PADDINGTON BEAR’S PERU WITH DIALAFLIGHT

Paddington Bear is coming to the big screen for the first time later this month. The long-awaited film, Paddington, boasts a star-studded cast which includes Nicole Kidman, Hugh Bonneville and Julie Walters.

Most fans of the iconic bear will be well aware that, although he may have been found at a London railway station he is, of course, from deep in the Peruvian jungle. Visit Paddington Bear’s original home of Peru and head to the mountains to meet the spectacled bears (his real relatives) with leading UK tour operator DialAFlight:

Paddington Bear in Peru from £2,099 pp – save 10%

The adventure begins in Lima, Peru’s capital, where the alfajor cookies served in cafés throughout the Miraflores district really are as good as Paddington Bear remembers. Next up is Cusco, the gateway to the empire of the Incas, who once ranged as widely as the spectacled bear itself. There aren’t any bears within the city limits, but llamas patrol its pre-Columbian and colonial streets. The tour of the city and its surrounds includes Koricancha, the religious and political centre during the Inca era, Sacsayhuaman, the magnificent fortress of mysterious stones, and the labyrinthine ruins of Qengo, Puca Pucara and Tambomachay.

No bear-seeking tour of Peru would be complete without a visit to the Inca site of Machu Picchu, with its crumbling temples, baths and palaces. Look out for wild spectacled bears on the site’s south-western slopes on their way to the jungle. For face-to-face encounters of Paddington’s real relatives, the tour takes in The Inkaterra Machu Picchu Spectacled Bear Project at the riverside town below. The sanctuary rehabilitates bears rescued from captivity and reintroduces them to the wild. Paddington’s relatives are one of the world’s oldest bears and, once common throughout the Andes, the spectacled bear is now endangered.

The Paddington Bear in Peru tour costs from £2,099 pp (two sharing) and includes seven nights’ B&B in superior hotels including the Casa Andina Private Collection Miraflores and the Inkaterra Macchu Picchu Pueblo Hotel, the services of English speaking guides, a visit to the Andean bear sanctuary, transfers, international flights to Lima (Heathrow) and internal flights (Cusco). Optional extension available with an excursion to The Sacred Valley. Valid for March 2015 departures.

For further information on DialAFlight’s huge range of holidays to Peru, visit www.dialaflight.com or call 0844 556 6060.

Paddington will be released in cinemas on 28 November.