Trujillo: City of Eternal Spring

The city of Trujillo itself certainly deserves a half-day visit. Its central square is one of the most beautiful in Peru, with its colonial façades and windows of such a distinctive style. The historic center has several colonial buildings in excellent condition. Some can be visited, including the Palacio Iturregui with its Italian marble statues, the Casa Bracamonte, the Casa del Mayorazgo de Facalá, with its corner balcony in Mudéjar style, the Casa del Mariscal de Orbegoso, the Casa de la Emancipación, the Casa Ganoza Chopitea, one of the most representative of the city's architecture, with its baroque portal in different colors, and the Casa Calonge, which houses a museum displaying fine gold ornaments from the Chimu culture…

The city also has important religious buildings, such as the city's cathedral, built in 1666, the churches of San Francisco (18th century), Belén (1680-1708), San Agustín (17th century), La Merced (rebuilt in the 17th century), and the Carmen monastery, one of the most interesting architectural complexes in Trujillo, with two cloisters and an important art gallery housing 150 paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries.

Trujillo has some interesting museums, such as the Museo de Arqueología José Cassinelli, where you can find magnificent objects from the Chimu and Mochica cultures, and the archaeology, anthropology, and history museum of the Universidad Nacional de Trujillo, which displays objects from the various pre-Hispanic cultures of the region.

A few kilometers north of the city is the archaeological site of Chan Chan. This large city built of adobe bricks (sun-dried mud) was the most important of the Chimu civilization, which developed in this region from the 10th to the 15th century, before being annexed to the Inca empire. The Chimu were excellent goldsmiths and left behind some of the most beautiful gold jewelry in Peru. Some walls of Chan Chan still show bas-reliefs.

The Huaca del Sol and Huaca de la Luna are located a few kilometers south of Trujillo and belong to the Mochica culture, from the first millennium AD. These complexes feature pyramidal structures and are famous for their beautiful polychrome friezes.

Other archaeological sites are found in the region, in particular El Brujo, 60 kilometers toward Chiclayo, which is made up of several Huacas, the most important of which is 30 meters high. The figure of the head-cutter, typical of this civilization, is found on one of the polychrome friezes of the complex.

Huanchaco beach is located 10 kilometers from Trujillo. At this latitude, the Pacific coast is still bathed by the cold waters of the Humboldt current. So you can only swim there in summer, from December to March. To find water that is swimmable year-round, you need to go further north, to the beaches of Mancora and Punta Sal, near the Ecuadorian border.