The World Heritage Sites visited
in Peru 2009
Site No. 273
City of CuzcoWhen you are travelling through Peru you will figure out immediately, that Cusco is the touristic heart of the whole country. The town itself is charming today and the Inca "leftovers" are interesting to explore
The Inka "art in stone" which is mixed with the Baroque stile that the Spanish brought is a fascinating architecture. And of course there are such a lot of ruins around that you can really talk about a sightseeing epicentre.
Impression: Accessibility: Crowded: Pricing: Site No. 274
Historic Sanctuary of Machu PicchuVisiting South America without having seen Machu Picchu is great loss. The wonderful setting in the middle of a tropical mountain forest, the position high above the Urubamba River and the ruins themselves are hard to be beaten by something else.
A point of discussion might be the perfect renovation work or the endless bus-lines up the mountain. The vibration of these buses endanger the whole site to slide down the mountain. Due too large grassy areas, that are kept visitor free, you seldom have the impression of a crowded ruin - although there are daily thousands of tourists.
Accessibility is pretty poor, because it is quite complicated to get there, unless you have enough money. Also the entrance fee is the highest in the whole country.
Impression: Accessibility: Crowded: Pricing: Site No. 333
Huascarán National Park
The whole mountain range of the Cordillera Blanca is a wonderful place to be in the Andes. The whole range of nature activities can be realized here - although the security issue gives you a little handicap. You won´t experience the freedom you find in other parks, but it really is worth a visit.
Some roads were cut through incredible beautiful valleys, winding up in endless serpentines. The motorist will be exited, the nature lover will be frustrated. Set camp on one of the lagunes and enjoy!
Impression: Accessibility: Crowded: Pricing: Site No. 330
Chavin (Archaeological Site)The most interesting factor at this site was the age of its existence: between 1500 and 300 B.C. developed this culture, and that a very long stretch before the well-known Inca came up.
And even at that time the ornamental stone work was very high developed as the art in ceramics. Its appearance is completed different from a lot of other places in Peru, although many people dont think, it is worth a visit..
Impression: Accessibility: Crowded: Pricing: Site No. 366
Chan Chan
Archaeological ZoneIt was a really huge settlement of the Chimu Kingdom, that reached its peak in the 15th century, before it was conquered by the Inca´s. All the buildings were built on Sandstone-Adobe, because the weather (and rainfall) was no fear at that time. With the change of climate nowadays, amany walls and ornaments were destroyed.
To walk into the Tschudi´s Palace - which is accessible today is a nice step into the back, although it is not so impressive as other places. The artististic works are intersting, as is the layout of the whole city.
Impression: Accessibility: Crowded: Pricing: Site No: 402
Manú National ParkManu is not far away from Cusco, an area that covers 1.5 million-ha in a dense bio-diversity. From the Andes down to the jungle - it offers a lot between 4.200m and 150m altitude. We only had a little glimpse from above, because we felt it too expensive to go right into the park.
As there are no roads you always have to book a tour - and these are costy. We did like the splitting of the whole area that allows tourist only in certain zones and protects the rest of the huge area.
Impression: Accessibility: Crowded: Pricing: Site No. 500bis
Historic Centre of LimaThe old buildings in the city of Lima are not forming a cosy old part, they are spread out through the area. The Convent of San Francisco is a very interesting part, but the town itself was not really worth a visit for us.
Impression: Accessibility: Crowded: Pricing: Site No.700
Lines and Geoglyphs of Nasca and Pampas de JumanaWe can not imagine anyone, who is not impressed by the geoglyphs of Nasca. The lines and fascinating figures, that are scarved into the ground of the desert developed in a period of 500 B.B. to 500 A.D.
Taking a flight to see the immense length of all the work is really fascinating. The art of creatures, plants and geometric figures will always bear a secret. Beside the geoglyphs the incredible landscape will ever have a huge part in our memory.
Impression: Accessibility: Crowded: Pricing: Site No.1016
Historical Centre of the
City of ArequipaWhen you read about Lima above, you will experience a town that has no flair. Arequipa is the total difference. Built with volcanic rocks, the "white city" is really beautiful and gives a warm impression.
The mixture between European and endemic styles, Baroque and Indian elements all over the buildings is very interesting to follow. We were also lucky to be there on the foundation day, where we saw a parade. If you want to see more, you can find it here.
Impression: Accessibility: Crowded: Pricing: Site No.1269
Sacred City of
Caral-Supe3.000 years B.C. began the settlement in this valley. This was a long time before many other cultures in South America developed. The Peruvian culture does not only base on the Inca, that came to power 4.000 years later.
For us the dimensions of the historic city on more than 600 acres were fascinating. The complexity of the towns layout proves of a very high developed culture. The renovation work still is going on, and it might be interesting to come back in 10 or twenty years. We visited the area in June 2009, just one week after it was declared a world heritage site. So there will be a lot of changes to expect. The road to get there was very bad, but works are already in progress.
Impression: Accessibility: Crowded: Pricing: