PERU
Peru is a country in South America that's home to a section of Amazon rainforest and Machu Picchu, an ancient Incan city high in the Andes mountains. The region around Machu Picchu, including the Sacred Valley, Inca Trail and colonial city of Cusco, is rich in archaeological sites. On Peru’s arid Pacific coast is Lima, the capital, with a preserved colonial center and important collections of pre-Columbian art.
Top attractions in Peru
Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu is an Incan citadel set high in the Andes Mountains in Peru, above the Urubamba River valley. Built in the 15th century and later abandoned, it’s renowned for its sophisticated dry-stone walls that fuse huge blocks without the use of mortar, intriguing buildings that play on astronomical alignments and panoramic views. Its exact former use remains a mystery.
Colca Canyon
Colca Canyon, a river canyon in southern Peru famed as one of the world's deepest, is a well-known trekking destination. It's a habitat for the giant Andean condor, on view from overlooks like Cruz del Condor. The canyon landscape comprises a green valley and remote traditional villages with terraced agriculture that predates the Incas. Its Colca River is popular for rafting.
Saksaywaman
Saksaywaman, Saqsaywaman, Sasawaman, Saksawaman, Sacsahuayman, Sasaywaman or Saksaq Waman is a citadel on the northern outskirts of the city of Cusco, Peru, the historic capital of the Inca Empire.
Salcantay
Salcantay, Salkantay or Sallqantay is the highest peak in the Vilcabamba mountain range, part of the Peruvian Andes. It is located in the Cusco Region, about 60 km west-northwest of the city of Cusco.
Coricancha
Coricancha, Koricancha, Qoricancha or Qorikancha was the most important temple in the Inca Empire.
Huayna Picchu
Huayna Picchu, Wayna Picchu or Wayna Pikchu is a mountain in Peru around which the Urubamba River bends. It is located in the Cusco Region, Urubamba Province, Machupicchu District. It rises over Machu Picchu, the so-called lost city of the Incasc
Islas Ballestas
The Ballestas Islands lie off the southern coast of Peru, near the city of Pisco. Rich in marine life, the uninhabited islands are home to sea lions, pelicans, Peruvian boobies and Humboldt penguins. Small boats run from Pisco and the nearby town of Paracas out to the islands' craggy rock formations. On the way, they pass the Paracas Candelabra geoglyph, an enormous hillside etching of mysterious origins.
Choquequirao
Choquequirao, Chuqi K'iraw or Chuqik'iraw is an Incan site in south Peru, similar in structure and architecture to Machu Picchu. The ruins are buildings and terraces at levels above and below Sunch'u Pata, the truncated hill top.
Sacred Valley
The Sacred Valley is a region in Peru's Andean highlands. Along with the nearby town of Cusco and the ancient city of Machu Picchu, it formed the heart of the Inca Empire. Stretching roughly 60 kilometers, it’s an area of fertile farmland and Spanish colonial villages like Pisac and Ollantaytambo. Pisac is known for its Sunday handicraft market and hilltop Incan citadel.
Paracas National Reserve
Paracas National Reserve sits near Pisco city on Peru's south coast. It spans desert, ocean and islands and is home to wildlife like sea lions, dolphins and migratory birds. Its sandy beaches include La Mina and Mendieta. The Paracas Candelabra geoglyph, a huge hillside etching of mysterious origins, sits on the Paracas Peninsula. The Museo de Sitio Julio C. Tello displays relics from the ancient Paracas culture.
Manú National Park
Manu Biosphere Reserve is a sprawling national park in southeastern Peru, spanning Andean highlands, cloud forest and lowland jungle. It's known for its rich biodiversity, notably hundreds of bird species, including macaws, which feed at clay licks at sites such as Blanquillo. Boats run along the Manu River, past dense Amazonian jungle that is home to jaguars, black caimans and spider monkeys.
Taquile Island
Taquile is an island on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca 45 km offshore from the city of Puno. About 2,200 people live on the island, which is 5.5 by 1.6 kilometres in size, with an area of 5.72 km².
Huascarán National Park
Huascaran National Park lies in the Cordillera Blanca tropical mountains of western Peru. It's dominated by the towering, snow-capped Mount Huascaran. Hundreds of glaciers and lakes in the park include the shrinking Pastoruri Glacier and the brilliant blue Llanganuco lagoons. Trails lead to the high-altitude Laguna 69, known for its turquoise waters. The park is a haven for pumas, Andean condors and spectacled bears.
Ausangate
Ausangate is a mountain of the Vilcanota mountain range in the Andes of Peru. With an elevation of 6,384 metres it is situated around 100 kilometres southeast of Cusco in the Cusco Region, Canchis Province, Pitumarca District, and in the Quispicanchi Province, Ocongate District.
Tambomachay
Tambomachay is an archaeological site associated with the Inca Empire, located near Cusco, Peru. An alternate Spanish name is El Baño del Inca. It consists of a series of aqueducts, canals and waterfalls that run through the terraced rocks.
Plaza Mayor, Lima
The Plaza Mayor or Plaza de Armas of Lima, is the birthplace of the city of Lima, as well as the core of the city.
Santa Catalina Monastery
The Monastery of Saint Catherine is a monastery of nuns of the Dominican Second Order, located in Arequipa, Peru.
Kuélap
Kuélap or Cuélap is a walled settlement located in the mountains near the towns of María and Tingo, in the southern part of the region of Amazonas, Peru.
Yasuni National Park
Yasuni National Park is in Ecuador with an area of 9,820 km² between the Napo and Curaray rivers in Napo and Pastaza provinces in Amazonian Ecuador. The national park lies within the Napo moist forests ecoregion and is primarily rain forest.
Larco Museum
The Larco Museum is a privately owned museum of pre-Columbian art, located in the Pueblo Libre District of Lima, Peru. The museum is housed in an 18th-century vice-royal building built over a 7th-century pre-Columbian pyramid.
Monastery of San Francisco, Lima
Convento de San Francisco is the Spanish name for Saint Francis Monastery located in Lima, Peru, south of Parque la Muralla and one block northeast from the Plaza Mayor.
Qenko
Qenko, Kenko, Q'enqo or Quenco is an archaeological site in the Sacred Valley of Peru located in the Cusco Region, Cusco Province, Cusco District, about 6 km north east of Cusco.
Park of the Reserve
The Park of the Reserve or the Parque de la Reserva in Spanish is a park located in downtown Lima, in Peru.
Larcomar
The Larcomar is a shopping center in the Miraflores district of Lima, Peru owned by Chilean company Parque Arauco S.A. It is frequently visited by international tourists, as well as by locals from Miraflores and other parts of Lima.
Huaca Pucllana
Huaca Pucllana or Huaca Juliana is a great adobe and clay pyramid located in the Miraflores district of central Lima, Peru, built from seven staggered platforms.
Sillustani
Sillustani is a pre-Incan cemetery on the shores of Lake Umayo near Puno in Peru. The tombs, which are built above ground in tower-like structures called chullpas, are the vestiges of the Qulla people, who are Aymara conquered by the Inca Empire in the 15th century.
Puka Pukara
Puka Pukara is a site of military ruins in Peru situated in the Cusco Region, Cusco Province, Cusco District, near Cusco.
Huanchaco
Huanchaco is a beachside town of Mochica origin and a popular vacation spot. It is the most visited beach of Trujillo in Peru.
Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve
Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve is a vast area of Amazonian jungle and floodable forest in northeastern Peru, bordered by the Marañón and Ucayali rivers. Known for its biodiversity, it shelters animals from pink dolphins to spider monkeys and giant South American turtles. It's also home to hundreds of bird species, like colorful macaws. Lakes in the reserve include the El Dorado lagoon, in the Yanayacu-Pucate Basin.
Government Palace
The Government Palace also known as House of Pizarro is the seat of the executive branch of the Peruvian Government and the official residence of the President of Peru.
Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of the Assumption, Cusco
The Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin, also known as Cusco Cathedral, is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cusco. The cathedral is located on the Plaza de Armas.
Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, Lima
The Basilica Cathedral of Lima is a Roman Catholic cathedral located in the Plaza Mayor of downtown Lima, Peru. Construction began in 1535, and the building has undergone many reconstructions and transformations since.
Pikillaqta
Pikillaqta is a large Wari culture archaeological site 20 kilometres east of Cusco in the Quispicanchi Province. Pikillaqta is a village of the Wari people. Wari was the center village and other cities like Pikillaqta were influenced from it.
Tipón
Tipón, is a sprawling early 15th-century Inca ruin situated inside the Sacred Valley 3,400 meters above sea level. The complex covers 239 hectares and is located 22 kilometers southeast of Cusco near the town of Tipón.
Amor Park
Landscaped park overlooking the ocean with a huge kissing sculpture, mosaic walls & a snack stand.
Gold Museum of Peru and Weapons of the World
In the sixties of the 20th century, Miguel Mujica Gallo used his private collection made throughout his life to create a foundation that bears his name and which manages the collection named after him, the "Gold Museum of Peru and Weapons of the World", located in the district of Santiago de Surco, Lima, Peru.
Cordillera Blanca
The Cordillera Blanca is a mountain range in Peru which is part of the larger Andes range and extends for 200 kilometres between 8°08' and 9°58'S and 77°00' and 77°52'W, in NW direction.
Alpamayo
Alpamayo or Shuyturaju is one of the most conspicuous peaks in the Cordillera Blanca of the Peruvian Andes. It is named after Alpamayo Creek, which originates northwest of it.
Huchuy Qosqo
Huchuy Qosqo, is an Incan archaeological site north of Cuzco, Peru. Its name is Quechua for "Little Cuzco."
Huaca de la Luna
Huaca de la Luna is a large adobe brick structure built mainly by the Moche people of northern Peru.
Huascarán
Huascarán is a mountain in the Peruvian province of Yungay, situated in the Cordillera Blanca range of the western Andes.
Lake Sandoval
Lake Sandoval is a lake in Peru, close to the city of Puerto Maldonado, part of the Madre de Dios in the Amazon basin. There is a touristic hike from the river Madre de Dios to the lake
Gocta Cataracts
Gocta is a perennial waterfall with two drops located in Peru's province of Chachapoyas in Amazonas, approximately 700 kilometres to the northeast of Lima. It flows into the Cocahuayco River.
Misti
Misti, also known as Putina or Wawa Putina, is a stratovolcano of andesite, dacite and rhyolite located in southern Peru near the city of Arequipa.
Túcume
Túcume is a pre-Hispanic site in Peru, south of the La Leche River on a plain around La Raya Mountain. It covers an area of over 540 acres and encompassing 26 major pyramids and mounds. The area is referred to as Purgatorio by local people.
Patallaqta
Patallaqta, Llaqtapata or Q'inti Marka is an archaeological site in Peru located in the Cusco Region, Urubamba Province, Machupicchu District.