Northern Peru Explorer

Lima

You are met on arrival at Lima airport after your international flight, and transferred to the nearby airport hotel.

Cajamarca

You are collected from your hotel for the morning flight to Cajamarca in the northern Andes, where you are met on arrival and driven to your hotel for a 2 night stay. When you have settled in, your local guide shows you this atmospheric Andean city–a northern Cusco. Cajamarca holds a key place in the history of South America as the setting for the capture of the great Incan emperor Atahualpa by the Spanish conquistadors, which led to the collapse of the Incan empire. In a bargain for his life, Atahualpa filled a ‘ransom room’ three times over: once with gold and twice with silver. Evening free for a stroll and to sample one of the city's restaurants.

Just outside Cajamarca you visit the pre-Incan necropolis of Ventanillas de Otuzco, where an auspicious cliff face was carved with hundreds of small window-like funerary niches. You continue to the impressive site of Cumbe Mayo, with great views of the city below, where an aqueduct system 9km long was elegantly crafted in the rock 1200 years before the arrival of the Incas to bring water from the wet Atlantic watershed to the drier slopes on the Pacific side of the Andes. 3000 year old rock carvings from the ancient Chavin era testify to this region’s long history. Back in Cajamarca there should be time to visit the daily market. If your energy levels permit, you might tackle the steps on Santa Apolonia hill to the ‘Inca Seat’, from where the Inca addressed his subjects. There is a nice view of the city below.

The road to Leymebamba

An early start for the varied 9 hour journey to Leymebamba on one of Peru's most scenic routes. The road rises through farmland dotted with dairy cattle, into the dry puno grasslands of the Andes, and then descends through lush cloud forest into the Marañon Canyon, one of the world’s deepest. The road twists, turns, lurches up and down and throws its traveller from side to side, but the wilderness and sheer drama will keep you mesmerised. After crossing the Rio Marañon you commence a dramatic ascent to 3000m (the highest point of the journey). Drawing closer to your night’s resting place, the road drops down once more into gentle farmland beside rivers that tumble gently along valley bottoms and arrives at Leymebamba. You visit the superb Leymebamba Museum which holds 219 of the 800 year old mummies from the Laguna de los Condores site, and a large collection of Incan and pre-Incan artefacts from the region.

Kuelap Citadel

This morning you drive with your guide to the great mountain-top citadel of Kuelap, from the pre-Incan Chachapoya empire. You explore its very impressive ruins, and learn about what is beginning to be revealed about the people who built it. It is a dramatic and beautiful site, a massive fortress with panoramic views of Andean peaks and canyons in every direction. You continue to your lodge in the area for 3 nights.

Karaji Sarcophagi and Quiotcta Cave

This morning you are driven with your guide to the village of Cruzpata. Following a rough trail, you walk a short distance until the path turns inwards to the bottom of a rugged limestone cliff. Gazing upwards, you see a collection of six huddled figures perched on the cliff face seeming to survey the unfurling countryside. These mysterious sarcophagi are the final resting place of elite Chachapoya warriors and have been watching over the valley for 750 years. In the afternoon you explore Quiocta Caves, well off the beaten track, with huge stalactites and stalagmites. There is no electricity, so be sure to come armed with a torch.

Gocta Falls

Today you have an early-ish start to hike (5 hours in total) to Gocta Falls, at 771m one of the world’s tallest waterfalls, ‘discovered’ in 2002. Locals had been reluctant to defy the curse of the falls’ resident mermaid on whomsoever should expose her secret home. A 5km trail leads through grassland and cloud forest to the first viewpoint to see the full height its two-tier cascade.

Andes to the coast

After breakfast you are collected for the long journey to Chiclayo. Your route winds through the lovely Utcubamba canyon, to join a trans-Andean road across the continental divide and into one of the driest deserts on earth. Bearing south, you turn onto the Pan-American Highway and arrive in Chiclayo in the mid-afternoon, with time to explore the town or relax. Evening free for you to sample local specialities at one of the town's restaurants.

Lord of Sipan treasures and to Chaparri

A day of discovery as you learn about the Moche civilisation. Your guide escorts you to the 4000 year old Huaca Ventarron, the oldest adobe pyramid in the Americas, and to the nearby Huaca Rajada pyramid where the treasures of the Lord of Sipan were discovered. There is a small site museum. You then visit the superb Royal Tombs Museum in Lambayeque which holds the Lord of Sipan’s treasures. Housed in a modernist building that reflects the pyramid's multi-levelled, dark interior, the dazzling splendour of the collection will make you wonder that Sipan is not more widely recognised. Bedazzled by ancient gold, you are driven to Chaparri Reserve and the calm simplicity of Chaparri Lodge for 2 nights.

Chaparri Reserve

A free day to explore Chaparri Reserve, whose dry forests protect an important population of Spectacled Bear.

El Brujo and Trujillo

A leisurely start this morning, before a journey south through the lush Jequeteque and Chicama valleys, first irrigated by the Moche civilisation who brought life to this desert. You may stop at the small Moche site at San Jose del Moro before arriving at the major El Brujo archaeological complex with its Moche polychrome reliefs and the museum of the magnificent ‘Lady of Cao’. Arriving in Trujillo in the afternoon, you have a little time to explore its atmospheric colonial centre as the evening approaches.

This morning you visit the Huaca del Sol and Huaca de la Luna pyramids where wall after adobe wall of vivid friezes were hidden for over 1500 years. You visit Chan Chan, the largest adobe city ever built, the imperial capital of Chimu civilisation whose empire stretched 600 miles from Guayaquil in Ecuador to the Carabayllo Valley north of Lima. After a morning of dramatic archaeological sites, you stop for lunch at the simple fishing village of Huanchaco, which is famous for its reed boats–a colourful farewell to this amazing region. Then it is time to check-in at the airport for your late flight to Lima, where you stay the night.

Lima

You are collected from your hotel at the appropriate time and driven to the airport for your international flight home.