Must-see attractions in Central Highlands

This spectacular 17th-century cathedral on the Plaza de Armas has a religious-art museum inside. The moody facade doesn’t quite prepare you for the…

Ayacucho’s most haunting museum, remembers the impact the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) had on Peru in the city that was most deeply affected by the…

Displays popular art covering the ayacucheño (natives of Ayacucho) spectrum – silverwork, rug- and tapestry-weaving, stone and woodcarvings, ceramics …

This white shrine visible on a hill 1.5km from Acobamba is one of Peru’s top pilgrimage sites, built around a rock etching of Christ crucified. A small…

Santuario Nacional Huayllay, aka the bosque de piedras (forest of stones), is the world’s largest and highest rock forest at a chilly 4500m+ with…

Set around beautiful gardens and courtyards, this convent was originally built by Franciscans in the early 18th century as a center for missionaries…

These extensive Inca ruins perch on a swathe of barren pampa (pampas grass) at 3700m. It’s a worthwhile two-hour trek on a steep path from behind the…

The best known of the myriad archaeological ruins near Tarma, this was the capital of the Taruma culture and later a major Inca administrative center. The…

Hemmed in by mountains, this body of water offers restaurants and boat rides. From the east shore a path climbs to a ridge for great valley views and the…

The ghostly mines of Santa Barbara, high in the hills above Huancavelica, and accessed by a tough but rewarding 1½ hour hike, are the city's most poignant…

The imposing hilltop site of Sondor, constructed by the Chanka people, stands a couple of kilometers past the end of Laguna de Pacucha. The Chanka were…

Sprawling for several kilometers along a cactus-forested roadside are the extensive ruins of Wari, the capital of the eponymous empire, which predated the…

This captivating little museum is really part art gallery and part an explanation of the process of retablo making. Retablos, ornamental, originally…

These two villages on the east side of the valley, sometimes referred to jointly as Cochas, are the major production centers for the incised gourds that…

Peaceful San Pedro, some 40km into the hills from Tarma, is the production center for the country’s finest tapices (tapestries). Most of the village is…

Officially a restaurant, this surreal Aladdin's Cave is more a museum of curios than anything else, for the owner is primarily a collector of magical…

This little-known archaeological site sits above San Pedro de Casta on a 4-sq-km plateau at 4100m. It's famed for its weirdly eroded rocks shaped into…

Huancavelica’s most spectacular religious building, built in 1673, has been restored in attractive maroon and white. It contains what some say is the best…

Visually striking stone church containing retablos (ornamental religious dioramas) and an attractive adjoining convent dating to the 17th century. Located…

One of the prettiest plazas in the Central Andes, flanked by many gorgeous mansions, including the Prefectura. Ask at the tourist office for details on…