Peru 's peak tourist season is from June to August, which is the dry season in the highlands, and this is the best time to go if you're interested in hiking. Travelers do visit the highlands year-round, though the wettest months, January to April, make trekking a muddy proposition. Many of the major fiestas occur in the wettest months and continue undiminished in spite of heavy rain.

On the coast, Peruvians visit the beaches during the sunny months from late December through March, although few beaches are particularly enticing. The rest of the year, the coast is clothed in mist. In the eastern rainforests, it naturally rains a lot. The wettest months are December through April, though travelers visit year-round since it rarely rains for more than a few hours and there's still plenty of sunshine to enjoy.

El Perú es un país de todas las sangres. A través de su historia, el Perú ha sido el punto de encuentro de diferentes razas y culturas. A la población nativa se sumaron, hace cerca de 500 años, los españoles.

Producto de ese encuentro, enriquecido posteriormente con las migraciones de negros, asiáticos y europeos, emerge el hombre peruano, representante de una nación cuya riqueza étnica constituye una de sus más importantes características

Events
Many of the main festivals favor the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar. These are often celebrated with great pageantry, especially in highland Indian villages, where the Catholic feast day is usually linked with a traditional agricultural festival. Some of the major events include: Carnaval (February-March), which is particularly popular in the highlands and features numerous water fights; Inti Raymi (24 June), the greatest of the Inca festivals with spectacular dances and parades; Peru's Independence (28 July); All Souls Day (2 November), celebrated with gifts of food, drink and flowers which are taken to family graves; and Puno Day (5 November), which features flamboyant costumes and street dancing in Puno.

Money
The easiest currency to exchange is US dollars. Other currencies are only exchangeable in major cities and at a high commission. Money can be changed in banks, casas de cambio, first-class hotels or with street changers. Casas de cambio are usually the easiest places to change money. Street changers, who hang out near banks, never offer better rates than the best bank rate and have been known to cheat travelers so are best avoided. Rates vary from place to place but not significantly, unless you try to change money at a hotel which charges high commission. Travelers' checks are changed at a slightly lower rate than cash. Visa is the most widely accepted credit card, but credit cards attract an 8% commission unless you are using it for a cash withdrawal (in Peruvian currency) from a bank. ATMs (Visa and Plus system are most widely recognized) are now the best way to extract money in Peru .

A combination of taxes and service charges are added to bills in the best hotels and restaurants and can total as much as 28%. The cheaper hotels and restaurants don't add taxes. Tipping is not expected in budget restaurants. A tip of 10-15% is fine in upmarket restaurants if a service charge has not already been added to the bill. Taxi drivers are not tipped - bargain hard beforehand and stick to your price. Local guides should be tipped US$3-5 per day. Bargaining is a way of life in markets.