PeruNorth's musings on events & destinations in Northern Peru, Amazonia ... and beyond. Detailed tour reviews.
A visit to Peru's Amazon is not all about adventure and adrenaline. There is nothing more pleasurable than enjoying the heat of the jungle, while relaxing in a pool. And luckily for visitors to Iquitos, there are a number of ways to do this, both in the city and the surrounding rain forest.
Bruce and Martha, an adventurous couple in their 60s from Tennessee, put together an ambitious itinerary with PeruNorth, eschewing Machu Picchu to take in lesser-visited parts of Peru that encompassed a full range of the country’s contrasting geography: coast, desert, mountains and jungle.
Melissa & George Kaiser of Bend, Oregon made a five-week trip to Peru in February / March, 2024
Melissa had been to school in Lima in the late ‘60s, and was keen to reconnect with the country of her youth!
PeruNorth organised the middle three weeks:
first an epic two-week overland trip from Lima to Mancora, taking in many of the coastal archaeological highlights along the way
then a week spent in Arequipa and Colca Canyon.
Here are their thoughts on the experience:
Elaine from Los Altos Hills, CA originally planned a solo Galapagos & Peru trip for March 2022, but had to postpone on medical grounds. She was finally able to make the trip, in the company of Morriss, in February 2024
Their itinerary included Lima, Cusco and - quite unusually - time at both an Amazon lodge in Southern Peru and on an Amazon cruise in Northern Peru.
Their original visit to Machu Picchu was cancelled, but luckily they had extra time in their itinerary and were able to rearrange.
Here are her thoughts on the experience.
In November, 2023, PeruNorth received the following enquiry from Thomas, in Portland, Maine: “I have been interested in the Moche/Chimu ever since reading an article in The New Scientist about their engineers who were priests because they knew how to bring the water to the desert (as I remember). My wife and I are interested in finding out more about your coastal civilization itineraries and how they work.”
An adventurous couple from River Falls, Wisconsin spent a month travelling around South America in late 2023.
They organised the first two weeks in Argentina and (briefly) Chile themselves, then asked PeruNorth to arrange six days in Cusco, the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu, followed by five nights on board the Rio Amazonas historical riverboat, joining in biological rainforest research.
Here are their thoughts on their time in Peru.
Roberto and Paola from Turin, Italy got in touch with PeruNorth in February 2023 looking for a 24-day itinerary to take in the archaeological and natural highlights of Northern Peru, along with some time in or around an Amazonian reserve, such as Pacaya-Samiria.
Here are their comments about the trip, along with a selection of photos they took:
Belen Market (Mercado de Belén) is a famous and bustling market located in the Peruvian Amazon city of Iquitos.
PeruNorth was contacted by German journalist, Richard Kienberger, in August 2022 as he looked for a private vehicle to take him from Chiclayo to Yurimaguas, with a day’s break in Chachapoyas.
This was part of a longer trip to go across South America from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic. His particular interest was in the motorised vehicles - especially trucks - that ply their trade in these geographically-challenging areas.
Read an abridged, English-language version of the article Richard wrote for French transport magazine France Routes:
