6 Best Sights in Huanuco, The Central Highlands

Also known as Huánuco Viejo, this 2-square-km (0.8-square-mile) complex was formerly the capital city of Chinchaysuyo, the northern portion of the Inca Empire. The town was constructed in the late 1400s, during the reign of Túpac Yupanqui, and served as an important administrative outpost for the region. Here the Incas would temporarily house agricultural products en route from the Pacific coast to Cusco, as well as settle disputes among the vassal tribes their generals had overrun. When you visit, you'll find temples, storage areas, and kanchas (single-room structures encircling an open patio), all built around a central ushnu, or platform. Note the trapezoidal double-jamb doorways—an Inca hallmark. The site is near the small village of La Unión, a S/50 taxi ride from Huánuco.  During the last week of July, the Fiesta del Sol (Sun Festival) takes place at the ruins.

The Iglesia La Merced was built circa 1566 in a simple Renaissance style with Romanesque accents, reportedly at the behest of the missionary friar Diego de Porras. Colonial treasures here include a silver tabernacle, paintings of the Cusco School, and the images of the Virgen Purísima and the Corazón de Jesús that were gifts from Spain's King Philip II.

Fronting a landscape of steep, grassy mountain slopes, the Iglesia San Cristóbal was erected in 1542, making it the first local church built by Spanish settlers. Inside is a valuable collection of colonial-era paintings and baroque wood sculptures of San Agustín, the Virgen de la Asunción, and the Virgen Dolorosa. Sadly, the church's three-tiered bell tower collapsed in 2014; reconstruction work commenced in March 2024. 

The 16th-century Iglesia San Francisco, the city's second-oldest church, has unusual, icinglike scrollwork on its yellow-brick Renaissance facade and bell gables. Peek inside to see the spectacular gilt altarpiece and a handful of Cusco School paintings.

Considered one of South America's oldest religious sanctuaries, the 4,000-year-old Kotosh is famous for its Templo de las Manos Cruzadas (Temple of the Crossed Hands). The partially restored ruins are thought to have been constructed by a pre-Chavín culture whose origins are still unknown; some of the oldest Peruvian pottery relics in existence were discovered below one of the niches surrounding the temple's main room. Inside, you'll see only a replica of the image of the crossed hands: the original mud molding is dated 2000 BC and stored at Lima's Museo Nacional de Antropología, Arqueología e Historia del Perú.

The site was named Kotosh, Quechua for "pile," in reference to the piles of rocks found strewn across the fields. Taxi fare is S/30 for the round-trip journey from Huánuco, including a half hour to sightsee.

This tiny village was reportedly the birthplace of Micaela Villegas, a celebrated Indigenous actress in the 18th century and the mistress of Viceroy Manuel de Amat y Junyent, one of Peru's most capable colonial administrators. Also known as La Perricholi, the spunky peruanita was the basis for Prosper Mérimée's comic novella Le Carrosse du Saint-Sacrement before becoming an important character—along with the viceroy—in Thornton Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey. In reality, Villegas was most probably born in Lima, but no matter: the Casa de la Perricholi, a colonial house in town that purports to be her onetime residence, is delightful, as is a festival in July with parades, music, and danzas folklóricas celebrating her vitality. In any case, the area's gorgeous mountain views are the real reason to come.