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Lampa Municipalidad
In the small square beside the church, the town hall is recognizable by its murals depicting Lampa’s history – past, present and future. Inside there’s a gorgeous courtyard, a replica of the Pietà and a museum honoring noted Lampa-born painter Víctor Humareda (1920–86).
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Museo Municipal Vicus
This four-story monolith offers a sparse but decent look into Vicus culture, highlighted by the underground Sala de Oro where some excellent pieces are displayed, including a gold belt decorated with a life-sized gold cat head that puts today’s belt buckles to shame.
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Horno Colonial San Francisco
Huge clay ovens for baking empanadas and other goodies and castillos de cuyes (miniature castles inhabited by guinea pigs) are found in many nooks and crannies, particularly on Mariscál Castilla. But this is the town’s most authentic – a colonial oven dating back to 1830.
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Museo de Arte Contemporaneo
The permanent collection at MAC is a quick study but visiting exhibits, like a David Chapelle retrospective, are major draws. Theres also a good onsite cafe and sculpture park (access free) with shady lawns that provide a good city respite for families. With free parking.
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Museo de Historia Natural
One block west of cuadra 12 off Av Arequipa, south of the Parque de la Reserva, the Museo de Historia Natural run by the Universidád de San Marcos, has a modest taxidermy collection that provides a useful overview of Peruvian fauna, with guided tours (S25) available.
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Gremio de Pescadores de Puscana
This is quite a scene at any time of day with oil-skinned fishermen battling with huge whale-sized fish while snappy-beaked pelicans inspect their work from close quarters. Just outside the entrance, boats gather offering fishing trips and tours of the marina (from S40).
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Casa de Pilatos
East of the plaza, the lovely red Casa de Pilatos is home to offices for the Tribunal Constitucional (Supreme Court). Access is a challenge: visitors are only allowed into the courtyard provided there aren’t official meetings going on. Enter through the side door on Azángaro.
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Museo Andrés del Castillo
Housed in a pristine 19th-century mansion with Spanish-tile floors, this worthwhile new private museum showcases a vast collection of minerals, as well as breathtakingly displayed Nazca textiles and Chancay pottery, including some remarkable representations of Peruvian hairless dog
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Museo Machu Picchu
This new museum exhibits 360 pieces from Machu Picchu returned by Yale University, including lithic and metals, ceramics and bones. Signs are in English and Spanish. Casa Concha is a beautiful restored colonial home which belonged to an aristocrat at the time of the conquest.
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Pacatnamú
A few kilometers north, just before the village of Guadalupe, a track leads toward the ocean and the little-visited ruins of Pacatnamú, a large site that was inhabited by the Gallinazo, Moche and Chimú cultures and is regarded by archaeologists as one of the coast’s most impressive
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Catedral de Puno
Puno’s baroque cathedral, on the western flank of the Plaza de Armas, was completed in 1757. The interior is more spartan than you’d expect from the well-sculpted facade, except for the silver-plated altar, which, following a 1964 visit by Pope Paul VI, has a Vatican flag to its ri
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Usko
Usko-Ayar is the gallery of the visionary local artist Pablo César Amaringo Shuna, whose work and biography can be accessed at www.egallery.com. Other promising Amazonian artists study, work and display here – it’s well worth a visit. Tell drivers it’s near the Iglesia Fray Marcos.
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Jardín Botánico San Francisco
The region is famed for its orchids; there’s an orchid festival held in October and a giant orchid statue guards the town’s entrance. You can see these and other exotic plants in a giant geodesic-domed hothouse at the Jardín Botánico San Francisco . It’s 2km from town, a S4 mototax
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El Arco Deustua
A fairly simple arch jazzed up with adornments makes for a tourist attraction in Puno. El Arco Deustua dates from 1847 and was a tribute to those who fought in the battles of Junín and Ayachuco. Today its name is mostly uttered as a landmark. It is seven blocks north of the Plaza d
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de Sitio Manuel Chávez Ballón
Dont miss the new Museo de Sitio Manuel Chávez Ballón by Puente Ruinas at the base of the footpath to Machu Picchu. Buses headed back from the ruins to Aguas Calientes will stop upon request at the bridge, from where you can head back to town later, usually less than a half hours w
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Casa Grau
This restored colonial home is the birthplace of Admiral Miguel Grau, born on July 27, 1834. The house was restored by the Peruvian navy and is now a naval museum. Admiral Grau was a hero of the War of the Pacific against Chile (1879–83), and the captain of the British-built warshi
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Museo Regional de Ancash
The Museo Regional de Ancash houses one of the most significant collections of ancient stone sculptures in South America. Small but interesting, it has a few mummies, some trepanned skulls and a garden of stone monoliths from the Recuay culture (400 BC–AD 600) and the Wari culture
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Iglesia San Juan Batista
Turn right on Av Lima and walk five blocks to a small plaza, where you’ll find the Iglesia San Juan Batista , which dates from 1750. The popular Fiesta de la Virgen de Chapi is held on May 1. At the side of the plaza there’s a mirador (lookout) with excellent views of Arequipa and
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Incan Citadel
This hilltop Incan citadel lies high above the village of Pisac on a triangular plateau with a plunging gorge on either side. Its a truly awesome site, but youll see surprisingly few tourists here, except mid-morning on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, when it becomes flooded with
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Muelle Pacasmayo
What’s said to be the longest pier in Peru has a storied history. Constructed between 1870 and 1874, it initially clocked in at a whopping 743.4m. Today, it stands at 544m after a chunk was swept out to sea in 1924. In the ‘40s, two overloaded train cars fell into the sea from the
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