The Moche Route

Tailor made tours

SUMMARY

5 Days

Peru

Travel along the Moche Route in northern Peru to uncover some of the country’s most fascinating archaeological treasures.

While the Inca Empire holds great renown, Peru boasts other remarkable pre-Columbian civilizations worth exploring. The Moche (100 to 700 AD) and Chimu (900-1470 AD) civilizations thrived in the Trujillo and Chiclayo regions. This area is also known as the Northern Kingdom of Peru.

These extraordinary civilizations left behind their distinct cities, artwork, and cultural heritage, rivaling the grandeur of the Inca Empire. The Moche civilization, known for its monumental constructions and advanced irrigation systems, left behind impressive structures. As a result, their most renowned structures in the area are Huaca del Sol y Luna, Sipan, El Brujo, and Huanchaco.

In Chiclayo, you can visit the Royal Tombs of Sipan, Tucume, and the Lord of Sipan, ceremonial monuments that provide captivating insights into the ancient past. Whereas from Trujillo, you can explore Huaca del Sol y Luna, El Brujo, and the impressive Chan Chan ruins.

For a deeper understanding of Peru’s ancient cultures, consider venturing further to Chachapoyas, where you can explore more archaeological marvels. This region will unveil additional layers of Peru’s rich heritage.

HIGHLIGHTS

Welcome to the land of the kings that ruled the north of Peru centuries ago, one of whom has returned from the past: The Lord of Sipan.
See one of Peru’s most impressive archaeological discoveries, the Lord of Sipan’s tomb. The discovery of the Lord of Sipan has been compared with the discovery of the tomb of Pharaoh King Tutankhamun in the relative quantity of gold, precious stones, and fossil remains.
Visit the magnificent Royal Tombs of Sipan Museum, which contains one of the most impressive collections of metallurgy worldwide.
Visit Tucume, a valley famous for its complex of 26 adobe pyramids that was the seat of political and religious power for the Lambayeque.
Visit the Sun and Moon pyramids, adobe temples built by the Moche civilization (100 to 800 AD).
You will see ceremonial monuments like the Huaca del Sol and Huaca de la Luna (pyramids) and El Brujo (The Wizard).
Explore Chan Chan, the capital of the Chimu Kingdom, which reached its height in the 15th century.

ITINERARY

Day 1 Chiclayo

Arrive in Chiclayo and transfer to your hotel.
Option to visit the mud-brick pyramid that made world headlines in 1987 with one of the most sensational finds of recent archaeology. Known as the Huaca Rajada — the “Cracked Pyramid” because of the deep gulleys weathered into its flanks — this eroded adobe platform yielded fabulous ancient treasures from a series of deeply buried tombs of the pre-Inca Moche culture, who lived in the valleys of Peru’s north coast 1,500 years ago.

Day 2 Chiclayo

Today, depart on a full-day tour visiting the Lord of Sipan archaeological site and the wonderful Royal Tombs Museum. See the incredible array of precious symbols and images, stones and shell necklaces, earplugs, and headdresses worn and displayed at Moche ceremonies, and also learn their meaning. After visiting the museum, we have lunch and visit the Tucume Valley of the Pyramids, where you can see the chronological sequence that followed the fall of the Moche.

Day 3 Chiclayo/Trujillo

Transfer to Trujillo, with a stop at El Brujo archaeological site en route. This afternoon visits the Huaca de la Luna and the Huaca Del Sol, two huge flat-topped pyramids built by the Moche culture between 0 and 800 A.D. After a guided tour and some time to explore the site on your own, visit the onsite Museum Huacas del Moche, built in a pyramid style to look like Moche architecture, which displays some fine ceramics as well as a feline cat-cloak of gold and feathers.

Day 4 Trujillo

Half-day tour of the impressive Chan Chan ruins, the capital of the Chimu Kingdom, and the largest adobe citadel in the Americas. Afterwards, we drive to nearby Huanchaco for lunch by the Pacific Ocean.