Iquitos
Half a million people live in Iquitos and you can arrive only by river or air — there is no road to anywhere. The rubber boom of the 1880s built it, importing Italian marble and Portuguese tiles up the Amazon, and ended almost overnight when seeds smuggled to Kew produced cheaper plantations in Malaya; the floating district of Belén rises and falls five metres a year with the river.
Why go
The largest city on earth unreachable by road — half a million people, arrivable only by river or air. A rubber-boom capital — belle époque mansions with Portuguese tiles, built when rubber was worth more than gold. The Amazon proper — the Marañón and Ucayali meet just upstream to form the river itself. Pacaya-Samiria — a two-million-hectare flooded forest reserve, reachable only by boat.
The character
Iquitos was a mission village until the rubber boom of the 1880s, when the world's demand for tyres and insulation made the Amazon's wild rubber trees worth fortunes. For thirty years the town's barons imported Italian marble, Portuguese azulejos and a prefabricated iron house attributed to Eiffel's workshop, built an opera house and lived on a scale that had nothing to do with the surrounding forest. Then a British botanist smuggled seeds to Kew, plantations in Malaya undercut the wild trade, and the boom ended almost overnight.
What remains is half a million people at the end of no road at all — you arrive by air, or by riverboat from Pucallpa or Yurimaquas, three days downstream, sleeping in a hammock on deck. The city runs on motorcycle rickshaws, the floating district of Belén rises and falls five metres a year with the river, and just upstream the Marañón and Ucayali join to form the Amazon. It is hot, loud, poor and completely unlike anywhere else in Peru.
Places of character
Belén — the floating and stilted market district; the market itself is enormous and best seen with a guide. Casa de Fierro — the iron house on the Plaza de Armas, attributed to Eiffel's workshop and shipped in pieces. Malecón Tarapacá — the riverfront promenade with the rubber barons' tiled façades. Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve — the flooded forest upstream, with pink river dolphins and giant otters. Quistococha — a lake and zoo on the edge of town, for a first look at manatee and paiche. Riverboat to Yurimaguas — three days on deck in a hammock; the correct way to leave.
The way to do it
Go into the reserve rather than a lodge close to town — the wildlife is a full day upriver. Take a guide for Belén; the market rewards explanation and the floating quarter is a working neighbourhood, not an attraction. Drink only bottled water and accept the heat. And consider the riverboat at least one way.
One perfect day
Belén market at six with a guide, when the river traders arrive: paiche the size of a person, jungle fruit, herbs and grubs, everything moving. Breakfast of juane. Late morning along the Malecón for the tiled mansions and the iron house. Boat upstream after lunch to the reserve or a river lodge, four hours with the banks getting wilder. Late afternoon in a canoe on a side channel: pink dolphins surfacing, macaws crossing at the treeline, and a caiman's eyes in the torchlight after dark. Dinner at the lodge, and the loudest night's sleep imaginable.
Grand hotels
Delfin Amazon Cruises — the river vessels into Pacaya-Samiria; the correct accommodation for the region. Casa Morey — a restored rubber baron's mansion on the riverfront in the city itself.
When to go
Best expression: May to September, the lower-water season, when trails open and beaches appear. Consider: December to April, high water, when boats reach deep into the flooded forest canopy. Avoid if possible: nothing outright; the two seasons are simply different trips.
The frame
Ideal stay 4 nights, mostly on the river · Minimum 3 nights · Best arrival by air from Lima; or three days by riverboat · Airport IQT, 7 km · Walkability the centre, hot · Best without a car yes — rickshaws and boats