As well as being a fascinating city in its own right, Cusco enjoys the privilege of having many of the country's top attractions virtually on its doorstep. A short bus trip away are beautiful valleys and Andean towns, and an easy train ride will take you to the quintessential South American tourist site, Machu Picchu. You also have access to some of the main features that make Peru one of the eight 'mega-diverse' countries on earth, from snow-covered peaks, through a vast array of habitats that drop into river canyons, or descend the eastern slopes of the Andes to the vast lowlands of the Amazon basin.

Machu Picchu is Peru's most visited archaeological site. It was the only major Inca retreat from which to escape the looting and destruction of the Spaniards and it remains the most spectacular site in all the Americas. Getting there now is a lot easier than it was for Hiram Bingham, who discovered it in 1911. There is a regular, comfortable train service but to take it would be to miss out on one of South America's great attractions. The best way to approach Machu Picchu is along the Inca Trail. This classic four-day trek along well-preserved Inca paved roads passes through Inca tunnels, takes you down knee-shattering Inca staircases over breathtaking passes and in to stretches of beautiful cloud forest. A number of alternatives open up new perspectives and offer shorter and longer variations to the main trail.

Cusco is a city that you can walk out of. In little more than 10 minutes you leave the crowds and enter the solitude and limitless horizons of the Cordillera. You can escape for just a day or take longer treks from one river valley to another over the highest of passes, following the footsteps of Incas, conquistadores and campesinos. Where there are trails, there are mountain bikers, the Cusco region having just opened up to this. Choose between the radical and the (reasonably) relaxing, either ride through ruins or from the summits to the Amazon. You can climb as many hills as your muscles can take, or plummet 1,400 m in two hours. Likewise, Cusco is a paradise for rafting, with gentle half-day trips for beginners to heart-stopping whitewater runs for adrenaline-junkies. Options range from canyons beneath snow peaks to drifting under the forest canopy in the Tambopata Reserve.

In Peru's southern jungle are the Manu Biosphere Reserve and the Tambopata-Candamo Reserved Zone/Bahuaja-Sonene National Park. Both are accessible from Cusco, but the Tambopata area is further away. Manu is one of the largest protected areas of rainforest and arguably the most pristine conservation unit in the world. It is over half the size of Switzerland and much of it unexplored. It starts high in the Andes and goes down through elfin, cloud and montane forest into the vast lowland jungle of the Amazon. Here, the romantic image of the jungle found on the glossy pages of National Geographic is alive and well. Tambopata, too, is a brilliant place to see wildlife, including one of the largest macaw salt licks in the world.