Province of Loreto

Capital: City of Iquitos
Altitude: 104 m.a.s.l.
Distance:
From Iquitos to Pucallpa 600 kilometers.
From Iquitos to Leticia (frontier of Brazil and Colombia) 370 kilometers

The province of Loreto is located in the northeastern part of Peru. And it represents approximately 29% of the Peruvian territory.

A dense tropical forest covers all of its territory; with gigantic trees whose big tops from a ceiling over the ground, not allowing the sun to reach it.

The province of Loreto is considered the number one producer of petroleum in Peru.

In the field of tourism, the province offers majestic landscapes of the Amazonia, where adventure tourism runs through fluvial areas and jungle tribes. Besides, it has a varied fauna and flora.

How to arrive

There’s no highways therefore there’s just to ways to get Loreto the river or by air.

By air

There’s regular flights to Iquitos from :

- Lima (1 hour and 30 minutes),
- Tarapoto (50 minutes)
- Pucallpa (1 hour).

There are also no regular flights from:

- Yurimaguas (40 minutes)
- Leticia city, in Colombia (1 hour).

By river

From Pucallpa (La Hoyada Port, 2,5 Kilometers Hawai from the city), by Ucayali River, with stops in Requena and Contamana ports by  hydrofoil (small boats by fase with 10 to 15 persons capacity), that is hired as particular servicetakes 1 to 2 days according the river level,  motorboat or “motonave” (big boats by slow 250 persons capacity), takes 4 to 5 days depending on the river current.

From Yurimaguas, by Huallaga and Marañón Rivers, with a stop at Nauta Port. It could be by hydrofoil (12 to 15 hours approximately) or by motorboat or“motonave” (takes 3 to 4 days according the river level).

Festivities

Iquitos foundation aniversary / January 5
Maynas province, Iquitos district

Allegory celebration with civic parades and parties all the population participate.

Fiesta de San Juan / Junio
Maynas province, San Juan district.

San Juan Bautista festivity has a symbolic character in all the amazon area, because it is associated with the water the vital element.

Tourist Site Attractions:

It is interesting to visit:

Church of Iquitos
Square of Arms
Belen Neighborhood
House of Hierro
Ex Hotel Palace
Malecon Tarapaca
Municipal Museum
Amazon Museum

THE AMAZON RIVER

The Amazon, huge and legendary river. It is the biggest river of the world.

The Amazon has a very winding bed with numerous curves that form wide meanders of great radius and which are constantly evolving.

There are contradictions about its length, which is approximately 6.762 kilometers up to its mouth at the Atlantic.

The Amazon is navigable by ships of any draft, its flow is very deep, reaching at some points up to 240 meters. The principal Peruvian port of the Amazon is the city of Iquitos.

The tourist site of Quistococha, located at the kilometer 6,5 on the road from Iquitos-Nauta. This site has 370 hectares and there is an artificial beach known as Tunchi Playa. Ideal place for hike and enjoy the natural beauty of the lake and its surroundings. The place has restaurants, aquariums, a zoo, a dock, a swimming pool and it gives the chance to go around the lake by boat and behold a great variety of monkeys in their natural habitat.

The beaches of Moronacocha and Santa Clara are appreciated for their white sand.

Twenty minutes by hydro-plane or along the Napo river you can get to the Albergue Explornapo, where from a unique sistem of hanging bridges, you can behold the marvelous spectacle of the jungle world.

Puerto Almendra, located at 15 kilometers from the city of Iquitos. There is the botanical garden Arboretum El Huayo. This place offers ecological round-trips, hikes and visits to the crops of the inhabitants of the zone.

The National Reservation of Pacaya-Samiria, a spectacular source of natural wealth, created in 1982 to protect the "paiche". It is located at 185 kilometers from the city of Iquitos, between the rivers Marañón and Ucayali, in the province of Requena. It comprises 2.080.000 hectares of swampy jungle: the biggest conservation unit of Peru.

More than 30 thousand people and about 20 foresters live in the reservation. They control the over-exploitation of species like the black lizzard, the manati, the charapa, the giant wolf of the river, the anaconda, the sweet-water dolphins, among other species.
Useful information

Tourist assitance and information
Telephone: (51-1) 5748000
Atenttion: 24 hours