Peru

Peru is one of those countries that seem almost absurdly endowed with marvels of both the human and nonhuman variety. Every traveler knows that significant history often reveals itself subtly—a modest-looking ruin here, a little linguistic inflection there—but Peru’s got a collection of ancient monuments of the overwhelming variety. The same goes for its natural landscapes, which stretch from glacial ice to flooded rainforest.

Wherever your travel focus lies, you’re sure to be spellbound by the depth and breadth of Peru’s human story. Here lay the seats of power of both the Incan Empire and Spain’s South American colonies. Machu Picchu nabs a lot of the glory, and it’s no surprise: For both its scenic setting and the fine condition of its stone terraces and buildings, this mountain-tucked Incan estate certainly makes the short list of the world’s most awe-inspiring ancient monuments. Machu Picchu, though, is only the best-known of Peru’s archaeological landmarks—and some of the others are equally arresting. What about the enigmatic lines and animal- and plant-shaped “geoglyphs” of Nazca, scrawled into the coastal desert better than 1,000 years ago? Or the earthwork complex of Chan Chan, the biggest pre-Columbian city in the Americas, which served as the capital of the Chimu Kingdom ultimately conquered by the Incas?

Meanwhile, the cathedrals, universities, and other colonial-age structures in Lima’s heart speak to that city’s long incarnation as the hub of Spanish South America, while up on the fringe of the Andes, Cusco reveals a Spanish city superimposed upon an Incan metropolis.

As you tour such historical sites, you’re also regularly presented with the rich marriage of cultures, ethnicities, and traditions that defines modern Peru. Here, cosmopolitan energy—Lima’s museums, nightclubs, and beach resorts, Iquitos’s theaters and dance halls—blends with deeply traditional lifeways: Amazonian hunter-gatherers, high-elevation Quechua farmers, the indigenous-Spanish-African fusion dance of Zamacueca and Marinera. Peruvian cookery, meanwhile, has evolved from long centuries of cultural cross-pollination—Amerindian, European, African, Asian—into a globally renowned cuisine, showcasing native foodstuffs such as potatoes, quinoa, and tropical fruits.

The Peruvian wilderness encompasses a sweeping variety of countryside, from Pacific-edge semidesert to Andean high country to the upper reaches of the Amazon Basin rainforest. The icy 22,205-foot crown of Huascarán in the Cordillera Blanca, the treetop monkey troops and night-prowling jaguars of Manú National Park in the Peruvian Amazon: Peru makes a prime venue for adventure travel and ecotourism.

With the scale of its terrain, the mighty sprawl of its history, and the dimensions of its multicultural society, Peru is a destination we should all spend some quality time in.