Trujillo Top 5
The 5 Best Things to do in Trujillo, Peru!
I just spent a fabulous week in Trujillo and the nearby beach town Huanchaco.
You absolutely must ride a caballito de totora! Just go to the beach in Huanchaco and you’ll find plenty of options. (Photo courtesy of Carlos Antonio Ferrer).
Here’s my top 5 things in Trujillo Peru:
1. Eat lots of seafood
The northern coast of Peru is famous for ceviche and I tried my first pineapple ceviche at Squalos in Trujillo. I also had a fantastic ceviche at Warique El Buzo in Huanchaco. El Buzo is the only restaurant in town that buys from the local fishermen who still fish in the caballito de totora.
2. Ride a caballito de totora
This is the most unique thing about Huanchaco! You can ride a caballito de totora with one of the fishermen, who use the caballitos in the morning to go check their fishing nets and crab traps.
You’ll get to sit on the back of the caballito as the fisherman paddles you out through the waves with the traditional bamboo pole. Nobody uses regular paddles with the caballito. Then you get to surf back to the beach. If the waves are small, the fisherman might jump off the back and let you ride the last wave to the beach on your own. Make sure somebody is on the beach taking photos for you!
The caballito is made of bundled totora reeds, which are lightweight when dried and waterproof except on the ends where they’ve been cut. Fishermen have two or three caballitos so they can each dry a day or two between use.
Caballito de Totora
The hole in the back of the caballito is designed to hold fish and fish nets, but it also works for carrying a tourist.
Evidence of people surfing and fishing from caballito de totora as old as 3,500 years has been found on the coast. There are lots of ancient ceramics of caballitos as well as petrified remains found on archeological digs.
3. Take a surf lesson
I only saw photos of giant waves and professional surfers before I went to Huanchaco, which is why I didn’t expect to surf at all. I took a few surf lessons a year ago in Brazil, but didn’t get much past standing up on small waves. I was delighted to see an area with relatively small waves near the pier in town, which is where I took two surf lessons with Cucho (His real name is Joel Ucañán and he’s the guy in green above).
There are about a dozen surf schools in Huanchaco, which is a lot for such a small town. This is just a few that I got to know while I was there.
Cucho’s family owns Inspiration Surf School
I rented boards from Totora Surf School
Boquerón Surf School & Bodyboard is the only place in town with body boards.
Koa Surf School has several instructors I met at a local surf competition. They were all very friendly and very good surfers.
4. Visit the Huaca de la Luna
This archeological site was so much cooler than I expected! It doesn’t look like much from outside, but I was thankful for the roofs built over the site because the sun was brutal that day. The roof is built to protect the site, which has only been excavated, not restored. All of the painting is original.
Huaca de la Luna is a complex of five Moche temples built on top of each other – making it an archeologist’s dream. You must go with a tour, either your own guide or the group tour that leaves every 45 minutes. When you arrive ask when the next tour leaves because if it’s soon, it’s worth it to wait. If you have half an hour you can visit the museum first. The museum is near the entrance and the tickets are separate.
I’m going to write a separate blog about the archeological sites in Trujillo – subscribe to my newsletter so you’ll be the first to know when it’s published!
5. Visit Chan Chan
This was the site that I had at the top of my list before I went – and it’s very cool but not as impressive as the Huaca de la Luna. That’s mostly because Chan Chan is so massive that you really can’t get a feel for the size of the place. Also, they didn’t find the same kind of painting at Chan Chan as they did at the Huaca de la Luna. There has been a lot of restoration and reconstruction done at Chan Chan, so even though all the designs are original, not all of the adobe is original.
This will also be in the upcoming blog about archeological sites in Trujillo.
When to go?
Any time of year can be good, with a few caveats. Peru’s northern coast is invaded by vacationers from Lima in December and January but most of the rest of the year isn’t very crowded. Huanchaco has great waves year-round, unlike most surf spots that are only good a few months out of the year. The coast is a desert, so unless it’s an El Niño year, it never rains, and you’ll have sunny days year-round.
Of the three places I stayed, Hotel Bracamonte was by far the best!
Where to stay?
I stayed in both Trujillo and Huanchaco and strongly recommend staying in Huanchaco. It’s so much nicer to stay by the beach and visit the city than vice versa. My favorite place in Huanchaco was Hotel Bracamonte because it’s off the strip (not close to loud bars) but close to the beach. The rooms are lovely, the pool is perfect on hot afternoons, it’s only a ten-minute walk to the center of town and the beach is right across the street from the hotel. The service was great and so was breakfast
There are several busses that run from different parts to Trujillo to Huanchaco, which takes about half an hour.
How to get there?
A taxi from the airport to Huanchaco takes about five minutes and cost me s/7 ($2) but a taxi from the airport to Trujillo takes 15-20 minutes and cost me s/25 (s/6.50). The giant open space between Trujillo and Huanchaco is the ancient Moche city of Chan Chan. The archeological site is actually much bigger, but wasn’t protected until the city had already encroached quite a bit.
Flights from Lima to Trujillo
I flew from Lima to Trujillo, which takes about an hour. There are daily flights on Latam, Sky and StarPeru.
