During our 3 month exploration of South America, we spent nearly 4 weeks travelling through Peru. Much of that was via PeruHop buses so I thought it only fair that I share my honest PeruHop review with you all! They took us from Lima to Cusco and Puno and even into Bolivia with plenty of stops along the way.
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What is PeruHop?
PeruHop is now part of a wider company called BusHop which offers long distance bus travel in South America. They also cover Ecuador and Bolivia with EcuadorHop and BoliviaHop respectively. In Peru, they offer several different routes and buses which travel at least once a day in each direction. You can purchase one ticket for your chosen route and then customise your journey depending on how long you want to spend in each city. Once you’ve chosen your route, your ticket is fairly flexible timing-wise. For example, if you fall in love with Arequipa, you can choose to stay there longer and change which day your next bus will be. Â
What are the alternatives to Peruhop?
The alternative to PeruHop would be to use public buses, trains and planes. For most of the routes covered, you would need to take a bus. You can use a website like BusBud to find and compare prices of buses.
Over long distances, such as from Arequipa to Cusco, you could opt to fly, if you don’t want to make any stops in between. Take a look at SkyScanner to compare flights.
There aren’t many rail options in Peru but the journey from Cusco to Puno can be done on the PeruRail. There is also a luxury train that runs between Arequipa and Cusco via Puno. Surprisingly the trains aren’t necessarily quicker than buses and are far more expensive.
I wouldn’t recommend hiring a car for this type of journey. There are some very long stretches of road to cover. You’d probably need to stop more often for breaks so it would extend the timeframe. I’m also not sure about how safe it is to drive in Peru.
Time Comparison
| Route | Duration by Bus | Duration by Train | Duration by Plane |
| Arequipa to Cusco | ~ 13 hours | 3 days (via Puno) | ~ 1 hour |
| Cusco to Puno | ~ 8 hours | ~ 10 hours | no direct flights |
Advantages of PeruHop
There are several advantages to booking Peruhop buses over regular public buses.
Ease
As a tourist, it is super straightforward to book with Peruhop and amend your ticket. Their route options plan half your trip for you and they even have suggested itineraries that pretty much take care of the rest. I do find some of their suggestions are a little rushed though but they are a great starting point. For my detailed 2 week Peru itinerary, click here!
Pick up is also made very easy. They may even be able to pick you up from your hotel. If not there are either several pick up points that you can choose from or a central one in smaller cities. In other South America countries, when using non-tourist buses, trying to navigate busy bus stations and finding where to collect tickets and then the correct platform has proved far more difficult than I would have thought!
Flexibility
As I mentioned, you can change your dates easily once you have booked so you can be flexible about how long you spend in each place. There’s no additional cost to change your timings.
Comfort
We did a couple of long, even overnight trips with Peruhop and managed to get some sleep! The seats don’t recline all the way but go back far enough. We were also given blankets.
All services had an English speaking guide who gave us recommendations for the next stop and was happy to answer questions. A big plus if, like me, your Spanish isn’t great.
Community and Added Activities
Pretty much everyone else on your bus will also be a tourist and even if your itinerary doesn’t exactly line up, you’ll likely bump into them again at some point. It’s fantastic for solo travellers looking to make friends. PeruHop also organised some social activities at certain stops like a Pisco Tour and a BBQ and karaoke in Huacachina.
Disadvantages of PeruHop
There are a few downsides to Peruhop. It’s up to you to decide what your priorities are with your trip, you might find some of these are not issues for you.
Cost
Peruhop is more expensive than if you booked buses via Busbud. But you are paying for more than transport from A to B. For one thing you are paying for multiple buses in one go. Plus you’re also paying for the service that comes with PeruHop – the recommendations, the convenient pick ups and the flexibility.
Comfort
I know I also had comfort on advantages but this one is all about perspective! The experience may be more comfortable than a non-tourist bus service but not as comfortable as a luxury sleeper train where you will have a bed. The Andean Explorer trains are in a whole different price category though, as you might expect, so not quite as back-packer friendly.Â
Speed of Travel
Some journeys are long! This is no fault of the buses, Peru is just a big country. As mentioned before the trains aren’t any faster at covering the same distance. If speed is a priority for you, consider domestic flights for longer distances. Bear in mind this may mean you’ll have to skip some smaller places along the way. Click here to read more about amazing places in Peru that you won’t want to miss.
Peru Stickers and Postcards
Issues we had with PeruHop
There were two major issues that came up during our time with Peruhop. Neither of these were the company’s fault but I thought it useful to include here to give the full picture of how PeruHop dealt with the situations.
Broken Windscreen
The first incident occurred just as we set off from Nazca for a night journey to Arequipa. Our guide was still standing at the front of the bus telling us about the next stop when there was a loud bang the bus suddenly stopped. We were near the back so couldn’t tell what had happened to begin with. After a few minutes our guide had announced that someone had thrown a rock at the windscreen. No one was majorly injured. He asked us to bear with them while they figure out what is going on.
In less than an hour we were back on the road. The guide had spoken to the head office and it would take 8 hours for another bus to reach us. So he and the driver had taped up the crack in the windscreen and were happy to drive on. They turned up the heating, handed out blankets and we were off. I had no idea how big the crack was until we disembarked the next morning (on time!) in Arequipa. I was stunned they managed to drive through the night with it!
We had booked a tour to the Colca Canyon for the morning we were due to arrive in Arequipa. Because we (and a few others) had booked via Peruhop, the guide was super helpful in communicating with the tour operators on our behalf. They likely would have waited for us because so many of us were booked on the same tour. However, we got there in time in the end anyway!
Roadblocks on the border to Bolivia
The second issue arose on our penultimate leg. We had booked a ticket that would take us all the way into Bolivia. The journey would take us to Copocabana on the other side of Lake Titicaca then onto La Paz. The day of our departure from Puno, there were protests and road blocks. This meant the bus wouldn’t be able to cross the border as planned.
They emailed about this the day before and our pick up time was changed to earlier in the day. We were then taken to the lake and boarded a boat instead of a bus. We crossed the border over the lake, rather than around it. On the Bolivian side, a bus came to collect us to take us to border control.Â
It did feel a little bit like we were being smuggled into Bolivia! But we were so thankful that Peruhop made the alternative arrangements for us all and guided us through each step. We otherwise may have been stuck in Peru until blocks cleared. Alternatively, we might have had to try to arrange a flight ourselves. I wouldn’t have known where to start trying to arrange a boat crossing!
Would you recommend PeruHop?
I would absolutely recommend PeruHop to anyone visiting Peru for the first time. Especially if you want to explore the main sites like Lima, Cusco and Machu Picchu. You’ll likely come across lots of other hidden gems like Paracas and Huacachina that you may not have visited otherwise!
Of course if you are more into luxury travel and the thought of an overnight bus terrifies you – by all means look into PeruRail trains. They do look incredible if you can afford it!
Peruhop isn’t just for backpackers – we actually met a lovely Canadian family on our trip travelling with 12 year old twins. They definitely didn’t enjoy the 8 hour bus journeys as much as their last holiday on a Caribbean beach but it can be family friendly!
My PeruHop Review
Overall, if you have a moderately low budget and are looking for ease, comfort and a fun community to travel with – then definitely consider booking with PeruHop!
If you’re looking to explore the country for 2 weeks, check out my PeruHop itinerary. This covers all of my favourite places in Peru.