Advice for self-driving with rental the road to Manu (1 Viewer)

[Lou Hibbard]

Hello - with the road to Manu newly paved I am checking out self -driving with my wife in June 2025 from Cusco and back with stops at perhaps Wayquecha, Cock of the Rock Lodge, and Amazonia. Why self drive? I have had bad experiences in Nepal of being ultra jammed into extremely crowded buses and mini-buses for hours with barely room to move on my way to treks. I can get claustrophobic in those situations. We also prefer to not hire a guide in general although maybe we will for a couple of 1/2 days. The reason for that is primarily to get more adventure and figure the birds out on our own. That's a big part of the fun for us even if we see fewer birds which is of course the case. My wife loves taking bird photos with a great zoom and that really helps ID if I miss the live ID.
My questions are:
Will the rental car companies allow this? What type of vehicle is needed? 4WD or high clearance needed? I am a climber and have a lot of experience on bad approach roads to mountains, not always with 4WD.
Is this feasible?
Is self-driving actually more expensive than hiring transport?
Is it actually lower cost to do all the bookings yourself or have a travel agent do it as a package deal? The rooms I inquired about so far are way more than we paid in Ecuador last year. Perhaps that is just due to the remoteness. Any suggestions for travel agent if that is cheaper?
We are thinking of 7-10 days or so. My wife will then go home and I'll do the Salkantay trek with my son.
I did find the earlier post " A First Trip to Peru" which was very helpful. I also have a copy of the Valqui book "Where to Watch Birds in Peru". If all goes well perhaps 2026 would be a trip out of Puerto Maldonado. We have flight benefits making shorter, frequent trips more feasible.
Thanks for any thoughts you can give.

 

[temmie]

First, what I did a long time ago:
car + driver, bookings through websites (e.g. Wayquecha, the lodge adjacent to COTR, Amazonia).

This was very much OK (except for 1 full day of rain while near COTR), and economic.

Now, for your questions:
Whether or not it's cheaper depends on the car hire company. I once hired a car for 2 weeks and drove around C-Peru on very rough roads, and I didn't even bother asking if that was allowed. You just take the risk or you don't. A lot of car hire companies have a disclaimer that you aren't allowed to ride on unpaved roads, but honestly, in countries like Peru, as a birdwatcher, it will restrict your whole trip and doesn't make sense.

Without further investigating, I would say that, as long as you find a rental company (probably renting from Cuzco?), you'd be fine with a 2WD (especially since you mention the road is paved) and just ride. One thing to consider is staying at Villa Carmen (it has nearly all the bamboo birds).
If you don't find a car easily, I'd consider contacting e.g. tanager tours (Miguel Lezama Nincuro) and inquire about a car + driver. The main advantage, even though maybe a bit more expensive, is that you'd probably end up with a driver that knows something about birds, places to stop / stake-outs and is thus an aid rather than a pain. Another main advantage of a driver is that you can walk down and wave the car, once you want to move on, instead of walking back up to the car. Maybe you can even arrange to rent the car + driver e.g. for a few days less (the last days you're in either Amazonia or Villa Carmen, you won't need a car), and arrange a bus or other transport for your ride back, preferably through e.g. Villa Carmen or again, while asking for options, through Tanager Tours or the like.

 

[Lou Hibbard]

Thanks temmie for your thoughts. I will look into the cost/value benefit of the driver through the company you mentioned. I'll also read the rules carefully of any rental car before renting to make sure Manu region isn't outlawed. Last thing I want is to get down there with rooms already booked and the rental car is refused.
I do like adventure driving - one time we had an extra car 2WD Ford Escape and I drove it up to Alaska to sell just so I could drive the Alaska and Dalton Highways. Saw a muskox. Slept in back curled around 2 spare tires(grizzly country).
We like adventure and I'm willing to pay for it but being retired and taking multiple trips per year I also try to minimize costs to make sure I can keep doing many trips.

 

[rdcny]

Do a search for rental car experience in Peru - there are several short write-ups on-line. It seems to avoid being hassled by police (a) drive during the day with your lights on - always; (b) keep a yellow triangle and first aid kit in your car; (c) expect to be stopped especially near cities and the usual bribe is $20 USD though they will ask for a lot more. Some people use a cell phone to video their interaction with the local police - that seems to keep them in check too. Others suggest knowing the difference between transit police (who can write tickets) and local police. Read the links below for people who have personal experiences driving in Peru.

My wife and I will probably do this same trip as you in June-July 2025 so we have been researching...We did northern Chile in summer 2023 and that was easy, safe and wonderful (and not expensive).

This is best info on driving in Peru I found:

https://www.reddit.com/r/travel/comments/15q5enw/a_guide_to_driving_in_peru

Some links:

https://www.reddit.com/r/travel/comments/qz5bvy/renting_car_in_peru_and_travel_from_lima_to_cusco

https://www.reddit.com/r/travel/comments/17wop9s/driving_in_peru_after_the_fact

Safety in the Cusco area (from a Brit): What Travelers Should Know: Current Political Situation in Peru

 

[DMW]

We rented a 4x4 vehicle in Lima a few years ago to do central Peru - booked a small SUV but were given a Hilux. Some observations based on previous comments:
1. I don't recall ever being stopped by police, and we certainly didn't pay any bribes.
2. I've no idea what our rental contract said regarding taking the vehicle off paved roads, but we sure did - in the wet season, too. We did incur some panel damage due to an inconsiderately-located wall. This was covered by our stand-alone annual excess insurance policy (something everybody who rents cars should buy!).
The rental company didn't ask where the incident occurred, and clearly didn't care if it was on or off a paved road.
3. I can't conceive of any possible universe where a Peruvian lodge owner would refuse accommodation to somebody because they are in a rental car that "shouldn't be there".
4. I would rate Peruvians as the worst drivers in the world. They are not only terrible drivers, they are aggressive a-holes behind the wheel.

Basically if you know you will be on roads that are drivable in a 2WD, then I would just rent a car without worrying about it.

 

[Antpitta'd]

We self drove for combined about a month in various bits of Peru (although not Manu, sorry) about 2 months ago, we were never stopped and definitely didn’t have to pay a bribe.

We were guided for a few days down Manu road and I think it’d be very easy to do yourself, the road is in good condition and finding places to stop is easy. Just drive slow with windows down to listen for birds

 

[simmojunior]

We self drove for combined about a month in various bits of Peru (although not Manu, sorry) about 2 months ago, we were never stopped and definitely didn’t have to pay a bribe.

We were guided for a few days down Manu road and I think it’d be very easy to do yourself, the road is in good condition and finding places to stop is easy. Just drive slow with windows down to listen for birds

Interesting. In North Peru in 2017, we were stopped all the time by community vigilantes / semi official police (not really sure) who waited at speed bumps. The typical payment was around a dollar though sometimes we pretended not to understand what they were saying.

Beware of the speed bumps. They were so high and our unsuitable rental car would crash the bottom even when going very slowly in first gear.