Iquitos Travelers Recommend

The vast majority of travelers come to Iquitos because it is the jumping off point for Peru’s fine selection of Amazon lodges. These are scattered along the region’s rivers (not only the Amazon itself), amidst its villages, and throughout its protected areas, offering the opportunity to commune almost completely with nature. Most lodges are accessible only by boat, and some operators will take you to several different lodges over the course of a multiple-day tour. Visits are all-inclusive and include meals and side trips, such as day hikes, piranha fishing, visits to local villages and much more. While it’s usually best to make reservations online well in advance, you can usually find rooms after you arrive in Iquitos. Keep in mind, however, that tours promising you the earth and sky are working on commission; take what they say (particularly about competing lodges) with several grains of salt.

Iquitos is called Peru’s “Gateway to the Amazon,” a destination for visitors to this diverse nation who wish to experience the rainforest, as well as the Andes and Pacific Coast. While not as large, popular, or as accessible as Manaus, Brazil, the more famous Gateway to the Amazon, many travelers prefer Iquitos, basking in the faded glamour of its rubber-boom era architectural frills and more exotic, isolated feel. With no road access to the outside world, you’ll probably arrive here by plane. But the traditional route to Iquitos is by boat. The city lies right on the Amazon (unlike Manaus) and is surrounded with pristine rainforest marbled by several different rivers, canos (natural canals) and protected areas to explore. There are dozens of options, from motorized canoes that can be rented at any of several docks, to all-inclusive, multiple-day tours that include overnights at jungle lodges.

Iquitos is thriving thanks to tourism and oil, but remains quite isolated, as the largest city in the world that can’t be reached by road. Get started early with a canoe tour of Belen, Iquitos’ famous floating barrio. The early morning hours are when this neighbourhood is at its freshest and its famous market is at its busiest. After popping into the amazing maze of stalls selling herbs, tinctures, unusual fruits and even weirder fish, enjoy lunch at one of several floating seafood restaurants. . Book a trip to the beginning of the Amazon, at the confluence of Maranon and Ucayali Rivers, about 183km (114mi) southwest of Iquitos. This is also the gateway to Peru’s largest, most bio diverse protected area, Reserva Nacional Pacaya Samiria. If you’ve been out on the river for far too long and find yourself aching for some civilization, head to the Amazon Golf Course, an nine-hole oasis where “it's not so much birdies and eagles; more like boas in the rough.