PE · Curated travel guide
Nazca lines, Huascarán, Misti and 7 more — what each one is, and why it is worth the detour.
Chosen from everything Wikidata knows about Peru and ranked by how many Wikipedia language editions describe them, which is about as close to "famous" as open data gets. One is on UNESCO's World Heritage list.
World Heritage
Geoglyphs in the Nazca Desert, Peru
Geoglyphs made in the ground of the Nazca Desert, in southern Peru, between 500 BC and 500 AD. People made them by cutting shallow grooves or hollows into the desert floor, clearing away pebbles so that soil of a different colour showed.
Photo: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0
Tallest mountain in Peru
Also called Nevado Huascarán or Mataraju, a mountain of the Cordillera Blanca, in the western Andes, in Peru's Yungay Province, Ancash Department.
Photo: Florian Ederer, CC BY 2.5
Mountain in Peruvian Andes
Also called Shuyturaju, one of the most striking peaks of the Cordillera Blanca in Peru's Andes; Alpamayo Creek rises to its northwest.
Photo: Frank R 1981, CC BY-SA 4.0
Large lake on the border of Peru and Bolivia
A large lake high in the Andes, on the border of Peru and Bolivia, often called the world's highest navigable lake.
Photo: W. Bulach, CC BY-SA 4.0
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Valley in the Andes Mountains of Peru
Also called the Urubamba Valley, a valley in Peru's Andes north of Cusco, the Inca capital, in today's Cusco region.
Photo: Murray Foubister, CC BY-SA 2.0
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Archaeological site in Peru
In Quechua Wayna Pikchu, a mountain in Peru's Cusco Region, Urubamba Province, Machupicchu District, with the Urubamba River curving around it.
Photo: Mblument at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
Mountain in Peru
A mountain of the Andes' Huayhuash range in west-central Peru, in Áncash, Lauricocha Province and Bolognesi Province.
Photo: Thom95 at German Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
Desert along the coast of Peru
A coastal desert running along Peru's Pacific shore south of the Piura Region and inland to the Andean foothills. Cold upwelling coastal waters and subtropical sinking air make it extremely dry, though it floods now and then in El Niño years.
Photo: Peru_sat.png : created by NASA derivative work: Peruchevere, Public domain
Officially the Republic of Peru, a country of western South America. Colombia and Ecuador lie to its north, Brazil to its east, Bolivia to its southeast, Chile to its south, and the Pacific to its south and west. It is megadiverse, with habitats from the dry plains of the Pacific coast in the west, through the Andes peaks running from its north to its southeast, to the tropical rainforest of the Amazon basin, with the Amazon River, in the east.
Officially The Republic of Perú. Known locally as Piruw, Perú.
Based on the Wikipedia article, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0: the facts are Wikipedia's, the wording is this site's.
This guide lists 10: Nazca lines, Huascarán, Misti and Alpamayo and others. Nazca lines is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
By machine, from open data, with no human ranking them and nobody able to pay for a place on the list. Everything Wikidata records in Peru that is a building, a landform, a protected area or a tourist attraction, has coordinates, a photograph and an English Wikipedia article, is ranked by how many Wikipedia language editions wrote about it. Provinces, cities, airports, stations and stretches of sea shared with the neighbours are filtered out.
1 of the 10 in this guide: Nazca lines. That is not the full count for Peru, only the listed sites that made this guide.
Aymara, Spanish. The currency is PEN.
A travel eSIM is usually the cheapest way, and avoids a roaming bill. The plans suggested at the foot of this guide start at $3.17 for 1GB for 7 days. The eSIM is data-only and sits alongside your normal SIM, so calls, texts and WhatsApp keep working on your own number.
Claro. Your phone picks whichever has the best signal where you are, the same way a local phone does.
Maps, tickets and translation all want data, and roaming is the expensive way to get it. A Computatus eSIM eSIM connects to Claro once you land, and installs by QR code before you leave.
| Plan | Data | Valid | Price | Order |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1GB for 7 days Cheapest | 1 GB | 7 days | $3.17 | Get it → |
| 1GB per day | 1 GB | 1 day | $3.35 | Get it → |
| 2GB per day | 2 GB | 1 day | $5.85 | Get it → |
| 3GB for 15 days | 3 GB | 15 days | $9.11 | Get it → |
| 3GB for 30 days | 3 GB | 30 days | $9.52 | Get it → |
| 3GB per day | 3 GB | 1 day | $9.52 | Get it → |
No app needed. Install by QR code before you fly, keep your own number for calls, and it connects the moment you land.
A commission on plans bought through these links is what pays for this guide. Nothing above depends on it: the places are chosen before any price is looked up.
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