Iquitos is the main gateway to experience Peru’s northern Amazon Rainforest.

As the largest city in the Peruvian Amazon, it’s worth noting that there are no roads that connect Iquitos to the rest of Peru. And impressively, this makes it the largest city in the world unreachable by car.

The most popular way to enter and leave Iquitos is by plane. And from Iquitos, you can enjoy some incredible protected areas of Amazon Rainforest.

Select Travel Guides for the Iquitos Amazon Rainforest

• The Best Areas of Amazon Rainforest to Visit in Peru
• The Top Iquitos Amazon Lodges
• The Iquitos Travel Guide
• The Top 10 Amazon Tours in Peru
• How Many Days to Spend in Iquitos?
• The Top Iquitos Amazon River Tours

Pacaya Samiria National Reserve

If you’re looking for an area from Iquitos to explore the Amazon by river cruise, the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve is a great place to start. Not only does it provide fantastic bird watching opportunities, but you can find many monkeys, reptiles and and aquatic life, including 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 another incredible protected forest from Iquitos. Although not as well known as the Pacaya Samiria, the reserve contains a high number and diversity of Amazon animals and plants. And it possibly contains a higher diversity of primates than the Pacaya Samiria. It also offers more walking opportunities with more accessible non-flooded forest.

The reserve was established primarily to protect the rare uakari monkey. And it is a haven for several other primate species, which are often seen with relative ease inside the reserve. Additionally, the reserve is home to a great diversity of other wildlife, including jaguars, tapirs, anacondas, pacas, brocket deer, and many different tropical birds.

Iquitos Architecture

Like other rubber boom cities, some of the architecture in Iquitos reflects the power and wealth of the rubber boom period. For example, the Iron House, which is near the Plaza de Armas, has an impressive history. This was initially seen in Paris, France, by a rubber baron. He liked the building and shipped it in pieces to Iquitos where it now stands, in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest.