Travelling to Peru means getting robbed in the first place?! No, that is not true :-) This is what we did:

Enjoy the Santa Cruz Trek in the Cordillera Blanca.

Meet the friendly and helpful locals,

see what and how they build

and what they do.

• Cusco region and sacred valley: 5 days
• Inka trail (planned, but not done. Greetings to Peruvian cuisine...): 4 days
• Titicaca lake, Puno, Uros (floating islands), Isla Taquila: 2 days
• Arequipa, Colca Canyon, Mirador Cruz del Condor: 5 days
• Nasca lines, Islas Ballestas: 4 days
• Cordillera Blanca, Huaraz, Llanganuco laguna: 2 days
• Santa Cruz Trek: 3 days

Regarding accomodation and getting around, things might change quite quickly, so grab an up-to-date guidebook. Different tour operators often sell you the same stuff, but at a different price. Check this before you pay and leave. Sometimes it's better and/or cheaper just to hire a taxi and take a private tour.

Be aware that the money machines from different bank have different maximum amounts, and, of course, try not to get robbed after taking out the money :-) Well, now that we are touching the safety issue: I never really felt unsafe in Peru (at least, no more unsafe as when taking a late subway in any German city). Just stick to the areas recommended by the guidebooks and avoid waving your camera or money around. Theft there is often driven by opportunities. Otherwise I found the locals, shop owner, taxi driver, hotel clerk or mountain guide, nice and helpful.

• Rob Rachowiecki, Greg Caire, Grant Dixon: Trekking in the Central Andes. Lonely Planet Publications. First edition June 2003.
  Gives useful information for the main peruvian hikes - good for planning and to have on the way.
• Oskar E. Busch: Peru. Trekkingführer. Bergverlag Rother, München. 3. Auflage 2001.
  Lists many many treks in Peru, sorted by region. Also contains some sketches where they are (although it is sometimes difficult to link the text to the maps). Concentrates more on description how to follow/not loose the path. Pretty useful to get to know what treks are available apart from the main ones.
• Rob Rachowiecki, Charlotte Beech: Peru. Lonely Planet Publications. Fifth edition January 2004.
  Adds the necessary "civil" information to the two guides above, in order to properly travel around and visit some tourist/cultural sites We also had the corresponding Footprint and Rough Guide with us, both contained more details that the Lonely Planet (with respect to history etc), the former one usually was the most accurate one in terms of prices, schedules (since it was the most recent guidebook we had).
• Booklet Huaraz Peru (Map Guide) by Marketing y negociaciones generales S.R.L. (editor in chief: Mauro Olaza).
  Useful and very informative 50pages (A6 size, red/blue) local booklet available for free in selected Huaraz shops and restaurants.
• Usually I also sneak in the stuff that I read during the journey. Pretty much this time, due to long bus journeys or waiting times. I started off with a book by Fred Vargas, got two others (not really good ones) in book exchanges and ended up with the Swedish version of Dennis Lehane's Mystic River. These two are to recommend, the other two not (did not even finish the third one).
  Anyway, I read Chris Bonnington's I chose to climb (1966, new edition by Orion House, 2001) recently and found it rather nice to read, so this would be a more hiking/climing related recommendation that you could read in Huaraz. The Peru&climing stuff to read is of course Joe Simpson's Touching the Void (Jonathan Cape Ltd, London, UK, 1988), which I already recommended on my E5 page.
  If you want to stick to literature in Spanisch, Carlos Ruiz Zafon's La sombra del viento (Editorial Planeta S.A., 2001) is a book did not let me away for several evenings. Very exiting!
• Road Map & City Maps Peru 1:1750000 (Berndson&Berndson, 2005)
  Used for general planning at home and overview during travel. Good and robust.
• Cuzco Region, Macchu Picchu Peru. 1:110000 (ITMB Publishing, 2003), Alpenvereinskarte 0/3a Cordillera Blanca Nord Peru 1:100000 (Österreichischer Alpenverein, 2000), Alpenvereinskarte 0/3b Cordillera Blanca Süd Peru 1:100000 (Deutscher Alpenverein, 1945 (printed 1988), new edition on the way)
  Used for hiking and planning the hikes. Useful to get an idea of elevations and what to climb up and down during the hike. Even if the latter ones are maps by the German alpine club, they seem to be accepted standard matrial for the Cordillera Blanca region.
• Peru Tourist Information - A tourist guide to the beautiful country of Peru. Peru tourist information - nice for pictures an overview.
• Highland Peru Tours Agency for hiking Inka trail and others. I planned the Inka trail with them. Are using Q'ente as trail operator and looked reasonble.
• Santa Cruz Expeditions. Another agency for hiking, mostly focusing on Cordillera Blanca.
• Enrique Expedition Tours Huaraz-based agency for hiking there. I did the Santa Cruz trek with them. To recommend for hiking trips.
• Peru Discovery German run agency in Cusco; does all kind of things: mountainbike, trekking, Manu reserve.
• Romy und Dirk in Südamerika Private page of a ten month journey through south america (still on-going at the time of writing this page). In German.
• Pictures of Trekking in the Cordillera Blanca, Llanganuco, Santa Cruz, and Huaraz, Peru. Private page with loads of nice pictures to get warm before your own journey.
• Trekking the Cordillera Blanca. Another private page with reports and pictures.