Iquitos is a city of nearly half a million people in the Peruvian Amazon, and you cannot drive to it. It is the largest city in the world that is not on an island and has no road link to the outside: everyone and everything arrives by plane or by boat. Founded beside the Amazon River and made rich by the rubber boom, it is today Peru's gateway to the rainforest, with jungle lodges, river cruises and some of the country's wildest reserves within a few hours.

Iquitos in the Peruvian Amazon – photograph of the riverside city

Iquitos, the city beyond the road network

Iquitos stands on the left bank of the Amazon, where the Nanay and Itaya rivers form its port. Lake Moronacocha borders the city to the west. Its 2023 population was estimated at about 491,000, making it Peru's ninth-largest city and the capital of the Loreto region.

The city's streets are busy with more than 25,000 motokars, the local auto-rickshaws, but only one highway leaves it: the Iquitos–Nauta road, running south to the river town of Nauta. Beyond that lies unbroken rainforest. Fuel, cars, building materials and most food reach Iquitos on river barges.

NASA satellite image of Iquitos and the Amazon River
Iquitos and the Amazon from space. Photo: NASA via Wikimedia Commons
Iquitos and its riverfront seen from above
Photo: Wikipedia.

How to get to Iquitos

  • By air: Coronel FAP Francisco Secada Vignetta International Airport receives several daily flights from Lima, taking about 1 hour 45 minutes. Some flights stop in Pucallpa or Tarapoto.
  • By river: cargo and passenger boats travel down the Huallaga and Marañón from Yurimaguas, or down the Ucayali from Pucallpa. The trip takes several days, with passengers sleeping in hammocks on deck, and is one of the classic overland adventures in South America.
Street scene in Iquitos, Peru – photograph from DS World's Lands
Photo: DS World's Lands
Iquitos, Peru – photograph from Future Challenges
Photo: Future Challenges

Rubber boom history: Casa de Fierro and the tiled mansions

A Jesuit mission was set up in the area in the 18th century, but Iquitos grew into a port after three Peruvian Navy steamships arrived on 5 January 1864. From about 1880 to 1914 the rubber boom made it rich and drew merchants and immigrants from Europe. Rubber barons imported Portuguese and Italian tiles, iron balconies and European furniture, and the mansions along the riverfront and the Plaza de Armas still show that wealth. The fortunes rested on brutal exploitation. Julio César Arana's Peruvian Amazon Company held indigenous workers in near-slavery on the Putumayo River, abuses exposed by the British consul Roger Casement in his reports on the Putumayo.

The boom ended when rubber seeds were taken to plantations in British Asia, which undercut Amazonian prices. The most famous building of the period is the Casa de Fierro, the Iron House on the Plaza de Armas, often attributed to Gustave Eiffel's workshop. A restored rubber-boom riverboat now serves as a floating museum on the riverfront.

Iquitos, Peru – photograph by Paul Hessell
Photo: Paul Hessell
Iquitos, Peru – photograph by Bill Bumgarner
Photo: Bill Bumgarner
Iquitos, Peru – photograph by Suedehead
Photo: Suedehead
Iquitos, Peru – photograph by Calvin Lee
Photo: Calvin Lee

Things to do in Iquitos: Belén, butterflies and manatees

  • Belén: the riverside district known locally as the "Venice" of Peru, with houses on stilts and on floating rafts. Its market, a short motokar ride from the centre, sells jungle fruits, fish, medicinal plants and everything else the Amazon produces.
  • Plaza de Armas and the riverfront: start here for the Iron House and the tiled mansions, then walk the Malecón along the water.
  • Puerto Bellavista: a port on the Nanay River about 3 km north of the centre, with grilled-fish stalls and boats to nearby villages.
  • Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm & Animal Rescue: reached by small "peque-peque" boat to Padre Cocha.
  • Amazonian Manatee Rescue Centre and Quistococha Lake, both on the road to Nauta.
Iquitos, Peru – photograph from DS World's Lands (2)
Photo: DS World's Lands
Iquitos, Peru – photograph by johrling
Photo: johrling
Iquitos, Peru – photograph by Pierre Pouliquin
Photo: Pierre Pouliquin
Iquitos, Peru – photograph by UvePiles
Photo: UvePiles
Iquitos, Peru – photograph by Joseph-Cro
Photo: Joseph-Cro

Amazon trips from Iquitos and the best season

Most visitors use Iquitos as a base for the rainforest. Lodges along the Amazon and its tributaries offer guided walks, canoe trips and night excursions, while river cruises cover longer distances. Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve, one of Peru's largest protected areas, and the Tahuayo-Tamshiyacu and Allpahuayo-Mishana reserves lie within a few hours.

The climate is hot and humid all year. The rainy season runs roughly from November to May, and rivers peak around May, when boats can reach deep into flooded forest. From June to November the water drops, sandy beaches appear and forest trails open up, with the lowest levels around October. Book a lodge that tells you clearly how far it is from the city: the further out, the better the wildlife.

Iquitos, Peru – photograph by rcschutt
Photo: rcschutt
Iquitos, Peru – photograph by Vladimir Minakov
Photo: Vladimir Minakov
Iquitos, Peru – photograph by Vladimir Minakov (2)
Photo: Vladimir Minakov
Iquitos, Peru – photograph by Vladimir Minakov (3)
Photo: Vladimir Minakov
Floating village on the Amazon at Iquitos – photograph by Sascha Grabow
A floating village on the Amazon at Iquitos. Photo: Sascha Grabow via Wikimedia

Peru North’s Iquitos guide is a useful planning resource: Peru North’s Iquitos guide. For another South American city, see our Rio de Janeiro guide, and for a very different river, our Caño Cristales article.

Sources