Getting around Peru can be a daunting task to plan, especially if you’re a beginner traveller or it’s your first time visiting South America and you’re feeling nervous about it, and I get it! When I was researching my trip to Peru I couldn’t figure out how to get around very easily, and that’s when I came across the PeruHop bus. This is my honest PeruHop Review and my experience taking them from Lima, Peru to La Paz, Bolivia!
All opinions are my own, I found, booked, and paid for our PeruHop tickets myself! This post is not sponsored.
What is PeruHop?
PeruHop is a super easy way to travel around Peru. It is basically a hop on hop off bus service, with a ton of different routes that stop at different cities throughout Peru.
You pick the route you want to buy your ticket for, and your pass is valid for 1 year. That means you can use your PeruHop pass for a whole year from the start of your journey — so, you can spend as much or as little time at each stop along your route that you want to!
This offers awesome flexibility for your trip around Peru, and you can also stay within your budget with their multiple options.
An example of the routes you can take with PeruHop
How Does PeruHop work?
Before your trip, you’ll buy the pass that works for you, pick a starting point, and when you are ready to take your first bus ride, you’ll book your seat online a few days beforehand.
Most travelers start their trip through Peru in Lima because that’s where Peru’s main airport is.
PeruHop Starting Points are:
- Lima, Peru
- Cusco, Peru
- Arequipa, Peru
- Puno, Peru
- La Paz, Bolivia
These are not the only stops PeruHop makes, but instead, the starting points listed above are where you can choose for your journey to begin and then buy the ticket that starts there.
Getting Around With PeruHop
Once you have your starting point and you’re done exploring that city, you’ll be ready to head to your next stop!
When you want to leave the stop you’re at and head to the next one (example: Lima to Paracas), you log on to the PeruHop website and reserve a seat on the bus that leaves on the day you want, and there will be a spot waiting for you on that specific bus that you booked.
There are certain times that the bus leaves each day, so there isn’t much flexibility for the time you leave at.
The stops that PeruHop makes are:
- Lima, Peru
- Paracas, Peru
- Huacachina, Peru
- Nazca, Peru
- Arequipa, Peru
- Cusco, Peru
- Puno, Peru
- Copacabana, Bolivia
- La Paz, Bolivia
Make sure that the pass you buy includes stops at all of the places you want to go!
What’s Included in PeruHop?
There is always a staff member on the bus available to answer questions and give any recommendations you might need for the stop you’re arriving at.
The bus also picks you up and drops you off at the location you’re staying at that night. This is really helpful because you can just hop off the bus and not worry about navigating your way to your accommodation! It also provides an added element of safety and less anxiety about being in a new place at night.
PeruHop also provides accommodation suggestions, as well as how much time they recommend you stay at each stop. You don’t have to follow these recommendations and you don’t have to stay at their suggested accommodation, but it does provide a nice idea during the planning stages.
PeruHop also provides the option to book different tours while on the bus. They only accept cash if you are booking in person on the bus, so if you book while on the bus make sure you have cash on you!
There are certain stops where free tours are offered as well, including a vineyard tour, the Nazca lines viewing tower, and slave tunnels!
If you buy the pass starting or ending in Bolivia, PeruHop will help you cross the border between Bolivia and Peru! This is what I did and it gave me SO MUCH peace of mind when it came to crossing the border.
My Trip With PeruHop
When planning my Peru trip, I knew that I wanted to fly into Lima, Peru, and I was hoping to fly out of Santiago, Chile. So my ideal route for my South America trip was Peru to Bolivia to Chile.
For the route I took with Peru Hop, I chose to start in Lima and buy a pass that would take me all the way to La Paz, Bolivia!
The stops along this route were Lima -> Paracas -> Huacachina -> Nazca -> Arequipa -> Cusco -> Puno -> Copacabana -> La Paz.
I wanted to take PeruHop all the way to La Paz mainly for convenience because they helped us cross the border from Peru into Bolivia. I was nervous about the border crossing as I heard it can be tricky, so I was happy to have them help us!
After reading reviews and researching PeruHop, it seemed like a great option and a comfortable ride!
Read more: Visiting the Uyuni Salt Flats in Bolivia
My Review of the PeruHop Bus
Overall, I absolutely loved PeruHop!!
The seats were pretty comfy, they reclined a lot and I felt like I always had enough room.
The free stops were also a nice addition, and a great way to get out and stretch your legs throughout the journey! I wouldn’t have been able to visit these places as easily if I didn’t take PeruHop.
I loved having the freedom to stay as long as I wanted to at each stop. It was so easy to book a seat on the bus whenever I wanted to leave.
If you change your mind and want to stay longer, you can always change your reservation (as long as there is an available seat on the next bus). This was amazing because I knew I would want flexibility in case I LOVED a place and wanted to stay longer, or if I wanted to leave a place earlier.
I also loved having the peace of mind of being able to change bookings around easily, but still know I had a reliable form of transportation when it came time to leave.
It was also amazing that the bus drops you off at your accommodation, especially when it was dark outside. I always felt safe and it was so convenient getting to each place! It made getting to the destination so much less stressful because I had someone there to help me when I needed it.
The people I met on the bus were also great. They are all travelers just like us, and it was great to talk to different people and make new friends who are traveling the same route as you! If someone we met on the bus was staying at a stop longer than we were, we had the flexibility to change our bus super easily!
We would also run into them later on down the road, because they were taking basically the same route as us. We ended up booking our Machu Picchu Jungle Tour with one of our friends we made early on, and then ran into another one of our friends during our journey to Machu Picchu!
There is also a washroom on the bus, which was okay. Nothing special and was never really very stinky.
And like I said earlier, I also loved that they help you cross the border from Peru into Bolivia. This made the crossing SO much easier and a lot less intimidating, because we were all crossing together!
Would I Recommend PeruHop?
Yes! I don’t have any bad things to say about PeruHop and I would take it again if I went back to Peru!
PeruHop had stops everywhere that I wanted to visit while traveling in Peru as well (besides the Amazon Jungle, however, I didn’t have enough time to go there anyway).
My top priorities were Lima, Huacachina, and Cusco, so I didn’t have to sacrifice any places I was dying to see, which made it really easy to get to each place, and I got to see other places I hadn’t even considered!
PeruHop was also a GREAT way to experience South America for the first time. I was nervous about visiting a brand new continent and countries I hadn’t even done much research on.
Taking PeruHop made my experience ten million times easier and I am so thankful I found them and my trip was incredible.
Why I Wouldn’t Recommend PeruHop
As much as I personally loved PeruHop, it definitely wouldn’t be the best option for some travellers.
Since you aren’t really on public transportation, you don’t get as much interaction with the local people, and it may not feel as authentic as it could on public transportation.
Also, a lot of the travellers on PeruHop were a younger crowd. This is totally fine and if you are older it is still a great way to get around, but it’s something to know beforehand just in case! We took PeruHop when we were 22 and 23 years old and felt like we fit in with the general age group of everyone else on the bus.
I didn’t look much into the cost of public transportation, but I’m thinking it is probably cheaper than a ticket with PeruHop. I did love that a lot of things were included with PeruHop (like the free tours and dropping you right at your accommodation) but if you’re a budget traveller and the things PeruHop offers isn’t important to you, then it could be cheaper to opt for public transportation instead.
Summary of my PeruHop Review
Overall, I personally loved travelling Peru with PeruHop. I loved the convenience, safety, and social aspects that came along with it. My trip to Peru was one of my favourite trips yet, and PeruHop was a big reason for that!
I found travelling around very stress free, and felt like it was worth the money I spent on the pass. I wish they had services in other countries that I could use!
PeruHop may not be for you if you are an older traveller and don’t want to mix with the younger backpackers as much, and if you are looking for a super authentic experience and wanting to connect with locals when moving around the country.
Would you choose PeruHop as your way to explore Peru?
Read more: Peru Itinerary: How to Spend 3 Weeks in Peru
Hopefully, my PeruHop review was helpful in some way in planning your trip 🙂
Check out the PeruHop website here and everything they have to offer!
*This is not a sponsored post, all of my opinions are my own!*
More on South America:
- Colca Canyon, Peru 2 Day Tour (Tips and Things to Know)
- How to Get to Machu Picchu (6 Different Ways)
- Peru Bucketlist: 15 Things You Can’t Miss in Peru
- 3 Day Tour of the Salt Flats of Uyuni in Bolivia
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Hey! I’m Kat. Based in Alberta, Canada and just 4 hours from the Canadian Rocky Mountains, I love to travel to Banff and Jasper frequently and also explore new places around the world. Follow along for my tips based on my real adventures!
