Why NOW Is the ideal time to go to Peru & Turkey

You might have read some headlines back in the winter about Peru’s political protests. With a new government there was some temporary unrest back in December of 2022 and some of it turned violent. The protests were concentrated in the mineral-rich and heavily Indigenous highlands.

But back in March things began to ease and tourism to Peru and most importantly Machu Picchu has reopened. Due to the protests, we postponed our May tour, Magical Peru, until this fall beginning in late September. By that time things will be completely back to normal. Read this traveler’s recent experience HERE.

We believe this fall will be a great time to go to Peru due to reduced crowds at the normal hot spots. Any kind of negative headlines will deter Americans and other tourists as the linger effect is often extended long after the issue has died down or been resolved.

I experienced that one year in Bali with the erupting of a volcano back in 2017. At the time, my son was staying in Bali for 3 months and I had planned a visit. When the news was released, that Mt. Agung erupted some folks told me that I should cancel my Bali trip. As I researched further, the evacuation zone was a mere 10 miles around the volcano and as I wasn’t going anywhere near it, so I figured it wasn’t a problem. And it wasn’t! By the time I came in March it was many months after the eruption, but I was still able to get a $600 RT flight from NYC and had an entire row to myself in coach because others were scared off.

At Girls’ Guide we’d never ever run a trip to a dangerous place at a time that isn’t safe. Simply put, that’s not smart nor is it good for business. That is why we postponed our Peru trip to the fall.

Likewise, as you all know there was a major Earthquake in Turkey on the Syrian border that killed a terrible amount of people and was a major tragedy. Many of you have probably donated to the cause. However, a wonderful thing to do right now for the Turkish people is to go to the country as a visitor. We are traveling to Istanbul, Cappadocia and Izmir on the sea this fall. See the map below. These areas are quite far away from the earthquake zone.

Map of Turkey

Cappadocia is the closest and it’s 250-500 miles to the edge of the zone. The point is that it’s perfectly safe to go where we are going because there is nothing affected in these areas by the disaster. In fact, most if not all of the tourist areas haven’t been affected in anyway. 

However, as I said, when there is bad news anywhere in the world people stop going there to visit and that action does hurt the people who depend on tourism dollars in that country. Tourism accounts for around 10% of the GDP in Turkey so when that number gets cut in half a lot more people get hurt. On the other side of the coin, if you come to Turkey this year not only will you be boosting the tourism sector and helping people maintain their livelihood, you’ll see far fewer crowds. So, it just might be the ideal time to go! Check out our Turkish Delight Trip Here.