Kuelap, the Machu Picchu of northern Peru

To get there you have to feel like it. It is 8 hours by road from Chiclayo (or 12 from Cajamarca) to the city of Chachapoyas, in the Amazon jungle. Then another 3 hours more by dirt track to the parking lot of the complex and then half an hour on foot along a paved path to the entrance of the ruins. But it is worth it. Kuelap, the great stone citadel of northern Peru, built by the Chachapoyas culture over a thousand years ago, is one of the best kept secrets of this South American country.

Of course, Kuélap is not Machu Picchu (especially, it is not surrounded by mountains as spectacular as Machu Picchu). But if you walk through northern Peru, you like history and archeology and you want to enjoy an authentic pre-Inca citadel barely exploited by tourism, don't forget to visit Kuelap.