A beautiful city that lies in the middle of a jungle is the largest in the world without road access.
Iquitos in Peru is in the heart of the South American Amazon with a huge population of 420,000.
However, with water on one side and jungle on the other, visiting this pretty hidden gem is no easy feat.
Due to dense vegetation and difficult terrain, it is difficult to build and maintain roads. Because of this, visitors can’t get there by land, they must arrive by sea or air.
And despite the difficulty of getting there, many still visit the Peruvian city hidden in the Amazon.
There are flights available from other major cities in Peru as well as incredibly long boat journeys along the river.
Lonely Planet described the city as a “prosperous, vibrant jungle metropolis” where “mud huts mingle with magnificent tiled mansions; tiny dugout canoes ply the water alongside colossal cruise ships”.
Iquitos is full of places to visit such as the the riverside walkway, the Casa de Fierro, the Museum of Indigenous Amazon Cultures and San Juan Bautista Church.
The city has fascinating markets, buzzing nightlife and is “teeming with inexplicably addictive Amazonian anomalies”.
There are also a number of tours along the river and into the jungle that run from the city, giving visitors the chance to explore the Amazon, its wildlife and indigenous communities.
Wildlife in the Amazon includes monkeys, dolphins, sloths, toucans, turtles, frogs and piranhas.
Iquitos has a tropical rainforest climate. The average temperature through the year is between 21C and 32C with around 12 days of rain a month.
