Moche Route Chiclayo and Trujillo

Daily Tour 4 days
Peru Chiclayo, Trujillo

Descriptions

This 4-day Tour in the Moche Route Chiclayo and Trujillo is a must for the lovers of history and archeology. Be amazed by great temples, tombs of royalty and museums with great collections. You will witness to the most important cultures of ancient Peru.

The most important pre-Inca Northern coast civilizations, the Moche, Lambayeque and Chimu. Were developed in desert valleys which were transformed into fertile lands. Thanks to huge civil engineering projects with the aim of building an empire spanning 600 miles along the coastline of Peru. In doing so, these cultures achieved great sophistication skills in ceramic, agriculture, architecture, metallurgy and warfare.  This great kingdom was finally conquered by the Incas. Who absorbed much of the Chimu high culture. Including their political organization, irrigation systems and road engineering, into their own imperial organization.

Why to choose Culturandes Travel & Adventure for this Journey from Chachapoyas to Cajamarca?

Are you looking for unforgettable memories for this adventure? Culturandes Travel & Adventure want you to have a hassle-free planning and an unforgettable travel experience without any stress and unexpected situations by the hand of its experts travel advisors and knowledgeable local guides providing you:

  • Reliable and high level services
  • Certified Peruvian tour operator
  • Safe transport according to the highest standards
  • Adequate equipment for the activity
  • Detailed and personalized information prior to the trip
  • 24 hour support during your trip
  • Excellent official local guides who will be the star of your trip

We are experts in private and customized tours all around Peru, ask our expert travel advisors to upgrade your experience with additional activities and extensions.

Group services versus Private services?

This is a question we all need to ask ourselves when planning a trip. The answer depends largely on the age, the particular interests of each person and, above all, the economy of each passenger. Below, we list the differences between conducting a group service versus a private service. It should be noted that, in either of the two modalities, you will receive top quality care from the entire team of professionals who will make your trip unforgettable.

Group Services

  • The driver follows the stops designated by the tour
  • Groups can have between 15 and 20 people
  • Guidance is simultaneous in English and Spanish for the entire group
  • The itinerary has to be strict to fulfill the daily plan
  • Guidance is available at the same time for the entire group
  • The main advantage of group services is the affordable price

Private Services

  • The driver will make the necessary stops where you indicate
  • Of 5 or more people, the private service has a similar price to the group service.
  • You own the time you want to have at each stop
  • Guidance is in only 1 language and at the passenger’s choice (prior consultation for rare languages)
  • The guide will be available only for you and attentive to your requirements
  • The travel experience becomes much more personal and deep in knowledge

We urge you to get in touch with us so we can design your trip to Peru together, probably combining some excursions in private and some in group services. Our team of experienced voyagers knows what it means to plan a trip of a lifetime as well as the investment that implies, therefore, we want everything to go perfect.

Highlights

TUCUME PYRAMIDS

  • Be amazed by an area that covers over 540 acres and encompassing 26 major pyramids and mounds. The area is referred to as purgatory by local people.

THE LORD OF SIPAN

  • Be amazed with visiting the last resort of the Lord of Sipan, Huaca Rajada
  • Discover the treasures of The Lord of Sipan in the outstanding Royal Tombs Museum

CHAN CHAN

  • Explore, Chan Chan, the capital city of the Chimu Kingdom, the largest pre-Columbian adobe city in America

SUN AND MOON TEMPLES

  • Visit the two huge adobe brick buildings that are more than 700 years older than Chan Chan and are attributed to the Moche period

HUANCHACO

  • Discover this fishermen town that was approved as a World Surfing Reserve by the organization Save The Waves Coalition in 2012

TRUJILLO

  • Get familiar with the one of the most elegant colonial cities of Peru visiting the its top attractions
  • Tour the National University of Trujillo Museum of Archeology, Anthropology and History
  • Learn about pre-Hispanic civilizations

Gallery

Itinerary

Regular services

Meet our welcome staff at the bus station/airport and transfer to your accommodation.  The flight from Lima to Chiclayo should be in the morning.

About 14:00 you will be picked up from your hotel to head north of Lambayeque direction Tucume, which to the untrained eye might appear at first glance more like a group of highly eroded foothills than what they are, the biggest archaeological opencast complex in the world, in the middle of an arid desert with a beautiful dry forest, with a vast area with more than 200 hectares of crumbling walls, plazas and 26 religious groups.

The pyramids you see today are a composite of structures made by several civilizations. The lower levels belonged to the Sicán, while the next two levels, along with the distinctive surrounding walls, were added by the Chimú

Most of the archaeological excavations at Túcume remain closed to the public. But recently on the southwestern edge of the pyramid valley, researchers have opened Huaca de las Balsas, an amazing excavated site that forms part of a small complex of truncated pyramids that carbon date to around 1100 C.E. Its dramatic mud relief murals reveal a Moche-inspired cosmovision of the inhabitants. The excavated fireplaces, kitchen, food remnants and human and animal remains offer a glimpse into their domestic lifestyle.

Time to get back to Chiclayo city

Regular services

Pick up from your hotel at 09:00 aprox. This will be one of the most exciting days of your entire journey that as you will visit the last resort of the Lord of Sipan, the Huaca Rajada archeological site, where the remains of the Moche mummy, considered to be as important as that of Tutankhamun in Egypt, was found in 1987. This Moche Lord was an elite member of the society and perhaps the ruler of the entire Lambayeque Valley. His tomb was found filled with gold, silver, copper, fabric, shells, ceramics, jewelry, knives, food, sacrificed animals along with three warriors, two women, a child, a dog (probably his favorite pet) and two llamas.
Return to Chiclayo at city at 12:00 and free time to lunch.

At about 14:00 transfer from your hotel to the great , Sipan Museum a must-see for lovers of archeology. This is, perhaps the greatest museum in Peru with an interesting and modern design and three floors of ancient history, the museum housed a replica of the famous Sipan Burial Chamber showing how the Lord was buried with all the gold and silver artifacts, precious stones, jewelry and headdresses that were found in the tomb.

At the indicated time transfer to the bus station for a 3 ½ hour journey to Trujillo in a local bus without stops. Arrival, welcome by our staff and transfer to your accommodation.

MAKE IT DIFFERENT

Take a private trip from Trujillo to Chiclayo instead of using public transportation and be able to stop in San Jose de Moro, El Brujo and Lady of Cao all of them great archaeological complexes.

Ask our expert travel advisors to upgrade your experience

Regular services

Lunch

Explore Trujillo’s most important archeological sites this one big day trip that includes temples from both the Moche and Chimú cultures.  Start at the Sun and the Moon temples that are two pyramids constructed from millions of handmade adobe bricks by the Moche people between about 200 and 850 AD. Successive generations have added new platforms on top of the existing structure, such that each one grew higher and higher.  Both pyramids played important roles in the life of the Moche culture. The Temple of the Sun was used especially for political and administrative functions, while the Temple of the Moon provided religious and ceremonial functions, where ancient priests used to carry out human sacrifices to please their Gods during the disaster caused by the natural phenomenon, El Nino, which brought floods, tragedy and death to these lands.  Despite the time and the roughness of the desert over hundreds of years, the intricate carvings and reliefs of walls are still remarkably clear and vivid showing bloody rituals and the mighty Moche God, AIA-PAEC.

Enjoy some free time to relax while having a freshly caught seafood lunch in Huanchaco, a cozy fishing village and a paradise for surfers. While eating, you’ll have a great view of the Pacific Ocean and be amazes at the incredible abilities of the coastal fishermen riding their reed rafts called “Caballitos de Totora”.

Your day will continue with the visit of the Arco Iris Temple, also known as Temple of El Dragon or Temple of the Rainbow.  This adobe pyramid temple was a transition between the Moche and Chimu culture and has two platforms that are adorned with zoomorphic and anthropomorphic representations in high reliefs.  The name of the Dragon came from one of these figures, a two-headed creature with uncountable feet, similar to a dragon.

After lunch head to your last stop of the day the former capital of the Chimu Kingdom, Chan Chan, the largest pre-Columbian adobe city in America, declared by UNESCO as a World Heritage site in 1986, that reached its apogee in the 15th century, not long before falling to the Incas.  This amazing archaeological site still expresses truthfully the essence of the monumental urban landscape of the former Chimu capital, where this great culture celebrated its major festivities and sacrifices in a city with high walls, courtyards, gardens, terraces, barns and ceremonial plazas. Marvel at its expansive walled adorned with friezes.

Your day trip ends with hotel drop-off in Trujillo

Regular services

Trujillo flourished during the Spanish colonial era. Sugarcane farms boomed and helped finance impressive churches and large houses, some of them will be visited during this tour.

After hotel pick up about 09:00 am, your Trujillo sightseeing tour will start at the city’s Main Square or Plaza de Armas with its very famous Freedom Monument, a large statue created by German artist Edmund Möeller, your guide will explain the historical and architectural development of this important monument. You will then head to the Cathedral, a big colonial building with its beautiful altarpieces. Next, visit the Urquiaga Calonge house, a colonial mansion now owned by the National bank of Peru (Banco Central de Reserva) and considered a historic mansion because the Libertador Simon Bolivar stayed there for some days (closed in the afternoon). You will then walk to the pedestrian Pizarro street to visit on the way La Merced Church and the Emancipation mansion with its beautiful neo-classic windows.

Finally, you will visit the Archaeological Museum of the National University of Trujillo located in the Risco mansion. This visit will allow us to have a general vision of the prehispanic development of the Region with different civilizations like Moches or Chimus.

Your tour ends with hotel drop off about 12:30

At the designated time transfer to the Trujillo airport (an afternoon flight should be considered) or bus station.

MAKE IT DIFFERENT!
Ask our experts travel advisors to complete your trip including a visit to the majestic Colca Canyon, the mysterious Nazca lines, the enigmatic jungle or the Kingdom of the Chachapoyas

Location

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