Almost all tourism concentrates on the Lima–Cusco–Puno axis. The north, with civilisations that long predate the Incas and sites of the first rank, remains relatively empty. If you already know the classic circuit, this is the best trip you have left in Peru.
Trujillo and the Moche coast
Chan Chan, beside Trujillo, was the capital of the Chimú kingdom and the largest adobe city in the world: twenty square kilometres of walled compounds carved with fish and seabirds. Erosion and El Niño batter it constantly, and only one palace is restored for visits.
Close by, the Huacas del Sol y de la Luna are two Moche pyramids. The Huaca de la Luna preserves polychrome murals in superimposed layers, with the mountain deity repeated at each level. The state of preservation is remarkable.
On the coast, Huanchaco keeps its caballitos de totora, reed craft that fishermen have used for over two thousand years and that stand drying upright in the sand.
Chiclayo and the Lord of Sipán
The discovery of the tomb of the Lord of Sipán in 1987, intact and furnished with gold, silver and turquoise, was the most important American archaeological find of the century. Everything is displayed at the Museo Tumbas Reales in Lambayeque, an excellent building that reproduces the order in which the burial was excavated. Add the Sicán museum in Ferreñafe and the Túcume complex, twenty-six aligned adobe pyramids.
Chachapoyas and Kuélap
In the cloud forest, the fortress of Kuélap stands at 3,000 metres with twenty-metre walls and more than four hundred circular buildings. It predates Machu Picchu and is reached by a cable car that spares a long climb. The same region holds the sarcophagi of Karajía, funerary figures set on a cliff face, and the Gocta waterfall, 771 metres high, about two hours' walk away.
Beaches at the far north
If you want the sea after all that archaeology, the north holds Peru's only genuinely warm coast year-round. Máncora is the best known and liveliest; Vichayito and Los Órganos are far quieter, and at Punta Sal the water stays around twenty-four degrees even in winter. Humpback whale-watching trips run from Los Órganos between July and October.
Getting around
Overnight sleeper buses are comfortable and frequent, and there are short flights from Lima to Trujillo, Chiclayo and Jaén. Allow ten days to do the north properly.