Huaraz and around travel guide

The main town in the valley, with a population of 80,000, Huaraz is expanding rapidly as a major tourist centre but it is also a busy commercial hub, especially on market days (Monday and Thursday). The region is both a prime destination for hikers and international climbers, as well as a vacation haven for Peruvian urbanites seeking clean mountain air and a glimpse of the glaciers. School groups flock to the city from mid-September to mid-December (the ‘época de promociones colegiales’). The city was half destroyed in the earthquake of May 1970 so don’t expect red-tiled roofs or overhanging eaves. What the reconstructed city lacks in colonial charm, it makes up for with its spectacular setting at 3091 m between the mountains of the cordilleras Blanca and Negra. The peaks of Huamashraju, Churup, Rima Rima and Vallunaraju loom so close as to seem almost a part of the architecture while, in the distance, the giants Huascarán and Huandoy can also be seen.