Peru: Itineraries

Leaving Chiclayo, with its ancient ruins and witches' market, take a 10-hour bus ride via the highland jungle town of Jaén, a remote border crossing to Ecuador, over the Andean continental divide to Chachapoyas, a base for visiting the untouristed fortress of Kuélap, dating from AD 1000. Hardier travelers will take a longer route to first visit Cajamarca, a lovely highland provincial town where the Inca Atahualpa was imprisoned by Spanish conquistadors. Outside the wet season, continue on the slow, spectacular route to Leimebamba - on a kidney-busting drive to Chachapoyas. From here, take the scenic unpaved road to Pedro Ruíz, where transport is readily available to Tarapoto. Stop here to hike high jungle waterfalls. The road to Yurimaguas is a seven-hour unpaved gut-wrencher. Cargo boats leave here for the two-day trip to Iquitos via the village of Lagunas, a good entry to the Reserva Nacional Pacaya-Samiria. Hammock or cabin space is readily available - don't expect comfort, but it will be an unforgettable experience of how people live on the world's greatest river. At Iquitos, arrange a boat trip to go deep into the Amazon Basin.

Peru's main attractions are its Inca ruins, especially Machu Picchu and the bounty of the Sacred Valley, but there's a wealth of sites from other cultures to see, too. Trujillo is an excellent base for seeing Chan Chan, as well as ongoing excavations of the Moche pyramids of Huacas del Sol y de la Luna. If you have time in Huaraz, the 3000-year-old ruins of the Chavín de Huántar are worth the trip. Then continue north to Chiclayo, another treasure-house of ancient sites. Nearby, gold and other riches from the excavated site of Sipán are found in the museum at Lambayeque. Chiclayo is also the springboard for side trips into the northern highlands, where more archaeological sites await hidden in the cloud forest outside Chachapoyas; Kuélap, for instance, is a monolithic monument that gives Machu Picchu a run for its money. The wonderfully woven artifacts of Paracas are best seen in museums - Lima's Museo de la Nación and Museo Rafael Larco Herrera in particular - while the Nazca Lines can only be appreciated properly from the air. The funerary towers of the Colla, Lupaca and Inca cultures at Sillustani and Cutimbo, near Lake Titicaca, are worth seeing while in Puno.

Surf's up at some of the top spots on the Americas' Pacific coast. Drag your board up the coast in search of that elusive perfect swell at Huanchaco, Puerto Chicama, Pacasmayo and around Máncora. Then head in the opposite direction to Lima's southern beaches, Cerro Azul and all the way south to Boca del Río, near the Chilean border. Don't forget sandboarding on Peru's coastal dunes at Huacachina and Cerro Blanco. Try mountain biking the rugged trails around Huaraz to the sight of the highest glimmering, ice-capped peaks on the continent. Hundreds of rock-climbing routes are being bolted every year in the Cordillera Blanca region, and challenging treks await in the Cordilleras Blanca and Huayhuash and around Cuzco. Civilized Arequipa is a launching pad for rugged climbs of nearby volcanoes, such as El Misti and in the remote El Valle de los Volcanes. Then head to the world's deepest canyons, the Cañón del Colca and Cañón del Cotahuasi, for trekking between rural villages and wild river running.