Peru

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Inca Trail

Land of the Incas

Peruvian Amazon

Visit Peru Airpass

Peru is the most varied and exciting country in South America, renowned for the sheer beauty of its landscapes as well as its remarkable ancient cultures. When Francisco Pizarro and his small band of Spanish Conquistadors arrived in the 16th century, the mighty empire of the Incas was at its zenith, stretching from modern-day southern Colombia down to northern Chile. The Inca treasures were ruthlessly plundered by the Spaniards, but the spectacular archaeological remains, most famously those of the ‘Lost City’ of Machu Picchu, bear witness to the Incas’ remarkable achievements while their cultural traditions live on in a diversity of music, festivals, crafts and costumes.

Peru’s capital was founded as the 'City of Kings' by Pizarro in 1535. The heart of the city, particularly the area around the Plaza Mayor, has retained much of its colonial architecture, a reminder of Lima’s heyday as the administrative centre of Spanish South America. The city houses a number of excellent museums including the highly recommended Gold Museum, a private collection of pre-Columbian artefacts. The pleasant suburbs of San Isidro and Miraflores, where most of the better hotels are located, boast some of the finest restaurants in South America.

Mystery surrounds the origin and significance of the huge geometric shapes and animal designs that were etched in the coastal desert before the time of the Incas. The incredible ‘Nazca Lines’ cover an area of more than 500 square km and can only be fully appreciated from the air. You can combine a visit to Nazca with a boat trip to the superb Ballestas Islands, Peru's most important wildlife sanctuary, where you will see large colonies of sealions as well as vast numbers of nesting sea-birds including cormorants, boobies and pelicans.

The elegant ‘White City’ of Arequipa, a UNESCO World Heritage Site with many well-preserved examples of colonial architecture, lies in an attractive valley flanked by the perfect snow-capped cone of the El Misti volcano. In the centre of the city is the vast Santa Catalina Convent, almost a ‘town within a town', built in the 16th century and once home to 450 nuns. Arequipa is the base for the onward journey through the mountains to the spectacular Colca Canyon, twice as deep as North America's Grand Canyon, located in a remote area of unspoilt Andean villages and pre-Columbian terraced hillsides.

Cuzco was regarded by the Incas as the ‘Navel of the World’ and was the capital of their powerful empire. The oldest continuously inhabited city in South America, Cuzco has preserved many of its original features despite Spanish colonisation. Many of its attractive churches and colonial houses are built on Inca foundations, and impressive Inca ruins such as Sacsayhuamán and Tambo Machay are all reminders of a glorious past. Today Cuzcois an attractive city whose craft shops, museums and unique atmosphere make it the ideal place to spend a few days before continuing with your trip. Beyond Cuzco lies the Urubamba Valley, sacred to the Incas, where you will find the ancient agricultural terraces, picturesque villages and colourful markets of the Quechua people, direct descendents of the Incas. Significant archaeological sites abound including the ruins of the fortress of Ollantaytambo with its monumental stonework.

The most famous of all Inca citadels is the legendary ‘Lost City’ of Machu Picchu, one of the world’s great travel destinations. Never discovered by the Spaniards, this dramatic mountain-top complex remained hidden from the outside world until its chance discovery by the American archaeologist Hiram Bingham in 1911. Clinging to the flanks of a steep mountain ridge above the Urubamba River, with tier upon tier of terraced stone walls, palaces and temples, Machu Picchu enjoys a unique and spectacular setting, particularly impressive at dawn or sunset. Inaccessible by road, the ruins can be reached by a scenic train journey from Cuzco through the Sacred Valleyof the Incas or as the climax of the tough but rewarding Inca Trail trek.

Beneath infinite deep blue skies that are mirrored in its placid waters, Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world at almost 4,000 metres. Located in the ‘Altiplano’, the vast and starkly beautiful plateau at the heart of the high Andes, the lake is revered by the local Aymara Indians who believe it to be the birthplace of the Sun and also of the first Inca, Manco Capac. Life on the lake's shores and islands continues much as it has done for centuries in Indian towns and villages whose inhabitants have preserved their unique cultural heritage and traditions. A stay on Suasi Island, where you can hike, enjoy some bird-watching or simply relax, is an excellent way to appreciate the lake environment. Lake Titicaca straddles the Peru-Bolivia border making onward travel to La Paz an easy option.

The remote and little visited north of Peru is home to a number of significant pre- Inca archaeological sites and is ideal for those wanting to make a second more indepth visit to the country. Chan Chan, the imperial capital of the Chimu civilisation, was once the largest adobe city in the world, while the Pyramid of the Moon in the Moche Valley was a ritual and ceremonial site where excavations have unveiled some spectacular painted friezes of symbolic fish, birds and serpents. Both can be easily visited from the colonial city of Trujillo. Further north, near Chiclayo, there have been spectacular discoveries at the Moche burial complex of Sipán, whose treasures can be seen in the excellent Museum of the Royal Tombs of Sipán in the town of Lambayeque. Inland, the charming town of Cajamarca is surrounded by beautiful mountain scenery and is famous as the location where the emperor Atahualpa was captured by Pizarro and held in ransom for the gold of the Incas. The more adventurous traveller may wish to head further inland to Chachapoyas, an isolated region in the Andes which contains some fascinating pre-Inca sites including the massive 7th century citadel of Kuelap whose imposing stone walls line the summit of a mountain crest.

To the east of the Andes lie the endless tracts of tropical rainforest that make up the Peruvian Amazon and the town of Puerto Maldonado, located on the Madre de Dios River, is the most convenient gateway to this richly diverse and unspoilt region. Particularly impressive is the Tambopata National Reserve, home to the world's largest known macaw clay lick where at certain times of the year thousands of brightly-coloured macaws congregate on the banks of the river, creating an unforgettable spectacle. The nearby Manu Biosphere Reserve is a huge area of protected rainforest containing a large variety of flora and fauna. In the north, the isolated city of Iquitos is the base for cruises that explore the upper reaches of the mighty Amazon River system.

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