Huancayo
Cerrito de la Libertad overlooking Huancayo Peru
Time spent: 28 days; 10 Jan 2026 - 7 Feb 2026
Elevation: 10,692 ft (3,258 m)
Currency: Peruvian Soles
Lodging Cost: $13.91per night; Airbnb
Arriving in Huancayo
This was the second stop on my second trip to Peru. It is also one of those places I probably should have researched a little better. When I was in Lima, I mentioned to a few people that I was going to spend a month here, and almost every single person asked me, "Why??"
I found it simply by looking at a map and seeing a decent-sized city sitting between Lima and Ayacucho, so I figured it was worth a stop. It felt similar to a trip I took to Argentina where I found myself in Cordoba, regretting that my time could have been better spent elsewhere since it was bookended by two cities I absolutely loved.
That wasn't really the case here, though. I regret nothing because I didn't want to spend another day in Lima anyway, and I definitely liked Huancayo better than Cordoba.
The biggest issue I had with Huancayo was just the timing. I visited right in the middle of the rainy season, and it felt like it was sprinkling outside at least 80% of the time.
The road from Lima to Huancayo. Be ready for a massive elevation change if coming from Lima. Huancayo is nearly as high as Cusco in elevation and I was coming from a city on the ocean. I didn't find it as hard to breathe in Huancayo, there aren't as many hills. But by the time I arrived I had a massive headache.
Living in Huancayo
One thing I really liked about Huancayo was how early the town was awake.
I'm a bit of an early riser and I like to go get breakfast at a local vendor in the morning and I have always found it a challenge. I mean you can always find a place but options are limited. Here the morning revolves around the Mercado Mayorista de Huancayo.
This place is a madhouse. It isn't really your typical market where locals are buying produce for dinner. It is like the Sam's Club of mercados. Here they provide mostly bulk produce for the entire region. This place is busy before the sun comes up so there is no shortage of carts selling sandwiches or if you don't mind sitting elbow to elbow you can get a hot bowl of Caldo de Mote.
But the candle doesn't burn at both ends. If you like a city with a lively nightlife, for the most part you will be pretty disappointed because everything does close up pretty early.
After getting some breakfast I'd generally hit up the Plaza Vea. It is a small mall with a grocery store in it. Here you will find all the staples you are likely accustomed to.
I love sandwiches so I'd regularly hit up the deli and throw that meat in the fridge but I'd try to make it in at least every other day and grab a couple of fresh rolls to make them with. These things were so damn good and only cost a few cents apiece.
Caldo de Mote from one the markets in Huancayo
Looking back, I realize I didn't take many pictures of the markets. This doesn't even compare to how packed this place usually is. The streets were flooded with people and somehow trucks still drove through.
The fishmongers looked like they were entirely not in the mood for any gringo tourist bullshit. Lucky for them, gringo tourists are pretty much non-existent here.
More Huancayo Markets
If you are like me and do love to see the markets while traveling, you will like Huancayo. Mercado El Tambo is another bustling market, and this is more for locals shopping for dinner.
Huancayo has railroad tracks that cut through the center of town, and if you follow these north, you'll find a cute little park that has a bunch of huge colorful hat sculptures. It is hard to point out exactly where all these markets are because Google shows them as a single point, but they all encompass several blocks.
I already had my food routine locked down. Street food and sandwiches, so I didn't buy much here, but I would come regularly just to walk around on my lunch break and enjoy the crowds. If you aren't familiar with Peru and cuy, be aware. Those cute guinea pigs you had as a pet when you were a kid are food here, and they have tons laid out hairless and ready to cook.
And then finally, there is the Sunday market. This has less food and more everything else. As the name implies, it is only open one day a week, and I'll let you figure out what day that is.
This is a huge market where they close off around 15 blocks of Avenida Huancavelica and have tons of tents selling everything you can imagine and several food stalls. I went here every Sunday I was there just for the food.
The Sunday market stretches on as far as the eye can see
So odd that in a Peruvian market that sold just food, they had pet guinea pigs for sale.
Papa a la Huancaina. Potatoes with a spicy pepper sauce. Huancayo is the birthplace of this dish
I don't remember the name of this dish, but it is exactly what it looks like. Meat, noodles, and potatoes, and it was delicious. One of the many foods available at the Sunday market.
Day tours out of Huancayo
While Huancayo isn't likely on any international traveler's bucket list, there are a few day tours available and plenty of places to book them around the Plaza de Armas.
The only tour I went on was the Ruta Sur del Valle del Mantaro. It is a tour of the Southern Valley. This tour was interesting enough and 85 soles ($25), but at the same time, it was kind of a shitshow.
Booking this was kind of cool because the guy I booked it with spoke perfect English. I asked how he learned it so well and he said he spent two years on a work visa in Orlando working at Disney, which was a crazy coincidence because my dad lives there and it is like a second home to me.
Now, I get that in countries like Peru you may not get all the amenities you may be used to and these guides need to stretch a buck, but I feel like they went a little too far on the cheapness factor here.
he van had four rows of seats with two on one side and one on the other. The problem was they OBVIOUSLY ripped out the seats on a three-row van and reorganized them to add the fourth row. But it wasn't just a tight fit, it was nearly an impossible fit. I'm not a tall guy, but my knees simply couldn't fit with the seat in front of me, so I had one of the solo seats and had to ride "side saddle" with my legs in the aisle, and they had to arrange everyone in a certain position. Like smaller women got the inside seat of the double row, men were in the aisle seats. Due to women likely needing to be on the inside and men on the outside, same-sex groups probably wouldn't get to sit next to each other for this tour (or at least this particular tour van).
The first stop on the tour was a town called Chupaca. I got a chuckle out of how much the pronunciation sounded like Chewbacca. This stop is honestly just filler, nothing impressive. There is an old church you can photograph and a small lookout tower you can climb.
This was the second reason I found it to be kind of a shitshow. They drop you off in the city center of this town which is quite packed with locals just having fun. Now the tour is completely in Spanish. I'm not fluent, but I can get by. He told us to meet where the van dropped us off. But almost as soon as he dropped us off, the van left. I assumed it would come back to that same spot at the pre-determined time, but that wasn't the case.
Now I don't put this all on the guide. Tourists, no matter the country, have a tendency to be general dipshits, and this was no different. When on a tour like this where I don't know the language, I just pick a group on my tour and kinda stalk them, just keep them in eyesight so no matter what happens, they can't leave us both and I'm always around someone that speaks the language and is headed to the same place as me.
Everyone in this group, at different times, decided "well since the bus isn't here yet, I'll just leave and walk around some more." And they all did it at slightly different times. Picture throwing five tennis balls at a wall (our meeting point) and then having all of them bounce off in random directions. And the place was also packed with hundreds of locals. It took forever, but the guide managed to round up everyone and take them to the bus. I put some blame on the guide here because I never saw him or the bus in the place we were actually supposed to meet.
The lookout point
Iglesia Principal Provincia de Chupaca
Chupaca sign
Ok. Now besides having to deal with the fucked-up uncomfortable seating, the shitshow part of the tour is over and things went pretty smoothly.
The next stop is probably considered the main event of this tour, and that is to the Arwaturo "ruins". I say that kind of facetiously because there aren't really any ruins to speak of. It is mostly a long stone wall that has the appearance of being old, but I suspect it has been rebuilt so many times it is like the Ship of Theseus.
Here there is a short, semi-challenging hike up a rather steep hill, and then you follow a path along that wall to a small hut with an incredible view. Really, all along the path is a great view, but the wall blocks a bit. Don't think of this as a ruin, but as a mirador, or viewpoint.
Then an old man came up and told us a long story. I'm sure I would have appreciated this site much more if I could understand him, but it was all in Spanish. I hope I don't come off snarky, this was the highlight of the trip, and I loved the mini-hike and views.
The "ancient" rock wall. I believe there once was a wall here that looked like this but not this one.
Laguna Ñahuimpuquio
The view from the top. I got a few pictures like this and I love them because you can see the rain rolling in from a distance.
Did I mention this tour has several stops? Because after this, you've still got a ways to go. But don't worry, I'll blow through them quick.
After the ruins, you'll hop down the mountain to the lake pictured above. It is a restaurant, and I was getting hungry, so I figured this is where we would eat, and I was wrong! It is actually a boat ride around the lake. I mean, it is included in the tour and doesn't cost any extra, but I just wasn't feeling it. It is a perfectly fine lake, but not one that seemed to need a boat ride.
Then we made a quick stop at an old church—I mean a very OLD church. Capilla del Copón. It was built in 1550-something, and they give you a quick story about it in Spanish. I wasn't able to pick up much, but I thought the area around it was more interesting. There was a cool river flowing slightly underground, and you could see the sinkholes it made.
Capilla del Copón
Inside Capilla del Copón
The next stop was the town of Chongos Bajos. It is the same town the church was in, just down the road a bit. This was another filler stop like Chupaca, but even less interesting. It is famous for the celebration called Fiesta de los Morenos. They have these statues that would make people in America shit their pants and scream racist.
They feature these people in black masks waving a whiplike instrument. While the masks do have something to do with the slaves brought from Africa, the "whips" are closer to a baton in a performance than what an American would think of them as.
After here, you FINALLY stop for some grub.
This should be a key part of the tour for someone not from the region. In Huancayo, there is a famous dish called Pachamanca. It is a very special dish in the region, but oddly enough, it is kind of hard for a tourist to just find at any restaurant. It involves cooking meat, potatoes, and vegetables in an underground pit. In town, it is hard to find because of how it is cooked, it requires a lot of space, space that local restaurants just don't have. You can find restaurants that serve it on the outskirts of Huancayo, but it sells out kind of fast.
So it's tricky for several reasons: 1) Google Maps in a small town like this isn't very reliable. If you see a place on the map, it may have closed 4 years ago. 2) You've got to call them to make sure, which is hard if you don't speak the language. 3) Since it will be on the outskirts of town, you'll likely need a taxi. 4) When you get there, it might be sold out anyway.
So I was very excited that we were going to dinner at a place that served it. It was a really cool restaurant. Very big. Open air, but still covered from the rain (but not the birds).
After this, you go to a carnival of sorts, but it is already late and closing up. There is a nice viewpoint and another Cristo Blanco, but you need to pay to get close to both. Skip.
You make it back to Huancayo a little after dark, but not too late. This tour is OK and tries its best. Honestly, I was surprised to see this town had a tourism industry at all.
I was making small talk with the one woman on the tour who spoke a little bit of English, and I mentioned that in my culture, that statue would shock some people. She tried to connect the dots of what she knew of English and America and asked if that was a... well, let's just say she wasn't up to date with some of America's most offensive words.
Pachamanca. I'm glad I had it. The veggies were good but honestly the meat was a bit dry.
There was another tour that I had booked, but a few days before, I had an incident with some low-priced ceviche I bought on the street. Since the tour buses don't have toilets, I had to cancel this one. Two years in South America and this was the only such incident, so I think I made out better than most.
It was kind of funny seeing the response I got from the tour office. Usually you pay in advance, but this time I just had to put 50% down and then pay the rest the day of. I contacted him the night before and said I wasn't going to be able to make it, and he said I still needed to come and pay for the rest of the tour when I could. I was like, "Bro... do you not know what a down payment is for? This exact scenario."
There was another thing I did want to see that tours were offered for. There is a park just outside of town called Torre Torre with some really interesting-looking rock formations. I was considering just going on my own, but I heard from a few people it was in a bad part of town and you shouldn't go alone. I ended up skipping it altogether.
Parks in Huancayo
The last few things I'd briefly touch on are the parks in Huancayo. They have a few pretty nice ones.
Cerrito de la Libertad is an uphill hike all the way, but gives a great view of the whole city (see photo in headline). It has a small amphitheater that looks like a clamshell, but I never saw it used for anything.
Parque de la Identidad Huanca is a park/art exhibit. It is free to get in and has some cool stuff. And it isn't like a bunch of dumb statues—it has a cool wooden bridge and mini castle. All for a $0 entrance fee.
And then there is Parque Tupac Amaru. Named after the late, great Tupac Shakur. (I didn't do any research, that is just my assumption.) Now the park itself isn't that great, but they always seem to have something going on here. I lived right next door to it. More than once I was walking by and saw a casket sitting in the courtyard and people just hanging out around it drinking beer.
On my last weekend there, they also had a HUGE celebration for the Fiesta del Niño Jesús de Pucará. I researched it but still had no real clue what it was for. I just know different neighborhoods sponsor a tower and each make their own show. It was pretty cool. They also had this warm alcoholic beverage I saw people drinking from these two-liter bottles. I saw a stand selling it and they had cups, so I figured I'd try a glass. The lady selling them told me 10 soles ($3). I figured I'd get a cup. No. It was $3 for a whole two-liter of the booze. It was a really good drink called Calientito Huancaino, the Peruvian take on a hot toddy. Kind of cinnamon-y and very warm on a cold night. And it didn't make me go blind.
It is kind of hard to see but there is a casket in the park. And the little red boxes have beers in them. I of course would have liked to gotten a better picture but I didn't want to gawk at a funeral.
Here you can see the other spent displays and ones waiting their turn
Parque de la Identidad
A bitchin' fireworks show should always take priority over safety.
Cerrito de la Libertad
Final Thoughts on Huancayo (and Some Info on Tuna)
So I thought this write-up on Huancayo would be tougher than it was. I'm writing this about six months after I left and I think I've changed my mind from when I started on this page. There is quite a bit to do in the town and I had a pretty damn good time all things considered. Would I recommend you scheduling a vacation here? Probably not. But if you are a digital nomad in the area, there are worst paths you could take the world. With a 90 day visa and it being a 2nd trip to Peru, a month each in Lima, Huancayo and Ayacucho isn't a bad way to spend three months when on a multi year journey.
Also I forgot to mention tuna, one great snack that you will see on almost every corner, pronounced how it sounds but is actually prickly pear cactus.
I really liked this fruit and didn't see really anywhere else in Peru or South America. Well I did, but not how they were served here. You could get a three of them, peeled and ready to eat for a few soles. They have the consistency of a watermelon but much sweeter.
I had several local ask if I tried them, they were either proud of them or it was a fun conversation starter. I tried them once and while they tasted good, I didn't care for them because they are full of seeds about the size of a BB and I found it annoying to spit out three or four with every bite.
The trick that takes a minute to get used to, is don't spit them out. When you take a bite you can almost smash the entire mouthful of fruit into a liquid in your mouth and just easily swallow the seeds. I started to really enjoy these because it wasn't like eating a banana or apple where you have a peel or core left. You could consume 100% of it and not have and trash left to carry
Just a chicken minding his business
Dog has wares, if you have coin
Getting to Ayacucho from Huancayo
I thought this would be a MUCH simpler route than it was. There aren't a lot of major cities in the area. Huancayo is sandwiched between Lima and Ayacucho, two cities with airports. I figured I'd have no problem finding a bus route. I went to a few of the bus stations in town and only one offers a route from Huancayo to Ayacucho: Terminal Terrestre Los Andes, and you have to buy the ticket in person. It is an overnight bus that leaves at 8:40 PM and is scheduled to arrive in Ayacucho at 4:00 AM. But it was only 40 soles ($12).
I liked the appeal of a night bus to sleep the whole way, but I really didn't want to arrive in a sleepy South American town that early. I wouldn't be able to check into my next Airbnb that early—even with an early check-in, that was a crazy early arrival time that would have me hanging out with all of my worldly possessions in an unfamiliar town for, at the very minimum, 4 hours.
I found a website called Daytrip.com that was highly reviewed, and I could get a personal driver to take me for about $200. I decided to spring for this to avoid the headache. But about 5 hours before the bus left, I was notified the scheduled driver had an emergency and had to cancel, and that they would try their best to find me another driver. I tried to light a fire under them and instill a sense of urgency, so I made up a story about not having another ride out and having to spend $25 for another night in Huancayo (I only spent $14 a night and would not need an extra night). They said, "No problem sir," and refunded my card an extra $25—so kudos to them for doing their best to make it right.
So I was forced to take the night bus. Because Latin American clocks and roads work differently, this worked out for the best.
The bus that picked me up was nowhere close to arriving on time. Or even the correct station, for that matter. The driver called ahead and said since he was late, he wasn't gonna fuck with the traffic and was going to stop at another station somewhere on the edge of town.
The station I was at was amazingly accommodating and entirely prepared for this. They got me a cab (and paid for it) and took me to another station where I caught my bus.
Now, on the way, there was another hiccup that confused me. I don't know if this shit is normal in Peru, and if I spoke better Spanish, I would have argued it just out of principle. About halfway there, they told us the road was closed and they needed to take a different route, so it would cost an extra 5 soles. Now, 5 soles is about $1.25, so it isn't a big deal, but I wanted to say, "And what if I don't pay it, motherfucker?" This isn't how trading goods and services works! But no one on the bus seemed upset and they all paid without question, so I did too.
So with the late bus, the detour, and the actual non-existent chance of the bus under perfect conditions making the journey in seven hours, I didn't get to Ayacucho until around 11:00 AM. I honestly didn't mind in the slightest. The seats were really comfortable and reclined around 140 degrees.
If you happen to be taking my route, I'd just go with the bus. I don't think there is a chance in hell you will get there before dawn.
But if you do have to have a different departure time, Daytrip does seem like a legit company. And if you use my affiliate link below, I do get paid a little, but it doesn't cost you anything.