A few weeks in the North and East,

I can't help with the Amazon but we spent 11 days in northern Peru. We took an overnight bus from Lima to Trujillo (but stayed in Huanchaco). Don't miss Chan Chan and Huaca de la Luna. Then we took a bus to Chiclayo but stayed in Lambayeque. We visited Tucume and the Lord of Sipan museum. Then an overnight bus to Chachapoyas. We walked from Levanto to Chachapoyas on the Inca road. We hiked to the Gocta Falls and visited Kuelap. Then we took a minibus to Leymebamba where we visited the museum. Then we went on to Celendin and Cajamarca (long but amazing trip, great scenery). In Cajamarca we explored the city, went to the ventanillas de Otuzco and Cumbemayo. Then we flew back to Lima.
I posted a long trip report 10 days ago.

Hello Joe,

I don't know if I'm the man (or better the woman) in the north, but I have some information for you :)

By going up from Lima, there are many places where you could stop. Let me give you a little overview:
- Caral (just about 180 km north of Lima) - it is a little complicated to reach by bus
- the region of Huaraz (direct bus Lima - Huaraz) where you could stay several days, doing day-trips to visit the lagunas, Chavin de Huantar and do some hiking - This is rather high up !
- Trujillo: stay 1 - 2 days, enjoying the Sun and Moon Temples, Chan Chan, the City Center, maybe a danse of Caballo de Paso Peruano and relax on the beach of Huanchaco.
- Chiclayo: 1 to several days, depending on what you like to do: A must is the Museum Tumbas Reales, but you also have the Pyramids and Museum of Tucume (which I loved!!), the Ecological reserve of Chaparri (about 2 hours outside of Chiclayo), the Bosque de Pomac (close to Tucume) as well as the archaeological site of Huaca Rajada
- From Chiclayo take a night bus with Movil Tours to the Chachapoyas area. Stay there as long as you like and take day-tours to visit the different sites as Kuelap, the fortress of the Chachapoyas warrior, as well as the Sarcophagi of Karajia and the Mausoleum of Revash, their funeral expressions. The Museum of Leymebamba is great to better understand this pre-Inca culture. Don't forget to hike at least one of the famous waterfalls, Gocta or Yumbilla. In rainy season they are just impressive !! If you like canyoning, you could do this at Yumbilla as well.
- From Chachapoyas you continue to Moyobamba: you could take a boat tour at Tingana or Santa Elena and discover the river ecological ecosystems.
- Finally arrival at Tarapoto: Coffee production, Lamas and the Quechua Lamistas ceramic art work and Organic Chocolate in Chazuta.

For all the above mentioned places, if you want to have more information, have a look at the Blog section of www.phimavoyages.com. There are lots of articles about the sites to visit in northern Peru.

Be aware that February is still the holiday season here in Peru and many people will go to the beach. So I guess, it might be a good option to reserve your hotels on the beach in advance.

I hope this is helpful and wish you a great planning for your upcoming trip !! I guess this will be your Christmas present !

Merry Christmas and a Happy new year and many travels for 2017 !
Martina

I hope this is helpful and wish you a great planning for your upcoming trip !! I guess this will be your Christmas present !

Thanks to our women in the North of Peru.

I think this is the post I was looking for,
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/americas-south-america/peru/north-peru-in-6-days?page=1

I will study this for a while.

Could a person get a room for carnival by showing up in Cajamarca a couple of days early?

If many people are going to the beach perhaps I should too. I wonder which beach?

I sometimes take the local bus to the next village. Some of the small villages are more interesting than the cities, to me at least. Also I do not like to sit on the bus for 12 hours at a time. Anyone seen any little villages North of Lima-- they enjoyed?

Me and my mum after visiting the south took a airplane from Lima to Tarapoto and returned to Lima by land. You could consider taking an airplane to Iquitos and find a boat to get you yo Tarapoto, and take it from there. I personally didn't like Tarapoto that much, but all the rest is beautiful and much less touristy than the south. Great choice to go North !

Hello everybody and Happy New Year 2017 !! (I guess you can still say it, no ?)

I am not sure if you can get still a room in Cajamarca for carnival, but you can always give it a try :)

For the beach, you would have to go really further north to have a decent water temperature, otherwise the water is freezing. A nice beach is Zorritos or maybe Punta Sal.

In Chiclayo you can visit many things like the arqueological complex of Sipan and Sican, Tucume and the ecological reserve of Chaparri, also you can enjoy the beautiful beaches and more the heavenly food.
Then take a bus to Chachapoyas, when i made this trip, i stayed in a little town called Cuispes in like 40 min from Chachapoyas (you'll get there earlier than chachapoyas). From there i visited the forest of the giant waterfalls, the
sarcophagus of San Jeronimo, and some other places.
On your way to Chachapoyas, you can visit the sarcophagus of Carajia and Kuelap. This are some of the things that i did on my trip.
I got a lot of information from this blog https://travelnorthperu.wordpress.com/. Here you will find info about how to get to places, how to travel the north of Peru and what to see and visit there.

Hope it helps you.

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