How to find cheap flights to Peru

If you are planning a trip to Peru for sure you are interested in knowing How to Find Cheap Flights to Peru. Are looking for cheap flights to Lima or Cusco? We recommend you spend some time and try to find cheap flights to Peru. Search for the airline and the flight ticket that is most convenient for you and don’t wait too long to book your flight to Peru.

Best tools to use for finding cheap flights to Peru:

Google Flights, Skyscanner & Momondo

1. Google flights

Google Flights is a flight aggregator and search tool, showing routes and fares from all the major airlines around the world. It is one of the most useful tool to find cheap flights.

Google Flights’ advantages:

• Incredibly fast
• Powerful price-calendar tool
• Allows for complex search filters
• Map tool for regional fare browsing

Good for:

• Finding the best travel dates
• Quick, broad searches
• Using search filters

Bad for:

• Finding error fares
• Quick, broad searches
• Using search filters

How to use it:

1. Open the Calendar Tool
2. Change your departure and destination airport and the dates
3. Within a few seconds, you will be able to see the calendar with the prices, so you can find the cheapest departure dates (they are highlighted in green).
4. You can adjust the length of your trip at the bottom of the calendar tool.
5. After you selected the ideal departure date, the calendar will refresh the total cost of your journey depending on your chosen return date.
6. Google will automatically suggest the flights based on the best price, total travel time and other factors.
7. If you want to remove some of the search results, you can use filters.
   • You can filter out fares with particular airlines, departure times, number of stops en-route and even connecting airports.
   • You can filter the flight duration as well in the “More” menu.
8. Once you’ve set your filters, you can go back to the calendar tool to see the updated results.
9. Select your route and Google will show you the best options to book.
10. At this point you can: Select one of the options and book directly with the airline or check Momondo or Skyscanner to see if a lower price is available.

2. Skyscanner and Momondo.co.uk

Momondo and Skyscanner function as Online Travel Agent (OTA) price aggregators, which basically means that, in addition to listing the ticket price offered by the airlines, they also show you the price offered by multiple agents who sell tickets for that flight. OTAs will often sell tickets at a cheaper rate than the airline.
Momondo often covers more booking agencies and displays more results than Skyscanner, but it can be a good idea to check both.
Skyscanner & Momondo advantages:

• Show the cheapest prices
• Display more error fares

Good for:

• Getting the cheapest price
• Error fares

Bad for:

• Finding the best travel dates
• Using search filters
• Searching quickly

How to use them:

1. After you choose your travel dates by Google Flights, enter the same exact dates for your travel.
2. After hitting the search button, the results will start to appear (keep in mind than in Momondo it might take a bit longer).
3. Both sites will show you the cheapest fares for your travel date.
   • On Momondo, if you prefer not to book the cheapest one, click the arrow next to “View Deal” and then the “+ more “option to see other agent’s deals as well.
   • On Skyscanner, you only need to click on the flight that you are interested in and it will show the available deals from different travel agents. After you choose the flight that you would like to book, click on the select button and it will take you to the website of the chosen travel agency’s website.

Combining these tools into a single workflow, you will be able to find the cheapest routes, the best travel dates, and then find the lowest price for your trip.

More Tips for Finding Cheap Flights to Peru

1) Be reasonably flexible

Instead of setting your sights on a single destination during a single set of dates, have a list of destinations that you would like to visit. For instance, instead of traveling to Lima, you can try to see if it is cheaper to fly to Quito or to La Paz and travel overland, or continue the trip to Peru with a low cost airline.
The broader your list is, the more likely you’ll be able to find a really good deal. Use Google Flights’ flexible price-map tool to identify which destinations nearby Peru have cheaper options during the time you plan to travel. Check the nearby airports not only for your destination but also for your departure airport. Once you’ve chosen your route to Peru, always check nearby dates using Google Flights price-calendar tool. Moving your travel dates by a few days in many cases, means a better route or a much cheaper flight.
 

2) Know the cheapest travel seasons

The cheapest months to fly to Peru from the United Kingdom & Europe, in general, are:

• January – March
• May – June
• September – early December

The most expensive months to fly will be:

• Mid-July – August
• Mid-December – early January
• Early – mid-April

3) Know when to book your flight (when flights are at their cheapest)

It is difficult to predict when flights to any destination will come down, but there are some general guidelines to help:

• The cheapest months are January, February, August and September
• International flights are cheaper if you buy them 4-7 months in advance
• It might be cheaper if you book it in the morning between 5-7 am then in the evening between 7-11 pm.

4) Know the cheapest (and most expensive) days to travel

For long-haul routes with daily flights:

• Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the cheapest travel days, followed by Thursdays and Sundays. At the same time, the most expensive days to fly are Fridays and Saturdays

For short-haul flights:

• Monday flights – especially Monday evening departures – will be more expensive, as people will often use those to return from a long weekend.
• The other rules generally don’t change.

5) It’s worth checking other currencies

For flights with budget airlines, it’s worth checking if your fare is somewhat cheaper when booking using a different currency and changing your home country to a different one. For full-service long-haul airlines, this is unlikely to work, but it can be worth your while to check Online Travel Agent prices on regional versions of price aggregators like Momondo, Kayak & Skyscanner. Searching Skyscanner.com (US version) vs. Skyscanner.net (UK version), for example, will sometimes show different prices for the same routes.
 

6) Use multi-stop trips to visit multiple destinations

If you want to visit multiple countries in Latin America, the price can be really high if you do it incorrectly. Although, there are 3 ways to make it work.

• The Extended Layover: This works by taking a one-stop (or even two-stop) return flight with a number of major carriers and extending your stopover by a day or more to visit a second destination.
• Multi-City Hopper: This works by adding in 1-2 additional regional/local destinations into a standard long-haul journey.
• Open-Jaw with a local connector: Flying into one city and out of another, while booking a separate local, budget flight in between the two (if needed).

7) Use the Hidden-City airfare trick

A hidden-city ticket is a flight hack where a traveller purchases a ticket that includes a stop before their final destination, but rather than continuing to take the final leg of the trip, they instead finish their trip early and don’t board the final flight.
This is a successful cheap flight tactic because direct routes are always in more demand than journeys with multiple stops. Airlines price those direct flights higher in accordance with their demand, whereas multi-stop flights will often have more competition driving some of the prices down, even though you are flying more miles.

8) Book an error fare if you spot one

An error fare is quite simply a mistake that’s occurred when systems are pricing up flights. These happen surprisingly often, but they generally don’t stick around for long. If you see a fare that seems outrageously low for the route you’re keen on travelling, be prepared and know what to do, both before and after booking.

9) Be quick when you’ve found a flight deal

If you’ve spotted a flight that you know is cheap, be quick to book it! Fares fluctuate ALL the time and the best flight deals won’t stick around for long.

How to find the best domestic flights in Peru

 
If you are already in Peru and you would like to fly to Cusco – or any other destination in Peru – , but you don’t know which airline to take for your domestic flight, here you can find more details about the airlines that operate flights in the country, why to choose them or why not to.
The airlines currently operating in Peru are:

1. Latam

• Pros
  • good airline
  • solid service
  • planes in excellent condition
  • flights normally run on time

• Cons
  • it is often more expensive
  • you have to be careful with the fine print

2. Star Peru

• Pros
  • One of the cheapest
  • no-nonsense airline in terms of cost, with no hidden fees
  • accident record is also good

• Cons
  • reliability can be an issue
  • more likely to experience delays with Star Perú during the rainy season
  • lack of conformation email

3. Avianca Peru

• Pros
  • Similar to LATAM
  • Good service
  • High reliability

• Cons
  • Avianca’s network in Peru isn’t as extensive as that of some other airlines
  • Ticket prices tend to be higher
  • Hidden fees

4. LCPeru

• Pros
  • Fairly cheap and reaches places other airlines do not reach
  • perfectly reasonable alternative to the airlines above, although delays are more common

• Cons
  • small outfit in comparison to the other four major airlines in Peru
  • basic service
  • The baggage allowance on smaller LC Perú planes is also less than normal

5. Peruvian Airlines

• All flights suspended in October 2019 due to a lack of liquidity

6. Viva Air Peru (budget airline)

• Pros
  • Quite cheap (One-way flight from Lima to Cusco with Viva Air costs about S/ 155. In comparison, the same ticket with other domestic airlines in Peru is about S/ 250 to S/ 300)

• Cons
  • additional costs for check-in baggage
  • Viva Air has been taking plenty of flak for delays, cancelled flights, poor customer service (especially when trying to get a refund) and other issues

7. Sky Airline (budget airline)

• Pros
  • Cheap flights

• Cons
  • extra charges (luggage etc.), all of which can add up and make them even more expensive than some of the regular airlines

BONUS:

How to travel from Lima to Cusco: plane or bus?

1. By plane

The quickest and easiest way to get from Lima to Cusco is by plane. It is sometimes possible to turn up at Lima’s airport and jump on a flight straight to Cusco (especially in the morning when most Lima-Cusco flights depart), but booking in advance is always a good idea.
Scheduled flights from Lima to Cusco begin as early as 5 a.m., so an early arrival in Cusco is a distinct possibility. There are fewer flights after 11 a.m., with the number of departures decreasing dramatically after 2 p.m. on a typical day.
The flight time from Lima to Cusco is approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes. Ticket prices vary greatly depending on the airline, but expect to pay anywhere between US$80 and US$170 for a one-way ticket.

2. By bus

 
For travellers with time on their hands, a direct bus from Lima to Cusco offers a more economical and adventurous experience. Traveling in Peru by bus can be time-consuming, but Peru’s top-end bus companies (such as Cruz del Sur and Ormeño) are comfortable enough to make even the longest journey bearable.
If you want to go directly from Lima to Cusco by bus, you have two routes from which to choose:

• Lima-Nazca-Abancay-Cusco: This is the quickest route (about 18 to 21 hours), but it can be a rough ride and you might be delayed due to landslides (especially in the rainy season) and other potential natural hazards. As for human hazards, the route did — and to a certain extent still does — have a reputation for bus hijackings and robberies. In general, however, there are few reasons to avoid this route unless you hear a recent and reliable report to the contrary.
  Or, you take the the slightly different Lima- Ayacucho – Abancay- Cusco (not recommended in rainy season), with the option to make a stop over in Ayacucho to visit the amazing off-the-beaten-trek Millpu Pools (dry season only, from April to November).
  Not many people take this route.

 



 

• Lima-Nazca-Arequipa-Cusco: Rather than cutting inland from Nazca, crossing the Andean mountains, this second route takes you further south to before swinging back up north to Cusco. It’s a long (24 to 27 hours), but the ride is smoother and you’re less likely to get stuck behind a mudslide. The majority of the people takes this route.

Short Hops from Lima to Cusco by Bus

If you have time, the Lima to Cusco trip can easily be broken up into stages. A week or more on the classic gringo trail from Lima will give you the opportunity to see some of Peru’s most famous attractions as you make your way to Cusco such as the Ballestas Islands and Huacachina in Ica.
 

Do you want to read this article in Dutch?

Hoe vind je een goedkope vlucht naar Peru?

Do you want to read this article in Spanish?

Cómo encontrar vuelos baratos a Perú