5 tourist places to visit in Peru

It is not easy to decide which tourist places to visit in Peru during your first trip, because it is one of the 10 most megadiverse countries in the world and its archaeological and natural tourist offer is immense. Of all the countries in Latin America, Peru is one of the most visited of all.

Its culture, gastronomy and biodiversity are just some of the attractions that most attract the attention of travelers from all over the world, who come every day eager to discover one of the most beautiful destinations there is. Beaches, oases, historical sanctuaries, lakes, history, cosmopolitan cities and enchanting landscapes; They make up only a part of the range of possibilities that we can find if we travel to Peru.

We start this difficult list of only 5 tourist places to visit in Peru from the coast, through the Andes and ending in the Peruvian jungle.

Punta Sal

Punta Sal in Tumbes

Punta Sal, located in the north of Peru, is a unique beach to which thousands of tourists from all over the world arrive. It is located just 25 minutes from Máncora, recognized as the «Best Beach Destination in South America» at the 2016 World Travel Awards, considered the Oscars of tourism.

“This peaceful resort has an excellent hotel infrastructure and an important offer of air connectivity, which added to its good weather conditions that it enjoys all year round, make it an ideal alternative for summer for families and couples looking for beaches and unique places to visit in Peru”

How to get?

In less than two hours, on average from Lima, three cities near Punta Sal that have an airport can be reached by air: Tumbes, one hour and 30 minutes by car; Piura at three hours and 20 minutes; and Talara an hour and a half away.

Other things to do near Punta Sal?

• Visit the beautiful beaches of Mancora, which at night become the best place for fun and leisure.
• Swim with turtles at El Ñuro beach.

Buggy in Huacachina

Visit the Huacachina oasis

The Huacachina Oasis is a very magical place located in the Coastal Desert of Peru, a narrow desert strip that stretches between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes mountain range. It is also known as the Oasis of the Americas, since it is one of the few that can be found on the continent.

The half-day or 1-day visit to Huacachina is normally combined with a visit to the Ballestas Islands in Paracas and the Nazca Valley. The activities in this area of Peru are less about walking and more about taking tours through the desert, boat trips, or even some who dare to fly over the Nazca lines. A good option for those who come or go to Cuzco wanting to rest after visiting Machu Picchu, doing the Inca Trail and visiting all the towns of the Sacred Valley.

How to get ?

• The fastest and most comfortable way is boarding a bus for 6 hours from the city of Lima.
• There are also tourist buses that depart from Lima and take you to various places such as Huacachina, Paracas, Nazca, Arequipa, Puno and the city of Cusco.
• From Cusco, the bus trip can take up to 16 hours to Ica, the city where Huacachina is located.

What else to do?

• In the surroundings of the Huacachina there are more beautiful places to visit in Peru.
• Visit Tacama, one of the oldest vineyards in Peru.
• Explore the Paracas National Reserve, where the Ballestas Islands are also located.

Urus island

Lake Titicaca in Puno

Lake Titicaca is without question one of the magical places to visit in Peru. It is the highest navigable lake in the world and is the largest freshwater lake in South America. It is the natural environment with continuous presence of human population for 10,000 years; and it represents at the same time a cultural space where tradition, ways of life, customs and ancestral values of its current inhabitants coexist.

In this lake, you can visit the floating island of the Uros, an artificial island created by the Uros tribes only with Totora, a type of reed that grows on the edges of the lake. Two other unmissable places within Lake Titicaca are the islands of Amantani and Taquile.

How to get?

• You can board a plane from Lima to the city of Juliaca and from there go by car for 1 hour to Puno, the closest city to the incredible Lake Titicaca.
• If you have already visited Machu Picchu and you are in the city of Cusco, you can board a bus for 6 hours to Puno.
• An interesting option to get to Puno is to take a tourist bus with stops and excursions in Huacachina, Paracas, Nazca, Arequipa, Cusco, Puno and even Bolivia.

What else to do?

• The tombs or Chullpas of Silluastani, where the important representatives of this part of the Inca empire were buried. This place to visit in Peru is only 45 minutes from Puno.
• Amaru Muru is a door carved into a rock, this is known as an interdimensional portal and is a sacred place to perform Wachuma and Ayahuasca ceremonies. It is only 1 hour and 15 minutes from Puno.
• Chucuito, is a small border town with Bolivia and from this located the famous temple of fertility.

Black & White Cusco

Machu Picchu in Cusco

Cusco is the gateway to the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu and is one of the busiest in South America. Cusco is a city and one of the places to visit in Peru that has more archaeological, experiential, nature and hiking offers for you. From Choquequirao, the rainbow mountain, the sacred valley of the Incas, to the famous 4-day Inca trail.

What other places to visit in Peru-Cusco?

This Inca city has so much to offer that it is really difficult to visit it in just 4 days or 1 week. Here we leave you some more places that you could visit in Cusco:

• Experiential tours in the communities of Misminay and Umasbamba.
• Traditional tours in Moray and Salineras.
• The rainbow mountain of Palcoyo.
• The sharp rainbow mountain of Pallay Punchu.
• The beautiful Singrenacocha lagoon.
• The Salkantay trek.
• The Humantay lagoon and many more offers that you will find on web pages and directly in Cusco.

You can take a look on these tours here: CUSCO TOURS

Pacaya Samiria

The Peruvian Amazon

The South American jungle is enormous, however, the territory located in the basin of the great Amazon river and its tributaries is called the Peruvian Amazon jungle. This extensive Peruvian region is divided into three: the northern jungle, with the city of Iquitos as its main representative, the central jungle with the Huanuco region, and the southern jungle with Puerto Maldonado as its main exponent. Of all these Peruvian jungles, the least visited by foreign tourists is the central jungle.

How to get to the most representative and tourist jungles?

Madre de Dios

Puerto Maldonado, the main city in the southern jungle, can be reached by boarding a plane from the city of Lima or taking a bus for 10 hours from the city of Cusco. Puerto Maldonado is one of the places to visit in Peru if you want to know the best of the Amazon jungle of the great Madre de Dios river and Tambopata-Candamo.

In this place you can visit the famous Sandoval lake, Huitoto and Apu Victor to mention a few. All these meanders have a great variety of wildlife such as: black alligators, paiches, river wolves, monkeys and anacondas.

In Puerto Maldonado you can also visit the Candamo river basin, where the Chunchu macaw clay lick is found.

In this region you can also visit the most megadiverse national park in the world in terms of insects, we are talking about the Manu National Park.

To get to this place you have to take a tour from the city of Cusco. The excursions range from 4 to 15 days. The more days you enter this national park, the more chances of seeing large mammals and even isolated people you will have.

La Selva Central

It is a tropical paradise located 6 hours from Lima. Here you can mainly do adventure and nature tourism. This jungle is located between the departments of Junin, Pasco and Huanuco. Its most representative cities are Satipo, La Merced, Chanchamayo, Pozuzo and Tingo Maria.

The places to visit in Peru in this jungle are: The Yanachaga Chemillen National Park, the Bride’s Veil, the Betania natural pools, the Ruffner Ranch and of course the owl cave.

The northern Peruvian jungle

The fastest way to get to Loreto or Ucayali, the two representative departments of this Peruvian jungle, is by plane.

From Iquitos, the main city of Loreto, you can visit the native villages of the Amazon River basin and the wild animals that live there.

And if you want to be in contact with wild animals in their natural habitat, you can visit the Pacaya Samiria National Park located between the Pucate and Yanayacu rivers, tributaries of the Amazon River.

From Pucallpa, the capital city of Ucayali, you can visit the city of Aguaytia, the Yarinacocha lagoon, the Padre Abad boqueron and the Cordillera Azul national park.