Things To Do in Peru | Peru Travel Guide

Things to Do | Best Time to Visit | Regional Travel Guide

The mere mention of Peru conjures up images of ancient lost worlds, incredible ruins set atop vertiginous mountains, colourful braided folks, sunburnt faces and curious looking camelids. Llamas, the Incas, pan flutes and remote lands…Peru is all these things, no doubt, but is also so much more.

Peru is amazing gastronomic discoveries, adrenalin-pumping activities, breath-taking nature and mind-boggling mysteries. The country boasting the fastest-growing tourism industry in all of South America is an absolute kaleidoscope of fascinating, unduplicated wonders.

Think Machu Picchu is all there is to Peru? Think again…

In this comprehensive travel guide to Peru, we’ll show first-time travellers the top 10 most magical Peruvian experiences, we’ll share our favourite hidden treasures for those longing to get off the beaten track, and share the best culinary specialties and best time of year to visit to soak up this glorious country at its best.

So pack your bags, double up on the woolly socks and get ready to have them blown right off!

Top 10 Things To Do In Peru

1. Visit Machu Picchu (do it YOUR way)

Yes, there’s a hell of a lot more to Peru than Machu Picchu, yet that doesn’t mean you won’t find this incredible man-made wonder on the top of every Best of Peru list. Whether you choose to reach Sun Gate by taking on a challenging Classic Inca Trail,  an express version, a sensational alternative trail, splurging on a bit of extra comforts on a superior Inca trail adventure, or skipping the hard yakka altogether and reaching the ancient Inca site via a cushy luxury train ride, see it you must. 

Declared one of the Seven New Wonders of the World by UNESCO, Machu Picchu is a bucket-list attraction bar none. The fact that reaching it is hard work, in one way or another, simply adds to the appeal.

2. See Majestic Andean Condors at Colca Canyon

Depending on which source you quote, Peru’s Colca Canyon is either the deepest or second-deepest canyon in the world. Either way, suffice it to say it’s a long way down: twice the way down as at the Grand Canyon, in fact!

Home of the elusive Andean Condor (the bird with the largest wingspan in the world), Colca Canyon gives Machu Picchu a run for its llamas on awe-inspiring scenery alone. 

Standing atop the rim at sunrise, admiring soaring condors above lofty Andean peaks, is one of the most magical experiences you could ever dream of having. The base-town for trips to the canyon is wonderfully colourful Arequipa, one of central Peru’s most delightful cities.

3. Sail on Lake Titicaca and meet the Fascinating Uros People

To Peruvians, the world’s highest navigable lake is arguably the most revered place on earth. Legend has it that it was from its deep blue waters that the first Inca Emperor arose, and the mystical birthplace of their ancestors holds a very special place in their hearts. 

To first-time visitors, the appeal of Lake Titicaca is an incredible surprise. Discovering such a stunning lake at an altitude of more than 3,800m is wonderful enough, yet exploring inhabited reed islands and ancient pre-Inca ruins, as well as authentic lakeside villages seemingly forgotten by time, is utterly hypnotic. 

The lake is shared by Peru and Bolivia and straddles the spectacular mountainous border: visiting on both sides offers a multitude of highlights.

4. Soar Above the Nazca Lines

As mysterious as the Egyptian Pyramids – and equally mesmerising – the UNESCO heritage-listed Nazca Lines of Peru have been captivating the world for decades, ever since local archaeologist Toribio Mejia Xesspe took a stroll hillside near Nazca in 1927, spotted some exceptionally precise lines drawn on the desert ground and thought ‘What the….?’

Believed to date from between 500BC to 500AD, the Nasca Lines are a collection of geoglyphs found in the heart of Peru’s Nazca Desert. The Nazca people were primarily renowned for their ahead-of-their-time techniques of drawing water from the ground and many archaeologists believe the drawing of these amazing lines is somehow connected to that. 

Whatever the reason for their creation may have been, fact remains that these lines were a superb accomplishment, are still a head-scratching mystery, have survived millennia, and are simply spellbinding to admire.

5. Get Lost in the Amazon

It’s quite funny to know that the one South American country that’s mostly renowned for its high mountainous exploits be the one home to the second-largest swath of Amazonian jungle. Peru is arguably the best Amazon destination of all the countries that share this incredible rainforest, simply because it offers an array of different jungle experiences: from lodge-based stays to luxury river cruising. 

Plus, it boasts remote regions only accessible by plane, yet with flights from all the most touristic cities (Lima & Cusco) so it’s superbly easy to include a trip to the Amazon whilst you’re up in the Andes visiting Machu Picchu.

Whichever way you choose to experience the Amazon in Peru, rest assured that it’ll be one of the most extraordinary experiences you’ll ever have. This is a unique ecosystem everyone needs to experience, at least once in life, whether it's by expedition cruise or one of the region's fantastic eco-lodges. 

6. Sandboard in Huacachina

Just a few hours out of Lima, in the heart of the stupendous Peruvian desert, is where you’ll find Huacachina, a stunning desert oasis that’s framed by some of the most impressively high sand dunes in the world. 

Just say the word and we can take you there, strap on some waxed sand boards to your feet and hurl you down some vertiginous sand dune at breakneck speed. Because that’s just the kind of enthusiastic travel operator we are! And don’t worry, we’ll have a cold glass of pisco sour waiting for you just as soon as you manage to remove all those fine grains out of all bodily orifices you never even knew you had. 

Want something a little demure? Yes, Huacachina has that too. Enjoy thrilling dune-buggy rides (which are a little less death-defying than sandboarding) or simply hike atop a dune at sunset to watch the breathtaking spectacle of the Huacachina oasis from above.

7. Head to Chan Chan in Northern Peru

So, as you will have noticed by now, central Peru gets all the fame and glory. Fair enough too, with the region being home to so many household-name attractions. This makes the expansive north of the country something of a hidden treasure. 

Among dedicated travel circles, be it for surfing, mountaineering or archaeology, northern Peru is certainly no mystery yet among mainstream tourists, it’s like half the country barely exist. But it does and, at the ancient mud-city of Chan Chan, we’ll show you why you need to know about it.

Chan Chan is the largest mud-brick city ever built and it’s over 1200 years old. At the height of its prominence, the fully-fledged city covered an area of a mind-boggling 20 square kilometres and was built entirely out of sand by the Chimu people in the arid desert coast of northern Peru. 

The carved detailing and construction are absolutely amazing and, more amazing still, is the fact that new discoveries are made here on an almost yearly basis. The fact that it’s been UNESCO-protected for more than two decades tells you how incredibly important Chan Chan is, and may also make you wonder how on earth this site is still so unknown.

8. Discover Peru’s lesser-known “lost” Ancient City, Choquequirao

Just as the Incas weren’t the only ancient civilisation to have lived in Peru, Machu Picchu is also not the only ‘lost city’ to have been discovered here. If you want to learn and discover more about this mesmerizing country’s history then your options to get off the Gringo Trail are plentiful. 

Choquequirao is probably our first choice of alternate sites simply because it was also constructed by the Incas and requires a hearty multi-day hike to reach, so it has that ‘Andean remoteness’ aspect that entices so many visitors to South America. 

Since it was picked up by guidebooks, Choquequirao – found in the same region as Machu Picchu – has become quite the Instagram star and there’s even talks (shock-horror) of a possible cable-car being constructed here to aid the masses of potential tourists. Peru is replete with ‘Machu Picchu alternatives’ actually, both in terms of trails that actually reach this most famous of cities and others which take you to remoter areas barely known to the outside world. Tell us just how remote you wish to hike and we’ll get you there! 

9. Take a Jaw-dropping Train Ride through the Andean Clouds

The moment Belmond introduced its world-renowned luxury railway to the Central Andes, we knew that our list of ‘magical things to do in Peru’ had its new entry. 

We’re talking amazing butler service, gourmet cuisine, sublime spa treatments and, the most priceless aspect of all, a startling visual feasting of the Andean peaks that literally mark the route between Arequipa (of Colca Canyon fame) and Cusco (the base-town for Machu Picchu visits).

The first-ever luxury sleeper train in the continent joins its cousins to create a Peruvian train-maze that’ll have railway junkies busting for the door, suitcase in hand. 

On the 2-day ride from Arequipa to Cusco, you can tag a return-trip to Machu Picchu aboard the Belmond Hiram Bingham Train, about the most comfortable and indulgent way to reach the ancient Inca citadel. Need another train-fix? Oh yes, there’s more! 

After your visit to Cusco, you can yet again board another sumptuous Belmond train (be careful, these things are addictive) and head east to Puno, the Peruvian town at the shores of Lake Titicaca, on a 2-day luxury train ride. Yep, you can join three magical experiences on our list via luxury trains, for a startling journey you certainly won’t forget in a hurry.

Genius!

10. The Bonus Train Ride to Huancayo!

Guess what? There’s another stunning train ride you need to know about, the one that’ll take you to and through some of the most impressive Peruvian landscapes of all.

The Lima to Huancayo train ride is not run by Belmond so the level of luxury isn’t quite as lush but we bet you’ll hardly notice, given that the 14-hour ride through the lesser-visited Cordillera Occidental mountain range crosses an eye-popping 69 tunnels, 58 bridges, and countless hair-raising switchbacks, across some of the deepest canyons in the continent.

Peru off the beaten track

Whether you’re planning your first or fifth visit to Peru, we can probably entice you to check out some of the lesser-known gems in the country – those hidden treasures that are bound to hit the big time in years to come but are, as of right now, almost entirely anonymous.

Here are just a few of our favourites:

Chachapoyas

One of Peru’s best-preserved archaeological sites comprises the impressive fortress of Kuelap in what is, essentially, one of the Northern Andes’ remotest region. 

Avid hikers and wannabe archaeologists have known about this place for years and although mainstream tourism is tentatively knocking at the door, the site’s isolation should (hopefully) keep it pristine for a few years yet. The Chachapoyas were known as the Warriors of the Clouds in Peru, thriving in the cloud forests of the Amazon before being conquered by the Incas. 

The Chachapoyas and their unique funerary traditions were featured in the BBC documentary The Lost Kingdoms of South America, which is really worth watching if you’re planning to head to northern Peru.

Gocta Falls

If you need yet another reason to explore the Amazonas region of northern Peru off the beaten track, then we’ll give you 777 of them. That’s how many metres the spellbinding Gocta Falls, found nearby Chachapoyas, tumble down from the heavens in the heart of spectacular wilderness. This is not just Peru’s tallest waterfall but one of the tallest in the world and we bet you’ve probably never even heard of it! 

Food in Peru: Local Culinary Specialities

Peru is, without a doubt, one of the most exciting foodie destinations in the world, let alone South America. The country’s culinary prowess is the stuff of legends, with international awards rolling in every year, a bevy of Michelin-starred gems found in the capital, Lima (three of the 10 best restaurants in the continent are here) and a sensational array of tastes offered in every single one of the country’s many regions. 

Variety is Peru’s best asset and that’s as true of its culinary specialties as it is about its natural and cultural highlights.

Peru boasts some of South America’s most recognisable epicurean highlights, including ceviche, rocoto relleno, cuy, dulce de leche and empanadas. Aside from native ingredients, cooking methods and flavours, 

Peru also boasts a stunning array of fusion traditions, stemming from the historic influx of immigrants from almost every corner of the globe. Here, you’ll feast on excellent Italian, Thai and Chinese food, the latter infiltrating itself into local culinary culture so much, it’s even spawned its own unique slant. Chifa is an inherently Peruvian nowadays as empanadas,

Learn more about this fascinating aspect of the Peruvian Cuisine and come discover what a delectable country this is!

At Chimu Adventures, we offer a range of Signature Peru itineraries, premium independent travel that showcases the highlights of each region.