Located in the heart of Trujillo’s historic center, this cathedral (aka the Cathedral Basilica of St. Mary), brightly painted yellow with white wedding-cake piping and twin bell towers, is a stalwart representation of the city’s colonial past. Highlights are its noteworthy altarpieces and religious paintings in the cathedral’s art museum.
Stretched out over an entire block, the lovely El Carmen complex includes a church, a Carmelite convent and a museum that includes the most important collection of colonial art in Trujillo. Its white facade, punctuated with bright red trim is a colonial masterpiece, a fitting home for the baroque and rococo paintings inside.
Reflecting the city’s modernity, the Gustave Eiffel-designed Chiclayo Cathedral was not constructed until 1869, and despite its relative youth, the neoclassical cathedral with its twin bell towers and white cupolas exudes a sense of grandeur and stands as one of the most striking buildings in Chiclayo.
The focal point of the small port town of Salaverry on Peru’s north coast, Playa Salaverry boasts unique black sands and water ideal for wave-jumping. Consistent swell makes it an ideal place to try surfing for the first time or hone your skills, while the hill behind it is a popular place to go sandboarding at sunset.
At the center of Chiclayo is the city’s main square, the Parque Principal (also known as Plaza de Armas). Spanning the compact area between the city’s double-domed neoclassical cathedral and the Republic-style city hall, this attractive green space buzzes with activity, music, and food vendors at all times of the day.
Paseo de las Musas is a lovely pedestrian thoroughfare festooned with manicured floral arrangements, welcoming plazas, and a striking monument with nine statues of ancient muses from Greek mythology and four white columns that tower 20 feet (6 meters) over the park.
Poking out from a carpet of carob trees, forming the largest dryland forest on South America’s west coast, are the eroded tops of brown pyramids—all that remain of Sicán tombs once packed with gold. Archaeologists say over 90% of Peruvian gold in private collections was looted from what is now the Batán Grande archaeological complex.
The fantastically ornate Municipal Palace is a Republican-style administrative building with a festive four-story clock tower and soaring parallel arches gracing the center of town. This elegant building is so lavish, it cost 30,000 pounds of gold to build in 1919.
