Fodor's Expert Review Heliconia Amazon River Lodge

Perched along the Amazon, a 90-minute boat ride downriver from Iquitos, the Heliconia has comfortable rooms with screened windows and private (hot-water) bathrooms and a blue-tile swimming pool. Rates include transportation and guided tours, which include hikes in the lodge's private reserve, piranha fishing, visits to Yagua and Bora indigenous communities, and a nighttime boat ride. Meals are served in a big thatched-roof dining hall, whereas the bar sits beneath a conical roof. There's electric power for two hours before dawn and five hours after dusk.