Must-see attractions in Amazon Basin

  • Belén Mercado

    Iquitos

    At the southeast end of town is the floating shantytown of Belén, consisting of scores of huts, built on rafts, which rise and fall with the river. During…

  • Historical Ships Museum

    Iquitos

    Moored below Plaza Castilla is the diverting Historical Ships Museum, on a 1906 Amazon riverboat, the gorgeously restored three-deck Ayapua. The…

  • amazonian lodge

    Parque Nacional Manu

    Amazon Basin

    This vast national park in the Amazon Basin covers almost 20,000 sq km and is one of the best places in South America to see a stunning variety of…

  • Tres Cruces

    Amazon Basin

    About two hours beyond Paucartambo is the extraordinary jungle view at Tres Cruces, a lookout off the Paucartambo–Shintuya road. The sight of the…

  • Cocha Salvador

    Amazon Basin

    Probably Parque Nacional Manu's loveliest lake, at least amongst the part of the park visited by tourists, with camping and hiking possibilities.

  • Reserva Nacional Pacaya-Samiria

    Amazon Basin

    At 20,800 sq km, this is the most immense of Peru’s parks and reserves. Pacaya-Samiria provides local people with food and a home, and protects…

  • Reserva Nacional Tambopata

    Amazon Basin

    The wildlife-rich Río Tambopata is a major tributary of the Río Madre de Dios, joining it at Puerto Maldonado. Boats go up the river, past several good…

  • Yanamono Rum Distillery

    Amazon Basin

    For three generations the Guerra family has been operating this traditional rum distillery in Yanamono, in the middle of nowhere in the northern Peruvian…

  • Parque Nacional Bahuaja-Sonene

    Amazon Basin

    About two hours south of the Río Madre de Dios and along the Río Heath (the latter forming the Peru–Bolivia border), Parque Nacional Bahuaja-Sonene has…

  • Francisco Grippa Studio-Gallery

    Amazon Basin

    In undeniably the most eye-catching edifice in Pevas, the art works of Francisco Grippa, one of Peru's most famous contemporary painters, are a sight more…

  • Puente Guillermo Billinghurst

    Puerto Maldonado

    This bridge, since 2011 carrying the Carr Interocéanica across the Río Madre de Dios – connects Puerto Maldonado by paved road to the outside world for…

  • Malecón

    Iquitos

    The sight of Iquitos' sophisticated riverside walkway, edged by swanky bars and restaurants and yet cut off from the rest of the world by hundreds of…

  • Mariposario Tambopata Butterfly Farm

    Puerto Maldonado

    Peru has the greatest number of butterfly species in the world (some 3700) and you can see many of them here at this well-run butterfly conservation…

  • Collpa Chuncho

    Amazon Basin

    One of the best clay licks in the Reserva Nacional Tambopata, where you can see the colorful cacophony of feeding macaws for which the Tambopata region is…

  • Cocha Otorongo

    Amazon Basin

    A lovely lake enfolded within Parque Nacional Manu, with an observation tower to aid wildlife-watching.

  • Cocha Brashco

    Amazon Basin

    Preferred over Cocha Juárez these days as a lake to spy wildlife such as the giant river otter.

  • Catarata Bayoz

    Amazon Basin

    A stunning waterfall close to Puerto Yurinaki, about 50km northeast of La Merced.

  • Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm

    Amazon Basin

    Ostensibly, the Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm is a conservation and breeding center for Amazonian butterflies. Butterflies aplenty there certainly are,…

  • Río Madre de Dios Ferry Dock

    Puerto Maldonado

    This dock close to the Plaza de Armas is a cheap way of seeing a little of the action on a major Peruvian jungle river (the Río Madre de Dios), which is…

  • Parque Nacional Yanachaga-Chemillén

    Amazon Basin

    North of Oxapampa rear the cloud-capped hills of this little-visited park, preserving spectacular cloud forest and diverse flora and fauna, including the…

  • Laguna Quistacocha

    Amazon Basin

    This lake, 15km south of Iquitos, is served by minibus (S2) several times an hour from near Plaza 28 de Julio (corner of Bermúdez and Moore), as well as…

  • Mirador de la Biodiversidad

    Puerto Maldonado

    Although this strangely cosmic blue building, surrounded by statues of locals in various poses of labor outside, was designed as a modern mirador (lookout…

  • Hacienda Concepción Research Center

    Amazon Basin

    Formerly the ITA Aceer Tambopata Research Center, Inkaterra’s reconstructed lodge, 8km downriver from Puerto Maldonado, is an important research center of…

  • Casa de Fierro

    Iquitos

    Every guidebook mentions the ‘majestic’ Casa de Fierro (Iron House), designed by Gustave Eiffel (of Eiffel Tower fame). It was made in Paris in 1860 and…

  • Catarata El Tirol

    Amazon Basin

    There are many impressive waterfalls around San Ramón, but this 35m cascade is the most visited. El Tirol crashes down 5km east of San Ramón off the La…

  • Pozuzo

    Amazon Basin

    The inexorably Germanic Pozuzo, three hours north of Oxapampa by daily minibus, is picturebook Tyrolean, from the architecture to the residents, straight…

  • Baltimore

    Amazon Basin

    The community of Baltimore, just after Refugio Amazonas lodge, is the only real settlement on the river, and has a few simple hospedajes (homestays)…

  • Museo Agustín Rivas

    Amazon Basin

    Pucallpa's only cultural attraction as such is the museum of sculptor Agustín Rivas, who specializes in wooden sculptures of mythical Amazonian creatures…

  • Museo Schafferer

    Amazon Basin

    One of the most typically Tyrolean buildings in Pozuzo, wood-panelled and with a steeply pitched roof, this museum contains the intriguing history of the…

  • Boca Manu

    Amazon Basin

    The long boat journey down the Río Alto Madre de Dios from Atalaya to Boca Manu, at the junction with the Río Manu, can take almost a day. Boca Manu…

  • Puente Kimiri

    Amazon Basin

    Three kilometers north of La Merced on the Satipo road is this attractive bridge over the Río Chanchamayo, where indigenous rebel leader Juan Santos…

  • Museum of Indigenous Amazon Cultures

    Iquitos

    This intuitively presented museum takes you through the traits, traditions and beliefs of the tribes of the Amazon Basin, with a focus on the Peruvian…

  • Viewpoints

    Amazon Basin

    The stairs at the northwest end of Av 2 de Mayo afford a good view of the town, and from the balcony at the southeast end there’s a photogenic river…

  • Cocha Juárez

    Amazon Basin

    Giant river otters are often seen on wildlife-replete Cocha Juárez, although tours rarely stop here these days.

  • Clock Tower

    Amazon Basin

    A pretty clock tower overlooking the river.

  • Cathedral

    Amazon Basin

    Pucallpa's modern and bizarre-looking cathedral.