North of Peru : Culture & Nature

Breakfast in the hotel.

This morning, you will embark on a guided city tour of Lima’s historic downtown, beginning with a visit to the Main Plaza and the surrounding monuments:  the Cathedral, built in 1534 and an architectural masterpiece; the Presidential Palace, where the soldiers guarding the palace offer an excellent photo opportunity; the Archbishop’s Palace, City Hall, the Desamparados train station, and the Moorish-style houses and balconies along Lima’s old streets.

We will continue with a visit to the Aliaga House, a beautiful colonial house built in 1535 for Jerónimo de Aliaga, one of Pizarro’s followers, and which has been occupied by 16 generations of his descendants.

Lunch at Café del Museo restaurant.

In the afternoon, you will continue to the Rafael Larco Herrera Archaeological Museum (Museo Arqueolegico Rafael Larco Herrera), founded in 1926, is the world's largest private collection of pre-Columbian art; with an astonishing array of gold, silver, semi-precious stones and textiles. The collection's predominant strength is in Mochica ceramics, from the north coast of Peru, of which the erotic ones are the most famous. Their notoriety ought not to obscure the fact that the museum presents a complete view of the cultural development of ancient Peru through a selection of its 45,000 pieces, housed in a colonial building of the 18th century. 

Afternoon free to explore on your account. 

Dinner on your account.

Transfer to the airport for flight to Trujillo. Arrival to Trujillo, reception and transfer to Moche Sanctuary Lodge Hotel.

In the afternoon visit the eSun and Moon temples built by the Moches

In the morning visit the  royal palace complex of Chan Chan, built by the Chimu culture in pre-Inca times. This enormous complex, the largest in pre-Columbian America, is divided into nine separate citadels. 

Enjoy a delicious lunch in Huanchaco

Depart to Chiclayo for overnight

Early depart to Chaparri Reserve.

Explore the trails at Chaparri where guides will inform you about the different species of the dry forest and the Spectacled bear conservation project

Chaparri is a fantastic place to watch wildlife and birds or just to relax. Below we include some of the more popular activities

The best times for bird and wildlife–watching are the early morning and late afternoon with the middle of the day best spent relaxing around the lodge.

Spectacled Bear Rescue Centre
Chaparri is the site of Peru’s first wildlife rescue centre designed specifically for Spectacled Bears. Seven bears that have been confiscated from illegal captivity are currently housed in large semi-wild enclosures that provide the bears a stimulating natural environment in which to live. Visitors may visit some of these enclosures with a local guide and watch bears in their natural habitat and learn more about these threatened animals. Chaparri also receives a selection of other rescued animals (Ocelot, Andean Condor, King Vulture, Military Macaw recently) which occur in the area and these may also be seen. 

Herpitarium
A new facility houses several species of snakes from the area. This has been built mainly to help educate local people about snakes and the benefits of their conservation. 

Trails
A system of three main trails provide visitors with walks varying in length from 800 m to 8 km. Other walks are available for keen walkers but a local guide is recommended.

Morning activities at Chaparri

Return to Chiclayo in the afternoon

In the morning you will depart from Chiclayo by private car  with air conditioning. You will cross 4 different Peruvian departments: Lambayeque, south Piura, the North of Cajamarca and end in Amazonas, Starting in the coast and arriving in the late afternoon in the cloud forest of  Gocta.

After breakfast we begin our lovely walk through forest and farmland to the foot of the world’s third highest waterfall. The existence of these falls was not known to the world until they were spotted by a German explorer in 2006. Our walk takes approximately three hours each way, and along the route we have a good chance of spotting the Andean Cock-of-the Rock, Peru’s national bird. We arrive to the falls, 771m/2,528ft above us. We can spend some time here enjoying the refreshing mist of the falls and enjoying the surrounding forest, viewing hummingbirds.
We hike back to Cocachimba to continue our trip to the Utcubamba valley in time for dinner in the Gocta Lodge hotel.

Today we will visit the amazing and mysterious site of Kuelap. This ancient site was an important political, religious, administrative, and military center for the pre-Incan Chachapoya culture. The  fortress is surrounded by an immense and impressive wall almost 2000 feet in length. The gates, or
main entrances, are uniquely constructed resembling narrow walled passageways that continue to narrow as they reach upwards and into the fortress. This brilliant design served to funnel and narrow any column of attackers down to just 2 men wide, so they could easily be killed as they tried to enter, effectively making Kuelap insurmountable to its enemies.

After breakfast you will enjoy an excursion by horse to visit the colorful funeral buildings of Revash perched on a ledge up high on a cliff. They overlook a valley and tributary of the Utcubamba, near the town of Santo Tomas. The Cliff walls at Revash are decorated with geometric designs and figures of camelids. Some of the tombs are decorated with T and a cross-shaped niches. Box Lunch. Then you will continue to town of Leymebamba to visit an amazing collection of well preserved pre-inca mummies discovered in the Laguna de los Condores. 

Early in the morning you will drive to Cajamarca, crossing two cordilleras and several different habitats, such as cloud forest, agricultural land, desert-like areas and the Marañon Canyon. Box lunch on way. 

Morning enjoy the facilities of the hotel

 Then we visit the Ventanillas de Otuzco, a pre-Inca cemetery that features a gallery of secondary burial niches (located 5 miles from the city). Continue to the exploration of the main points of the city: Main Square, the Cathedral and the 17th Century San Francisco church, which houses the Museum of Religious Art. Continue on to the Ransom; which Atahualpa, the last Inca emperor, filled once with gold and twice with silver so as to obtain his freedom in 1532; to the Belen complex which includes the Belen church constructed entirely of sculptures volcanic rock and finally on to Santa Apolonia Hill, for a scenic view of the valley of Cajamarca and where one may also see the ceremonial Inca seat.

 Return to hotel to enjoy its swimming pools with thermal waters.

After an early breakfast transfer to the airport for flight back to Lima.