Peru’s less-visited northern coast offers some of the country’s richest pre-Inca archaeology. Explore vast adobe cities, painted temples, and royal tombs, giving insights to sophisticated cultures that flourished centuries before the Incas.
The colourful colonial city of Trujllo offers wonderful cuisine and excellent access to many archaeological sites. Closest is the immense Chan Chan, former capital of the Chimú kingdom and the largest earthen city in pre-Columbian America. Walking through its ceremonial spaces and compounds gives an inkling to this civilisation’s scale and prowess.
The Moche dominated this region before the Chimú. Their beliefs and rituals remain visible today in the remarkably preserved painted reliefs and ceremonial spaces of the Huacas del Sol y de la Luna, about 30 minutes from Trujillo.
You can discover more Moche history at the El Brujo complex. The museum here houses the remarkably preserved remains of the Señora de Cao, an elite Moche woman whose elaborate ceremonial burial revealed much about the status and power women could hold in Moche society.
Huanchaco is a surfer’s delight, with regular waves to catch and excellent seafood served beside the Pacific. Non-surfers can enjoy the beach and watch local fisherfolk head out on their caballitos de totora—traditional reed fishing craft whose origins stretch back to pre-Columbian times.
Peru’s northern coast brings the fascinating detail and diversity of the country’s pre-Inca history to the fore.
