Iquitos is the main Peruvian gateway to the Amazon Rainforest and is the largest city in the Peruvian Amazon. There are no roads that connect Iquitos to the rest of Peru making it the largest city in the world unreachable by car. Because it is a port city of the Amazon River, you can get to Iquitos by boat, but the most popular way to enter and leave Iquitos is by plane. From Iquitos, you can visit incredible protected areas that contain some of the highest diversities of life on Earth.

Pacaya Samiria National Reserve

The Pacaya is a flooded tropical forest of the Iquitos Amazon and provides guests with fantastic bird watching opportunities and chances to see other wildlife, such as Monkeys and aquatic life of caiman, turtles, and the largest fish in the Amazon River, the impressive Arapaima. The Pacaya Samiria National Reserve has a conservation initiative with local people to preserve the Arapaima in Lake El Dorado.

Tamshiyacu Tahuayo Reserve

The Tamshiyacu Tahuayo Reserve is an area of protected forest not as well known as the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve, but it contains a high number and diversity of Amazon animals and plants. The reserve was established primarily to protect the rare Uakari Monkey and is now a haven for several different monkeys that can often be seen with relative ease inside the reserve. The reserve is also home to a great diversity of animals including Jaguar, Tapir, Anaconda, Paca, Brocket Deer, and many different tropical birds.

Iquitos Architecture

Like other rubber boom cities, such as the larger Manaus in Brazil, some of the architecture in Iquitos reflects the power and wealth of the rubber boom period. The Iron House for example, which is near the Plaza de Armas, was initially seen in Paris, France, by a rubber baron. He decided he liked the building and so shipped it in pieces to Iquitos in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest.