoriously not excellent, and like many developing (and developed) countries, tourists are often the target of crime.”
This is the advertising card that PeruHop is playing in every blog-post or avenue they use for advertising, and it is simply unethical and a lie – the bus companies in Peru are excellent (we used Civa, Movil, Linea, Oltursa) and very safe.
“Most guides will call ahead and book you into their partner hostels at a discounted price.”
These “discounted” prices are usually 4 times more than what you can find by yourself with a little bit of homework – on the Puno-Copacabana bus, the “guide” booked a traveler on a 45$/night hostel room in Copacabana. We booked an entire apartment for 13$.
“These tours are discounted”
They are overpriced – waay overpriced, even after factoring in the discount.
“Peru Hop is equipped for long-distance journeys.
The bus has a toilet which is only for ‘number ones’ though (the guides are very clear about this).”
Peru Hop bus from Copacabana to LaPaz did not have a toilet – for a 4hrs long trip. It was the only bus-service we used on a such distance to not have a toilet!!
The experience we had with Peru/Bolivia Hop was pretty bad – their bus from Puno-Copacabana was overheating and we could not breath inside yet the ‘english speaking guide’ on board insisted to close the windows so that the A/C could ‘work properly’. The bus from Copacabana to LaPaz didn’t have a toilet for a 4hr ride; they left us in LaPaz at 10pm in a spooky area (talk about safety!!) and they offered to help us with getting a taxi; we ended up 6 people (3 different couples) in a taxi that costs us 4x the regular fare; on top of that, the taxi could not fit our luggage so they store it unsecured on the roof!! The reason we got 6 people in one taxi?? Because the ‘helpful english speaking guide’ could not bother to call ahead for enough taxis, and they didn’t want to wait nor did they want to leave us on the street .. so they shoved us all in one taxi.
All this fabulous service for double the price of a luxury bus company that will drop you off in a Terminal Terrestre which is a much safer location than a random street with better taxi alternatives.
I echo everything that Katherine commented above and I’m sorry but any blog-post like this “advertising” such a service is either ignorant or incentives to mislead and unethical.
Thanks for your opinion. I am open that this is my experience about our time with Peru Hop. We had a great time. As did all the friends we met on the bus, including a couple with a baby. It is in no way ‘ignorant or incentives to mislead and unethical’. It is a review of our experience.
Hi Bogdan,
We see that you have been quite unsatisfied with our service and we would like to address some of the points that you raised.
First off, we would like to mention that we are not the ones writing the blogs where you read about us, but the bloggers themselves. Therefore, we do not understand how we can be unethical as this is an experience of another person who happened to travel on our buses – we are proud of being the safe option.
Next, we do not understand how you can compare a hotel room to an Airbnb. We work with hotels who, throughout the years, have provided our passengers with excellent service at a fair price. We do not necessarily work with the cheapest options as oftentimes price reflects service and we do care for our passengers and therefore we only recommend certain hotels. Additionally, for your information the cheapest single room in Copacabana is between 18 USD to 21 USD. Not 45 USD.
In regards to the tours, Peru Hop works with what we consider the best and safest tour operators. These tour operators do not claim to have the cheapest price, but they do have the best service, and that is why we work with them.
As for the bus from Copacabana to La Paz, we try to give forewarning as detailed on our OUR BUSES page as to the legal restrictions in size and weight of all buses that operate the route from Copacabana to La Paz due to the natural lake barrier. This barrier requires the vehicle to be transported on a water-borne raft the few hundred metres across the lake. For safety reasons this means that the buses have to adhere to strict requirements to allow them to safely cross.
There is NO company that floats a double decker bus across the lake, it is simply not safe and not allowed. From all the buses that run this route, believe it or not our bus is very well equipped versus rival companies, as we have air conditioning and on-board TVs which you will not find on other companies.
Other companies also fit over 40 seats on the same model of bus as our own (we have reduced a row to accommodate just 37 seats in order to ensure passenger comfort).
Additionally, the nature of the narrow streets of La Paz (and what we consider to be one of the key features of our service, the direct hotel drop off) requires the bus to be restricted considerably in size. We could simply not provide the drop off service if the bus was bigger due to tight corners and low hanging cables etc.
Given the short journey time after the lake crossing towards La Paz and the raft limits for the lake crossing, these factors combined lend to us continuing with our current bus model.
With regards to the drop off in La Paz, we drop off in the touristic center where 90% of our customers choose to stay (this is also specified online). If you choose accommodation located outside the drop off zone, then our guides will call a SAFE taxi for you to help.
Safety is our priority and we are happy to know that you made it to your accommodation safe and sound due to the help of your guide. We do not ever recommend to take cheap taxis off the street, you can google ‘safety in Bolivia’ or even check the foreign office website for safety advice if you prefer not to trust our experience and it will tell you the same.
Despite you being unsatisfied with the service, which is of course very unfortunate, then I hope you enjoyed your time in Peru and Bolivia.
Hi! Thank you for this great article, it has been really helpful! I just got to Loja Ecuador for a summer research study I’m doing, and I’ll have a few weeks off in August before I have to go back to school. So far PeruHop has been the highest rated and best option I have found. I have to fly into Lima and then out of Cuzco to make a flight out of Loja back to the states, so my travel itinerary is getting pretty complicated. From your experiences, how many days should I give myself to be in Cuzco before I fly out? And is it hard to get a permit to tour Machu Picchu? I’ve never done hostels or a big backpacking trip like this so I’m quite nervous about all of the logistics working out.
Thank you in advance!
Peru is a great country to do your first type of backpacking trip, it’ll be fun! As long as you are not strict about doing the Inca Trail you’ll get a permit no bother. Here’s our guide on all the ways to get to Machu Picchu here. It might be worth buying your ticket first. You can hire a tour guide outside of the main gates now. Come back and let me know how you get on?