This northern city, located on the seaward edge of a vast desert plane, is rich in pre-Columbian, colonial and modern history. The most important archaeological attractions are within easy reach of the city. Trujillo, founded by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro in 1534, features many jewels of colonial architecture in the main square and narrow surrounding streets.

Huancayo is a thriving commercial city best known to tourists for its colorful Sunday crafts market, where warm alpaca sweaters and blankets abound  for bargain prices. The bus journey to Huancayo by road takes travelers over a pass more than 13,000 feet above sea level (4,000m.a.s.l.), offering  spectacular views of Andean highland scenery. Huancayo’s city center houses Capilla La Merced, the colonial church where Peru’s first Constitution was signed in 1839. The Santa Rosa de Ocopa convent, some 19 miles (30km) out of town in the village of Concepcion, was the center of the Franciscan mission in the Amazon in the 18th century and offers a fine example of colonial architecture in a tranquil setting. From there, one can visit the towns of San Jeronimo, known for its filigree silver jewelry market on Wednesdays, and Huaylas, where high-quality woolen goods are cheap. The town of Cochas Chicas, whose specialty is intricately carved gourds, and the pre-Inca Huari-Huilca ruins, offer other possible day excursions.


Each May during the Fiesta de las Cruces, Huancayo erupts into a series of boisterous processions and festivities.

Located on the Collao plateau on the shores of Titicaca - the world’s highest navigable lake - Puno combines spectacular scenery and a mix of two indigenous cultures. The city itself is a commercial center founded in 1668 as a mining enclave.According to a popular legend, the mythical founders of the Inca Empire, Manco Capac and Mama Oclio, emerged from Lake Titicaca. The area also gave rise to Tiahunanaco, one of the great pre-Incan civilizations whose traditions are preserved to the present by proud Aymara Indians.

The jungle frontier town of Puerto Maldonado is located in the confluence of the Tambopata and Madre de Dios rivers, and is the jumping-off point  to some of the most exciting wildlife viewing availableon the planet. Named after explorer Faustino Maldonado, the town is a short 45-minute flight from Cusco and is a gateway to three protected jungle zones:  Manu, Bahuaja-Sonene and Tambopata-Candamo.

This idyllic colonial city is the capital of the department of Lambayeque, a fertile region that gave rise to the Moche culture, a highly organized, class-based society that dominated Peru's northern coast for 800 years until about 800 A.D. Founded in the 1560s by Spanish priests, Chiclayo is a jumping off point to explore and appreciate some of the most impressive archaeological discoveries Latin America has to offer.

This central Andean city is one of the most fascinating and beautiful in Peru´s highlands. Located at 9,010 feet above sea level (2,731m.a.s.l.), Ayacucho is packed with historical significance. One of the earliest known human settlements in South America, dating back to 20,000 years before the birth of Christ, can be found here in the "Cave of Pikimachay."

Iquitos is the most important and interesting city in Peru’s Amazon jungle, a port for large ocean-going vessels headed or coming from the distant Atlantic. Iquitos was founded in 1764 but began to thrive from the 1880s onwards thanks to the rubber industry boom.

Some 175 miles (285km) north of Lima is Huaraz, South America’s premier base for spectacular trekking, mountain biking, horse riding and ice climbing.

The town offers dozens of excellent restaurants and hotel accommodations, and is only a few hours away from important archaeological sites, most notably Chavín de Huántar.

Situated at the foot of an ice-capped volcano known as El Misti, the city is renowned for having one of the most pleasant settings and best climates in the country. Many of the buildings are made from sillar, a white volcanic rock, which together with an average of 300 days of sun a year give the city its light and charm. Some buildings, particularly the cathedral in the main square, were damaged by a 2001 earthquake, but much of the damage has been repaired.

Some 2,500 years ago, Nazca was the seat of a highly advanced pre-Inca

civilization that created what many have called one of the most baffling enigmas of archeology: Enormous geoglyph figures of animals, birds and geometric patterns and spirals etched in the desert.

The Paracas Peninsula, and the Ballestas Islands that lie off its shore, comprises one of the world’s most important marine reserves.Created in 1975, this 839,800-acre (340,000ha) protected zone is the migratory home to thousands of sea lions, penguins and other sea mammals, and more than 215 species of birds, some of which come rom as far away as the Arctic Circle and Tierra del Fuego.

The Inca trail to Machu Picchu, also known as Camino Inca or Camino Inka, consists of three overlapping trails: Mollepata, Classic, and One Day. Mollepata is the longest of the three routes with the highest mountain pass and intersects with the Classic route before crossing "Dead Woman's Pass".

This mountain-ringed Inca sanctuary, never found by the Spanish conquistadors, was "discovered" for the outside world in 1911 by American explorer Hiram Bingham. Remote and legendary, the labyrinthine hilltop complex is the most spectacular archaeological site in South America.

Built by the Spanish on the foundations of plundered and razed Inca temples and palaces, Cusco is an enticing destination worthy of several days exploration. Conquistador Francisco Pizarro reached Cusco in November 1533 and was astonished by the city’s beauty. The stonework was better than any in Spain and precious metals were used in temples throughout the city.

Located virtually at the center of Peru’s 1,610-mile (2600km) coastline, Lima is usually the starting point for any trip to the country, but it also offers excellent opportunities in its own right to explore and discover.