Kuélap
Travelers have their heads literally in the clouds when visiting the walled jungle fortress Kuélap in the northern highlands of Peru – the gateway to the…
Must-see attractions in Northern Highlands
Northern Highlands
This 771m waterfall somehow escaped the notice of the Peruvian government, international explorers and prying satellite images until 2002, when German…
Northern Highlands
The mummies found at Laguna de los Cóndores are housed in the Museo Leimebamba, 5km south of town. The museum is owned by the local community and located…
Northern Highlands
The name Gran Vilaya refers to the bountiful valleys that spread out west of Chachapoyas, reaching toward the rushing Río Marañón. Abutting the humid…
Northern Highlands
Perched on a mountaintop overlooking the small town of San Pablo, these seldom-visited pre-Inca ruins are well worth the trip from Cajamarca. The site is…
Northern Highlands
This spectacular collection of rugged ruins sprawls over a windswept plateau at a dizzying 3600m. The 3km-long site dates from around 400 BC and has…
Northern Highlands
A tiered waterfall falling in four sections, Yumbilla, rather like Gocta, was not properly surveyed until the early 2000s. And with all the recent…
Northern Highlands
This excellent museum at the foot of the Kuntur Wasi ruins houses many objects from the archaeological site including amazing gold crowns and jewelry. Be…
Northern Highlands
This historic site protects several brightly colored funerary buildings tucked into limestone cliff ledges high above a valley near the town of Santo…
Northern Highlands
This largely unexcavated archaeological site dates from around AD 1100 and is located 17km south of Chachapoyas near the village of Levanto. A visit here…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Cajamarca
Construction of this sprawling colonial complex, comprising a church and hospital made entirely from volcanic rock, occurred between 1627 and 1774. The…
Cajamarca
Outgunning the cathedral on Plaza de Armas is this elaborate church with striking stone carvings and decadent altars. Unlike other illustrious Cajamarca…
Northern Highlands
This interpretation center 15 minutes west of the village of San Lucas de Pomacochas maintains feeders on a private reserve that attracts the Marvelous…
Tarapoto
You’ll find good swimming, boating and fishing at this popular local spot, also called Laguna de Sauce. Day tours (S85 per person, minimum two people) and…
Tarapoto
Some deride it as a tasteless white elephant; others laud it for its eccentricity. Whatever your position, this ‘mock’ Italian castle that rises out of…
Cajamarca
This garden-covered viewpoint, overlooking the city from the southwest, is a prominent Cajamarca landmark. It is easily reached by climbing the stairs at…
Northern Highlands
Combayo is the largest and most impressive collection of funerary niches in the region, although its location 30km northeast of Cajamarca means it's less…
Tarapoto
This small village is famed throughout the region for its elegant pottery. It has artisan workshops, a small museum showcasing pre-Inca funerary urns, and…
Northern Highlands
This pre-Inca necropolis has scores of funerary niches built into the hillside, hence the name ventanillas (windows). Set in alluring countryside, 8km…
Northern Highlands
This large cave is 545m long and guards a spooky selection of stalagmites, stalactites and other trippy rock formations. Also visible around the entrance…
Cajamarca
This squat but ornate building was begun in the late 17th century and only recently finished. Like most of Cajamarca’s churches, the cathedral has no…
Northern Highlands
The joy of this steep-sided canyon that cuts like a deep gash through the Northern Highlands is that you’re barely aware it’s there until you are…
Northern Highlands
This community-run nature reserve protects a swath of forest on the upper Río Mayo that is home to monkeys and a wide variety of birds, frogs and…
Northern Highlands
This showcase garden replete with some 400 species of orchid growing in a beautiful forest is located 5km south of the 'City of Orchids.' Providing a…
Museo de Arqueológico & Etnográfíco
Cajamarca
This small museum has exhibits of pre-Columbian pottery and stone statues, as well as displays on local costumes and clothing, domestic and agricultural…
Northern Highlands
Head to this viewpoint seven blocks northeast of the plaza for supreme panoramas of the Mayo River valley below. (Stairs head down the mountainside to the…
Instituto Nacional de Cultura Museo
Northern Highlands
This small museum on the Plaza de Armas houses mummies found throughout the region, plus ceramics from several pre-Columbian periods and one of the…
Museo Chanka y de la Diversidad Lamista
Tarapoto
Small local museum in the town of Lamas, 25km northwest of Tarapoto, explaining the origins and manifestations of the town's strong folkloric culture..
Northern Highlands
This whitewashed church, officially known as the Catedral San Juan Bautista, sits on the Plaza de Armas. Its heavy black wooden doors rarely seem to open…
