Iquitos Travel Forum

Whats the common transportation to Iquitos?
Is it only by plane or are there any other possibilites?
From Lima or Cuzco.

And are there any organized jungle safari/trips?

Thanks.
The bus and ferry thing sounds great.
Do you know the price for the bus and the ferry?

I too will be taking the bus from Lima, Trujillo, Yurimaguas. When you said that the ferry takes 20 Hrs, did you mean from Yurimaguas to Iquitos, or all the way to Tabatinga. From there I will try to find a freighter and go all the way to Manaus. Any idea how lang that may take? I should be there by the second and third week of February, and hope to stay in Manaus for the carnival.

Hello: 20-24 hours is the travel time between Lima and Yurimaguas. The ferry takes some hours (or days) more.
The route begins in Lima to the north along the Peruavian desert coast, then in Trujillo (A 500 000 inhabitants city) there is a stop. Later, the bus continues to Chiclayo and through the North Highlands (Andes) to finally get Yurimaguas in the middle of the jungle. There you can take the ferry through Huallaga and Amazon river(Consider that this service doesn´t have the facililities that commonly you have in the developed world, for example clean restrooms or security)

If you like Indiana Jones-style adventures, you can take a bus from Lima to Pucallpa (12-14 hours) and then catch a cargo ship for a full-not-normal-tourist travel. You will need to buy a hammock and look for a place among the other people and the boxes, and for 5 or 6 days, you will share the lives of the local traders in the ship, and enjoy unique places, landscapes and towns where the ship stops. But if you are the kind of tourist that can not live more than 12 hours without a shower, or if you can not resist the idea of a ship with only 8 inches (20 cm) over the water level, forget this adventure. But you will always be curious about......

Enjoy my country.

I did not know that there were buses going from Lima to Pucalpa. Could you please inform me which company or companies have services to Pucalpa and which route they take.
What are the costs of a ticket?
Is there any virgin or virgin-like jungle in the vincinity of Pucalpa?
Tks in advance!

You can get to Iquitos by plane (1.50 min flight) but there're other way to get to Iquitos (IQT). You can take a ride in bus from the coast (Lima or Trujillo) to Pucallpa city, and from Pucallpa to Iquitos onboard a ship. Instead of get to Pucallpa you can get to Tarapoto and then to Yurimaguas and from there you can get to Iquitos by ship sailing the Marañon and the Amazon river...
You can stay in a cheap hotel like "La Casona" (147 Fitzcarrald St.), this hostel is cheap, offers a good service and it's closer to the Main Square (1 block from the Main Square). Thanks...

La Casona in Iquitos is not only "cheap". It is criminal too. When me and my wife were there a few days ago (from 10 to 12 July 2005) the personel in the Hotel tried to steal from us. We had an agreement to stay there until the 13th but when we came home from a trip to the jungle,we found that our room was cleaned up because they wanted to "move us to another room" Then we didnt find my wifes wedding ring (gold) which was on the table. Of course we got angry and asked the staff there about it. And later a man came with the ring, he said it was in the blankets from the beds, and they didnt "knew what room it was from". Then we found another hotel. Unfortunately we didn¨t discover that the cellularphone was gone until we had left Iquitos. So if you want to be robbed, stay in La Casona, Iquitos. Otherwise stay away! PS. The women who worked there and appeared to be the boss must be one of the most arrogant ***es on the planet. I have never in my life seen such an arrogant woman.