Location
The city of Iquitos is located in the northeast of Peru, northeast of the department of Loreto, and in the extreme south of the Province of Maynas. Settled in a plain called the Great Plain, the city has an area of ??368.9 km² (142.4 mi²) and covers part of the districts of Belen, Punchana and San Juan Bautista.
Weather
The city of Iquitos experiences throughout the year has constant rainfall so there is no well-defined dry season, and it has temperatures that range from 21 ° C to 33 ° C. The annual average temperature is 26.7 ° C and the average rainfall is 2616.2 mm per year. Because the seasons of the year are not sensitive in the equatorial zone, it has exclusively two seasons.
Iquitos has a rainy winter, arriving in November and ending in May, with March and April tending to include more humid weather. Rainfall reaches around 300mm and 280mm, respectively. In May, the Amazon River, one of the city’s surrounding rivers, reaches its highest levels, steadily dropping 30 or 12 feet to its lowest point in October, then steadily rising cyclically.
Summer in Iquitos offers a very different climate. Despite the fact that July and August are the driest months, there are still some periods of downpour. Sunny days and good weather are common, and it is used to dry things, since the high temperatures are 30 ° C and on average 32 ° C. The precipitations felt over the years are more abundant than the from Ayacucho, Cusco and Lima.
Tourist attractions
The city of Iquitos is the capital city of the Province of Maynas and the Department of Loreto. It is the largest metropolis in the Peruvian Amazon, and it is the seventh most populated city in Peru; Furthermore, it is known as the “capital of the Peruvian Amazon.” It is established in the Great Plain and surrounded by the Amazon, Nanay and Itaya rivers and the Moronacocha Lake. As a whole, Metropolitan Iquitos is constituted, a population of 471,993 inhabitants made up of four districts: Iquitos, Punchana, Belén and San Juan Bautista.
The Historic Center of Iquitos contains several Cultural Heritage of the Nation: the Iquitos Mother Church, the Iron House, the Old Palace Hotel, the Cohen House, the Morey House and more than 70 buildings. Other well-known landmarks is the Plaza de Armas de Iquitos; El Jirón Próspero, a road that conglomerates several commercial and historical places, and the busy Barrio de Belén, often nicknamed the “Amazonian Venice”. The city is also home to the Amazon Library, one of the two most important in Latin America.
The Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve (2 080,000 ha), the largest in the country, is located 183 km from the city and is a refuge for numerous species of animals and plants, many of them in danger of extinction such as the charapa turtle, the giant river otter, black caiman and river dolphin.
On the other hand, the Allpahuayo-Mishana National Reserve (58,000 hectares) protects the largest concentration of white sand forests or “varillales” known in the Peruvian Amazon. This is one of the best destinations for bird watching.
In addition to these national reserves, there are also numerous private reserves where shelters have been built for all tastes.
¿How to get to Iquitos, Perú’
The city of Iquitos only has an air and river connection to the rest of the country, it only has a long highway that connects Iquitos with Nauta but unfortunately it is not interconnected by land with the rest of Peru due to the abrupt geography of the country. Following the course of the Amazon, marine vessels of 3,000 or 9,000 tons and 5.5 m (18 feet) of draft can arrive from the Atlantic Ocean, making it the most populated city in the world that does not have land access. Due to its geostrategic location, it is an important internal port that enables the connection between the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.
So, how to get to Iquitos, Perú? Well, the traditional way to get to Iquitos is by air. Alternatively navigating the Amazon River and its main tributaries such as the Ucayali River and the Marañón River.
The city of Iquitos does not have highways that connect it with other large cities in Peru; There is only a 115 km highway from Iquitos to Nauta. Cars only circulate in the urban area and surroundings of Iquitos, the fluvial environment predominates.
The massive means of transport in the city are motorcycles, including “mototaxis”, there are also public transport buses and conventional taxis. Transportation to nearby towns and the interior of the department of Loreto is done in river boats or seaplanes.
How to get from Lima to Iquitos?
To get from Lima to Iquitos, you have to arrive at the Coronel FAP Francisco Secada Vignetta International Airport (IQT Airport Code), with comfortable facilities, located 7 km from the center of the city of Iquitos. Flights from Lima to Iquitos last a little over an hour and a half.