Cuzco & the Sacred Valley
Also known as Vinicunca, the Rainbow Mountain is a viral hit with travelers thanks to the photogenic nature of its mineral stripes. Getting there requires…
Must-see attractions in Peru
Central Highlands
This 180-sq-km park lies to the south of town, around the mouth of the Río Monzón, a tributary of the Río Huallaga. Its most distinguishing feature is the…
Northern Highlands
Cumbemayo (derived from the Quechua kumpi mayo, meaning ‘well-made water channel’) is an astounding feat of pre-Inca engineering. These perfectly smooth…
Lima
Housed in a graceful bank building, the Museo Central is a well-presented overview of several millennia of Peruvian art, from pre-Columbian gold and…
Cordillera Blanca
Still hanging on by the skin of its teeth high up in the Cordillera Blanca, the rapidly retreating Pastoruri glacier is one of the few remaining glaciers…
Arequipa
This beautiful building on the Plaza de Armas stands out for its stark white sillar (volcanic rock) and massive size – it's the only cathedral in Peru…
Lima
Housed in a lovely beaux-arts mansion surrounded by gardens, this undervisited museum has an exquisite collection of colonial furniture, silverwork and…
Parque Nacional Cerros de Amotape
North Coast
The tropical dry forest ecosystem of Cerros de Amotape is protected by this 1515-sq-km national park, which makes up the lion’s share of the Reserva de…
Piura
Located about 55km east of Piura, just before the Sechura Desert starts rising into the Andean slopes, Chulucanas is known Peru-wide for its distinctive…
Northern Highlands
This extraordinary funerary site hosts six sarcophagi perched high up a sheer cliff face. Each long-faced tomb is constructed from wood, clay and straw…
The Sacred Valley
With concentric terraces carved into a huge earthen bowl, the deep amphitheater-like terracing of Moray, reached via Maras village, is a fascinating…
Tarapoto
Dense jungle lies just 3km from the city limits of the crazy, cacophonous metropolis of Tareapoto. This section of the Aréa de Conservación Regional…
Northern Highlands
This part of Peru hit the spotlight in 1996 when a group of farmers found six chullpas (ancient Andean funerary towers) on a ledge 100m above a cloud…
Lake Titicaca
Just over 20km from Puno, this dramatic site has an extraordinary position upon a table-topped volcanic hill surrounded by a fertile plain. Its modest…
Lima
During the 17th century, the heart of Lima was ringed by a muralla (city wall), much of which was torn down in the 1870s as the city expanded. However,…
Abra Patricia-Alto Nieva Private Conservation Area
Northern Highlands
The 2960-hectare Abra Patricia-Alto Nieva Private Conservation Area is a bird-watcher’s paradise managed by the Association of Andean Ecosystems (ECOAN)…
Tarapoto
This town, a short drive from Tarapoto, is remarkable in the way that it is split into two distinct halves with mestizo (person of mixed indigenous and…
Huaraz
This small Wari ruin about 8km north of Huaraz is remarkably well preserved, dating from about AD 600 to 900. It’s an imitation of the temple at Chavín…
Northern Highlands
The most captivating of the many ancient ruins strewn around Leimebamba, La Congona is definitely worth the three-hour hike needed to get here. The flora…
The Sacred Valley
Salineras is among the most spectacular sights in the whole Cuzco area, with thousands of salt pans that have been used for salt extraction since Inca…
Arequipa & Canyon Country
This salt lake 4300m above sea level becomes a white salt flat during the dry months of May to December. Its size and the amount of water in it vary each…
Central Highlands
The 'Cave of the Owls' is, despite its name, known for the colony of oilbirds that lives inside. In addition, there are stalactites, stalagmites and bats…
Cajamarca
The Ransom Chamber, the only Inca building still standing in Cajamarca, is where Inca ruler Atahualpa was imprisoned. The small room has three trapezoidal…
Santuario Nacional los Manglares de Tumbes
North Coast
This national sanctuary was established in 1988 and lies on the coast, separate from the other three dry-forest areas. Only about 30 sq km in size, it…
Reserva Nacional Pampas Galeras
Nazca & Around
This national reserve is a vicuña (threatened wild camelids) sanctuary high in the mountains 90km east of Nazca on the road to Cuzco. It is the best place…
Amazon Basin
Ostensibly, the Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm is a conservation and breeding center for Amazonian butterflies. Butterflies aplenty there certainly are,…
Cuzco & the Sacred Valley
Snowcapped Ausangate (6384m), the highest mountain in southern Peru, can be seen from Cuzco on a clear day. Hiking a circuit around its skirts is the most…
Northern Highlands
The tiny and agreeably unkempt village of Huancas (pronounced like the English ‘wankers’!) has a small artisan community making clay pots the old…
Templo y Convento de La Merced
Cuzco
Cuzco’s third most important colonial church, La Merced was destroyed in the 1650 earthquake, but was quickly rebuilt. To the left of the church, at the…
Northern Highlands
Drawing your eye on your way into Moyobamba from the west is a craggy hill rising abruptly out of the flat forest. This is the Morro de Calzada (550m), a…
Convento y Museo de la Recoleta
Arequipa
Bibliophiles will delight in this musty monastery's huge library, which contains more than 20,000 dusty books and maps; the oldest volume dates to 1494…
Ayacucho
This former Inca stronghold was once considered the geographical center of the Inca empire. It was believed to have been a city constructed in the shape…
Arequipa
If Arequipa’s cathedral seems too big, an interesting antidote is this diminutive Jesuit church on the southeast corner of the Plaza de Armas. Proving…
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…
Central Highlands
A dramatic hilltop testament to both the power of the pre-Inca peoples and the extent to which their cultures are barely known about. The buildings here,…
Huaraz & the Cordilleras
In a scoop of a valley 8km above Huari and just inside the Parque Nacional Huascarán, this idyllic lake is well set up for day excursions, but is…
Tarapoto
This 40m waterfall has a small restaurant nearby and a locally favored swimming spot. Four-hour tours cost around S35 per person. It's possible to reach…
Arequipa
Arequipa’s main plaza, unblemished by modern interference, is a museum of the city’s sillar (volcanic rock) architecture – white, muscular and…
Cajamarca
Construction of this sprawling colonial complex, comprising a church and hospital made entirely from volcanic rock, occurred between 1627 and 1774. The…
Huaraz & the Cordilleras
A giant cemetery and memorial to the former town of Yungay (Yungay Viejo) that was destroyed by a landslide triggered by the infamous 1970 earthquake,…
