This region constitutes one fourth of Peru, or 368,852 square kilometers of Amazonian tropical wet rainforest. This area is larger than England and Ireland together.

Iquitos has an estimated population of 500,000 inhabitants, making it one of the three largest cities on the entire length of the Amazon, along with Manaus and Belen.

About 120 kilometers upstream from Iquitos, the Ucayali and Marañon Rivers join, giving birth to the longest river on earth: The Amazon River.

The history of Iquitos is reflected in the architecture of its houses and public buildings, showing disparate influences brought to the Amazon by various European interests during the great Rubber Boom at the end of the 19th century.

Iquitos is also a typical colorful tropical Amazonian city characterized by its friendly, outgoing inhabitants and vibrant street life.

It has all the basic facilities of a major city, with an international airport, excellent hotels and restaurants of all categories. There is a wide variety of restaurants with both international and regional cuisine to serve the most discriminating visitor. Naturally Iquitos also has internet cafés galore, as well as banks, churches, drugstores, hospitals and any other type of service a visitor might wish.

In the area of nightlife, no city can beat Iquitos, where bars, discotheques and big fiesta halls abound and where the people of Iquitos are known for needing no special occasion or motive for a celebration!

Iquitos also offers the chance to explore the rainforest surrounding it, without abandoning the comforts of a large variety of hotels, ranging from simple hostels to 5 star hotels.

In addition to accommodations in the city of Iquitos, there are also a variety of lodges in the surrounding rainforest, ranging from luxury resorts all the way to camp sites for those who wish to sleep far from any type of ´civilized´ noise. (more information...)

The Amazon River was discovered by accident by Francisco De Orellana in 1541, during a Spanish expedition to the jungle of Peru in search of ´El Dorado´, at the mouth of the Napo River, only 100 kilometers downriver from Iquitos. During this trip, Orellana and his expedition came across the famous warrior women called Amazonas, who left them so impressed that they decided to give their name to the river.

The Amazon River is one of the longest rivers on earth, with more water than any other river. Its volume represents a full 20% of the fresh water of the planet and the drainage area of the massive river system is fully ¾ the size of the continental United States.

The Amazon River is born where the Ucayali and Marañon Rivers join, about 120 kilometers upstream from Iquitos. The distance from its origin to the Atlantic Ocean is about 4000 km. Throughout its length, the Amazon has numerous islands, meanders and branches that penetrate its banks and form many streams and lakes. The river is navigable by ships of deep draft and tonnage following the navigation channels. The river’s depth depends on the width of the riverbed; in Peru it varies between 10 to 30 meters.

The river´s muddy waters are the most important means of transportation all around Loreto Region, where river crafts of many sizes travel, carrying the products of the jungle. The principal activities of the region (agriculture, small industry and commerce) take place on the river banks. This is one of the reasons that the most important cities like Tamshiyacu, Caballococha, Pevas and villages like Indiana, Orellana, Timicuro, etc. have been established along the Amazon River.

The Pacaya Samiria National Reserve was established in 1982 with the purpose of conserving the immense biodiversity of the area. It is the most extensive protected flooded forest area of the Amazon Region (2'080,000 ha) and the second largest protected natural area in Peru, giving shelter to a wide biological diversity as well as a considerable native population that uses its resources.

More than 1/3 of all the species of plants and animals existing on earth live in the Amazon Rainforest, and the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve provides a premiere example of this diversity. The paiche (Arapaima gigas), the largest freshwater fish on earth, is found here, along with more than 250 different species of fish, 102 species of mammals, 69 species of reptiles, 58 species of amphibians, 449 species of birds and 1,024 species of plants.

The Pacaya Samiria National Reserve is located between the confluence of the Marañon and Ucayali Rivers, which are the ones that give birth to the largest river on earth: the Amazon River.

Access to the Reserve is by boat only, and one needs at least 6 days to travel to and explore part of the area.

Private Lodges of tourism companies cannot be established inside the Reserve. However, there are options to visit authorized areas through organized weekly cruises in comfortable boats with all services included, OR doing adventurer expeditions with the native people that live in the Reserve which have the authorization to lodge visitors in their communities and show them the Reserve. (more information...)

The Regional Conservation Area Tamshiyacu Tahuayo Communal Reserve (ACRCTT), located south of Iquitos, is part of a larger area that has been proposed as the Zona Reservada del Yavari. Its area is 420 080 ha, and it is home to the most diverse assembly of Primate species of any protected land in the world, 14 species including the Red Uakari (shown in photo).

The ACRCTT was created in June 1991 and reafirmed as that on May 2007 by the Regional Government of Loreto in response to the combined efforts of local communities, researchers, non-governmental organizations and private tourism enterprises. These groups had been working in the area for more than a decade developing agroforestery projects to reforest agricultural plots and give alternative food resources to the local communities and to the wildlife, increasing interest among the local people in their environment through educational programs for conservation and sustainable use of the land, while keeping their traditions and cultural values intact, and organizing vigilance programs to keep outsiders from extracting resources from the reserve and its buffer zone, in addition to many other activities.

Endangered animals found here include the Red Uakari monkey, the Pink River Dolphin, Manatee, Tapir, jaguar, Ocelot , Giant Otter, Giant Anteater and Taricaya Turtle, plus an incredible variety of birds (more than 7oo species are known in Loreto), including the Harpy Eagle and the Hoatzin.

Allpahuayo-Mishana is the only primary forest with easy accessibility from Iquitos. One can arrive here by car in less than an hour from the center of the city. A recommended time for visiting this beautiful and rare forest is 1 day. (more information...)

Though no roads unite Iquitos with any other area of the country, there are 2 usual ways to arrive here from any part of the world:

1. Enter by plane to Iquitos, just 1 ½ hours away from Lima, the country’s capital. Apart from cargo flights, there are currently a minimum of 4 daily round-trip passenger flights between Lima and Iquitos, making this area easily accessible to visitors. Or...
2. Travel by our “river-roads”, like the Ucayali River which joins Iquitos with Pucallpa city; the Marañon River will bring you to Iquitos from Tarapoto city; the Napo and Putumayo rivers from the country of Ecuador (not so frequented yet); and of course the AMAZON RIVER is our main and most popular route to Brazil and Colombia. (Additional information...)