Country Peru Check Location Map
South America

Descripition

It's the multiple layers of great civilisations which makes Peru so fascinating. You can wander around colonial cities which have preserved the legacy of the Spanish conquistadors, visit the ancient Incan capital of Cuzco, explore the lost city of Machu Picchu and ponder the enigma of the Nazca Lines (answers on a postcard please).You don't have to be in Peru too long to realise that the 'New World' had a rich and complex cultural life thousands of years before Pizarro turned up wearing funny clothing. All of this exists in a country with some of the most spectacular and varied scenery in South America. The Peruvian Andes are arguably the most beautiful on the continent and the mountains are home to millions of highland Indians who still speak the ancient tongue of Quechua and maintain a trADDITIONAL way of life. The verdant Amazon Basin, which occupies half of Peru, is one of the world's top ten biodiversity `hot spots' - a species-rich area of tropical rainforest that will make your head spin when you start to learn about its ecology. And the coastal deserts, with their huge rolling dunes, farmland oases and fishing villages, are under appreciated by travellers but offer the opportunity to get off the Gringo Trail in a big way. But you don't have to be a zoologist, an anthropologist or a mountain climber to enjoy Peru, all you need is a keen eye, a love of landscape, an interest in history and a very good money belt. Warning Lima and trADDITIONAL tourist areas such as Cuzco and Machu Picchu are considered safe, but care should be exercised at all times. Areas where the government is conducting counter-insurgency campaigns have been designated `emergency areas' and should not be entered. The Upper Huallaga Valley in the Amazon, home to drug barons and Shining Path guerillas, is definitely off limits. All nationalities should contact their embassy on arrival for a briefing on the security situation, with particular reference to their planned itinerary. A 53-year-old border dispute between Ecuador and Peru erupted into armed conflict in February 1995. Ecuador disputes Peru's control of much of the Oriente, but the military engagements have focused on the Cenapa River border region in south-eastern Ecuador and north-western Peru. There is currently a ceasefire in the area but travellers should avoid this region and check that border crossings between Ecuador and Peru remain open. Environment Peru is in western South America and shares borders with Chile (to the south), Bolivia (south-east), Brazil (north-east), Colombia (north) and Ecuador (north-west). It has three major regions: a narrow coastal belt, the wide Andean mountains and the Amazon Basin. The coastal strip is predominantly desert, but contains Peru's major cities and its best highway, the Carratera Panamericana. The Andes comprise two principal ranges - Cordillera Occidental and Oriental - and includes Huascarαn (6768m), Peru's highest mountain. To the east is the Amazon Basin, a region of tropical lowland, which is drained by the Maranon and Ucayali rivers. Bird and marine life is abundant along Peru's desert coast, with colonies of sea-lion, the Humboldt penguin, Chilean flamingo, Peruvian pelican, Inca tern and the brown booby endemic to the region. Common highland birds include the Andean condor, puna ibis and a variety of hummingbird. The highlands are also home to cameloids such as the llama, alpaca, guanaco and vicuρa, while the eastern slopes of the Andes are the haunts of jaguars, spectacled bears and tapirs. Peru's flora contains a number of hardy and unique plants, including patches of Polylepis woodland found at extreme heights. The vast wealth of wildlife is protected in a system of national parks and reserves with almost 30 areas covering nearly 7% of the country. Peru's climate can be divided into two seasons - wet and dry - though this varies, depending on the geographical region. The coast and western Andean slopes are generally dry, with the summer falling between December and April; during the rest of the year, the garϊa (coastal fog) moves in and the sun is rarely seen. In the Andes, the dry season is from May to September, while the wet season takes up the remainder of the year. On the eastern slopes of the Andes, the drier months are similar to the highlands, though the wet season (January to April) is more pronounced. When to Go Peru's peak tourist season is from June to August, which is the dry season in the highlands, and this is the best time to go if you're interested in hiking. Travellers do visit the highlands year-round, though the wettest months, January to April, make trekking a muddy proposition. Many of the major fiestas occur in the wettest months and continue undiminished in spite of heavy rain. On the coast, Peruvians visit the beaches during the sunny months from late December through March, although few beaches are particularly enticing. The rest of the year, the coast is clothed in mist. In the eastern rainforests, it naturally rains a lot. The wettest months are December through April, though travellers visit year-round since it rarely rains for more than a few hours and there's still plenty of sunshine to enjoy. Facts for the Traveller Visas: Most travellers do not need visas; notable exceptions are New Zealanders and Spaniards. Health risks: Altitude sickness, cholera, hepatitis, malaria (in the lowlands), rabies and typhoid. A yellow fever vaccination is essential if you plan to visit the eastern slopes of the Andes or the Amazonian Basin Time: GMT/UTC minus five hours Electricity: 220V, 60 Hz Weights & Measures: Metric Tourism: 810,000 Money & Costs Currency: Nuevo (New) Sol Relative costs: Cheap meal: US$2-3 Restaurant meal: US$5-10 Costs in Peru are lower, on average, than those in developed countries, but higher than those in many neighbouring countries. Lima and Cuzco are the most expensive places in the country. If you're on a tight budget, you can scrape by on around $US20 per day, but if you want to stay in modest hotels and eat out at restaurants, you'll have a better time on around $US50 a day. The easiest currency to exchange is US dollars. Other currencies are only exchangeable in major cities and at a high commission. Money can be changed in banks, casas de cambio, first-class hotels, or with street changers. Casas de cambio are usually the easiest places to change money. Street changers, who hang out near banks, never offer better rates than the best bank rate and have been known to cheat travellers so are best avoided. Rates vary from place to place but not significantly, unless you try to change money at a hotel which charges high commission. Travellers' cheques are changed at a slightly lower rate than cash. Visa is the most widely accepted credit card, but credit cards attract an 8% commission unless you are using it for a cash withdrawal (in Peruvian currency) from a bank. A combination of taxes and service charges are added to bills in the best hotels and restaurants and can total as much as 28%, so be ready for it. The cheaper hotels and restaurants don't add taxes. Tipping is not expected in budget restaurants. A tip of between 10 and 15% is fine in upmarket restaurants if a service charge has not already been added to the bill. Taxi drivers are not tipped - bargain hard beforehand and stick to your price. Local guides should be tipped between US$3 and US$5 per day. Bargaining is accepted and expected in markets.