Iquitos
At the southeast end of town is the floating shantytown of Belén, consisting of scores of huts, built on rafts, which rise and fall with the river. During…
Must-see attractions in Amazon Basin
Iquitos
Moored below Plaza Castilla is the diverting Historical Ships Museum, on a 1906 Amazon riverboat, the gorgeously restored three-deck Ayapua. The…
Reserva Nacional Pacaya-Samiria
Amazon Basin
At 20,800 sq km, this is the most immense of Peru’s parks and reserves. Pacaya-Samiria provides local people with food and a home, and protects…
Amazon Basin
This vast national park in the Amazon Basin covers almost 20,000 sq km and is one of the best places in South America to see a stunning variety of…
Amazon Basin
About two hours beyond Paucartambo is the extraordinary jungle view at Tres Cruces, a lookout off the Paucartambo–Shintuya road. The sight of the…
Amazon Basin
Ostensibly, the Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm is a conservation and breeding center for Amazonian butterflies. Butterflies aplenty there certainly are,…
Puerto Maldonado
This dock close to the Plaza de Armas is a cheap way of seeing a little of the action on a major Peruvian jungle river (the Río Madre de Dios), which is…
Amazon Basin
The wildlife-rich Río Tambopata is a major tributary of the Río Madre de Dios, joining it at Puerto Maldonado. Boats go up the river, past several good…
Parque Nacional Yanachaga-Chemillén
Amazon Basin
North of Oxapampa rear the cloud-capped hills of this little-visited park, preserving spectacular cloud forest and diverse flora and fauna, including the…
Amazon Basin
This lake, 15km south of Iquitos, is served by minibus (S2) several times an hour from near Plaza 28 de Julio (corner of Bermúdez and Moore), as well as…
Amazon Basin
For three generations the Guerra family has been operating this traditional rum distillery in Yanamono, in the middle of nowhere in the northern Peruvian…
Parque Nacional Bahuaja-Sonene
Amazon Basin
About two hours south of the Río Madre de Dios and along the Río Heath (the latter forming the Peru–Bolivia border), Parque Nacional Bahuaja-Sonene has…
Francisco Grippa Studio-Gallery
Amazon Basin
In undeniably the most eye-catching edifice in Pevas, the art works of Francisco Grippa, one of Peru's most famous contemporary painters, are a sight more…
Puerto Maldonado
Although this strangely cosmic blue building, surrounded by statues of locals in various poses of labor outside, was designed as a modern mirador (lookout…
Hacienda Concepción Research Center
Amazon Basin
Formerly the ITA Aceer Tambopata Research Center, Inkaterra’s reconstructed lodge, 8km downriver from Puerto Maldonado, is an important research center of…
Iquitos
Every guidebook mentions the ‘majestic’ Casa de Fierro (Iron House), designed by Gustave Eiffel (of Eiffel Tower fame). It was made in Paris in 1860 and…
Amazon Basin
There are many impressive waterfalls around San Ramón, but this 35m cascade is the most visited. El Tirol crashes down 5km east of San Ramón off the La…
Amazon Basin
The inexorably Germanic Pozuzo, three hours north of Oxapampa by daily minibus, is picturebook Tyrolean, from the architecture to the residents, straight…
Amazon Basin
The community of Baltimore, just after Refugio Amazonas lodge, is the only real settlement on the river, and has a few simple hospedajes (homestays)…
Puerto Maldonado
This bridge, since 2011 carrying the Carr Interocéanica across the Río Madre de Dios – connects Puerto Maldonado by paved road to the outside world for…
Iquitos
The sight of Iquitos' sophisticated riverside walkway, edged by swanky bars and restaurants and yet cut off from the rest of the world by hundreds of…
Mariposario Tambopata Butterfly Farm
Puerto Maldonado
Peru has the greatest number of butterfly species in the world (some 3700) and you can see many of them here at this well-run butterfly conservation…
Amazon Basin
One of the best clay licks in the Reserva Nacional Tambopata, where you can see the colorful cacophony of feeding macaws for which the Tambopata region is…
Amazon Basin
Pucallpa's only cultural attraction as such is the museum of sculptor Agustín Rivas, who specializes in wooden sculptures of mythical Amazonian creatures…
Amazon Basin
One of the most typically Tyrolean buildings in Pozuzo, wood-panelled and with a steeply pitched roof, this museum contains the intriguing history of the…
Amazon Basin
The long boat journey down the Río Alto Madre de Dios from Atalaya to Boca Manu, at the junction with the Río Manu, can take almost a day. Boca Manu…
Amazon Basin
Three kilometers north of La Merced on the Satipo road is this attractive bridge over the Río Chanchamayo, where indigenous rebel leader Juan Santos…
Museum of Indigenous Amazon Cultures
Iquitos
This intuitively presented museum takes you through the traits, traditions and beliefs of the tribes of the Amazon Basin, with a focus on the Peruvian…
Amazon Basin
The stairs at the northwest end of Av 2 de Mayo afford a good view of the town, and from the balcony at the southeast end there’s a photogenic river…
Amazon Basin
Probably Parque Nacional Manu's loveliest lake, at least amongst the part of the park visited by tourists, with camping and hiking possibilities.
Amazon Basin
Giant river otters are often seen on wildlife-replete Cocha Juárez, although tours rarely stop here these days.
Amazon Basin
A lovely lake enfolded within Parque Nacional Manu, with an observation tower to aid wildlife-watching.
Amazon Basin
Preferred over Cocha Juárez these days as a lake to spy wildlife such as the giant river otter.
Amazon Basin
A stunning waterfall close to Puerto Yurinaki, about 50km northeast of La Merced.
