Reserva Ecológica Chaparrí Wildlife
North Coast
This 34,000-hectare private reserve, located 75km east of Chiclayo, was established in 2000 by the community of Santa Catalina and the famous Peruvian…
Reserva Ecológica Chaparrí Wildlife
North Coast
This 34,000-hectare private reserve, located 75km east of Chiclayo, was established in 2000 by the community of Santa Catalina and the famous Peruvian…
Lake Titicaca
Sitting on rolling hills on the Lago Umayo peninsula, the chullpas (funerary towers) of Sillustani stand out for miles against a desolate altiplano…
Arequipa & Canyon Country
A fascinating, mystical site in the high desert, Toro Muerto (meaning ‘Dead Bull’) is named for the herds of livestock that commonly died here from…
South Coast
Grandiosely nicknamed the ‘poor man’s Galápagos,’ the Islas Ballestas make for a memorable excursion. The only way to get here is on a boat tour, offered…
North Coast
This archaeological site, around 30km north of Lambayeque on the Panamericana, is not particularly well known, but it's the most impressive collection of…
Lima
This bright-yellow Franciscan monastery and church is most famous for its bone-lined catacombs (containing an estimated 70,000 remains) and its remarkable…
Cordillera Blanca
A dirt road ascends 1350m from Yungay, winding over 28km to the Llanganuco Valley and its two robin-egg blue lakes, which are also known as Laguna…
Lima
To the northeast of Plaza de Armas is the block-long Palacio de Gobierno, a grandiose baroque-style building from 1937 that serves as the residence of…
Lima
One of Lima’s most storied churches was part of a 17th-century shantytown inhabited by former slaves. One of them painted an image of the Crucifixion on a…
Lima
Located near the Óvalo Gutiérrez, this huaca is a restored adobe ceremonial center from the Lima culture that dates back to AD 400. In 2010 an important…
Lima
An ambitious state project to preserve the memory of victims of violence during Peru's tumultuous period from 1980 to 2000. This new postmodernist museum…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Arequipa
Arequipa’s main plaza, unblemished by modern interference, is a museum of the city’s sillar (volcanic rock) architecture – white, muscular and…
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,…
South Coast
A tiny settlement 6km further up the valley from Lunahuaná, Catapalla is a traditional mountain village with quiet, traffic-free streets and a pretty…
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…
South Coast
Provoking many visitors to make the trip all the way down from Lima, this former slave plantation with its stately hacienda offers a window into race and…
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…
South Coast
Located on the site of the former cathedral, this museum funded by a multinational mining company is an excellent little repository of local…
Cuzco
Winning entries in Cuzco’s annual Popular Art Competition are displayed in this engaging museum. This is where the artisans and artists of San Blas…