Iquitos is the largest city in the Peruvian Amazon and the biggest city in the world that cannot be reached by road. Located in the Loreto region of northeastern Peru, Iquitos is accessible only by air or via the Amazon River. This jungle city serves as a gateway to some of the most authentic and biodiverse areas of the Amazon rainforest. It's a hub for river expeditions, jungle tours, and cultural encounters with indigenous communities.

There’s more to Iquitos than just being a launch point for jungle tours. The city itself is a living, breathing part of the Amazon experience. From its floating neighborhoods and vibrant markets to its colonial-era architecture and local traditions, Iquitos offers a fascinating mix of adventure and culture. Whether you’re staying one day or three, there are plenty of things to do in Iquitos before or after heading into the rainforest.

Main attractions in Iquitos city

Start your exploration at the Belén Market, one of the most colorful and chaotic markets in the Amazon. Here you’ll find exotic fruits, jungle remedies, local crafts, and sometimes even rare jungle meats. Adjacent to it lies Belén Bajo, the floating district where homes rise and fall with the river. A guided canoe tour through its canals offers an authentic look into everyday life along the Amazon.

Then head to the Malecón Tarapacá, a riverside promenade perfect for sunset views and local snacks. Don’t miss the Iron House (Casa de Fierro), a prefabricated structure designed by Eiffel himself, now a landmark in the heart of the city. Other highlights include the Amazonian Indigenous Cultures Museum and the historic Ship Museum Ayapua, where you can relive the rubber boom era.

When to visit and how long to stay

Most travelers spend between 2 to 4 days in Iquitos, combining urban discovery with jungle excursions. While the city can be explored in a single day, staying longer allows you to truly absorb its rhythm and culture. The dry season (May to September) offers clearer weather and easier walking through the markets, while the wet season (November to April) is ideal for canoeing through flooded districts and appreciating the sheer power of the Amazon River.

Belén Market is the largest and most authentic open-air market in Iquitos, sprawling from Calle Próspero through the district of Ejido de Belén. This market doesn’t sleep—its heart starts beating as early as 4:30 AM, when boats and planes begin unloading fresh Amazonian goods brought from deep jungle communities or by cargo flights from Lima. Belén pulses with life: vegetables, exotic meats, jungle herbs, native medicine, and bustling trade flood its streets every morning before most travelers have even woken up.

Belén Market takes its name from the Belén district, one of the four main districts that make up the city of Iquitos (along with Iquitos proper, Punchana, and San Juan Bautista). While many travelers refer to it as the market in Iquitos, it's technically located in Belén, which is why locals and guides call it Mercado de Belén.

Rather than being a single enclosed building, Belén Market is a sprawling open-air network of interconnected streets and alleyways. It begins near Calle Próspero—one of the city's main commercial arteries—and expands across other streets like García Sáenz, José Gálvez, and smaller surrounding roads.

This layout gives the market a flexible and organic structure, with specialized areas for vegetables, meats, fish, herbs, and local Amazonian products. It also explains why different sections feel like separate markets, even though they form one continuous commercial ecosystem.

The market’s structure is informal but very well defined. It begins near the intersection of Calle Ramiro Insunza and García Sáenz, where you’ll find:

• 🥬 Vegetables and fresh greens at the front.

• 🛒 Then a section for dry goods and groceries.

• 🐔 Outside the Casona de Belén, before its renovation, you used to find meats, poultry, fish, and local wild game like majás, sajino, and sometimes turtle meat.

• 🧂 Inside the old Casona, the first floor sold local sausages, smoked meats, river fish, and even some Amazonian cured meats.

• 🎋 On the second floor, previously, the Pasaje Paquito was relocated temporarily due to zoning efforts—here is where you’d find:

  • Artisanal tobacco

  • Rapé powders

  • Shamanic perfumes

  • Exotic liqueurs made from roots and barks

  • Traditional crafts and souvenirs

After the recent renovation of La Casona in late 2024, vendors from Pasaje Paquito returned to the streets for better visibility and tourist flow, and some are still deciding whether to go back inside. These dynamics reflect a real living market that adapts continuously to demand and urban changes.

Most of the fresh trade activity occurs between 4:30 AM and 6:00 AM. By 7:00 AM, the market starts to calm down as vendors begin withdrawing and cleaning up.

This schedule is not random:

• ✈️ Cargo flights carrying vegetables from Lima arrive at 11:00 PM–11:30 PM, and the goods are distributed to stalls overnight.

• 🚤 Riverboats from remote communities reach the ports around 2–3 AM, bringing fish, fruits, and other jungle products.

• All this creates a perfect storm of freshness that forces the market to start and peak very early—making Belén one of the earliest-bustling markets in the Amazon.

If you keep walking further into the belly of the market, the scene shifts drastically:

• You’ll see tobacco being dried on sidewalks.

• Vendors selling live reptiles, turtle meat, or dried fish hanging on poles.

• This is the gateway to Belén Bajo, the floodplain zone, which during the rainy season (Nov–June) becomes a floating village accessible only by canoe.

In the dry season (July–October), these same houses rest on the muddy ground—revealing the harsh duality of life in the Amazon: beauty and resilience side by side with poverty and informality.

🔸 If you want to experience Belén in its full authenticity, arrive before 6:00 AM. After 7:00 AM, most goods are sold and the crowd thins.

🔸 For a safer and more comfortable visit, our guided tours explore the market from 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM, when there’s still fresh product visible, but the local rush has passed.

🔸 Always go with a local guide, and avoid bringing flashy accessories or valuables—some areas deeper into Belén can be unsafe for solo visitors.

The Iron House of Iquitos (La Casa de Fierro) is one of the most iconic historical buildings in the Peruvian Amazon—a 19th-century prefabricated iron structure ideally located on the corner of Avenida Próspero and Putumayo, directly facing the Plaza de Armas, with the Main Cathedral (Iglesia Matriz) just a block away. This bustling urban corner is surrounded by pollerías, shops, and a BCP bank branch with ATM, making it both a cultural landmark and a practical stop in the heart of the city.

History & Restoration Highlights

Constructed in Belgian workshops (Les Forges d’Aiseau, Joseph Danly system) and shipped to Iquitos in 1890, La Casa de Fierro is believed to be the first prefabricated house in the Americas. Contrary to popular myth, it was not designed by Gustave Eiffel. One portion of the building was lost in transit, while the remaining section was successfully assembled where it stands today. Since 1985 it has been managed by the Club Social de Iquitos, with the second floor converted into a café-restaurant in April 2019.

Structure, Restoration & Current Uses 

Now restored and fully open to the public, the café on the second floor serves breakfast, coffee, and mid-range meals—open daily from around 11 AM until about 10 PM. Below, the ground floor houses a pharmacy and souvenir shops, offering practical amenities for tourists.

💡 Traveler Tip 
La Casa de Fierro is front and center at Plaza de Armas—perfect for a relaxing coffee break. The café offers mid-range pricing and is open until 10 PM. Need last-minute supplies? Head downstairs to the pharmacy, and if you need cash, there's a BCP ATM right across the street.

The Ayapúa Ship Museum is a unique floating museum anchored on the lower riverside edge of Plaza Ramón Castilla, just across from the elegant Casa Morey Hotel, owned by the same family that manages the ship. Open to visitors daily from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, this historical vessel offers a fascinating step back in time to the Amazon rubber boom era.

What You’ll Discover Onboard

Originally a 19th-century riverboat, the Ayapúa has been fully restored and repurposed as a museum, preserving its original structure and charm. Inside, travelers will explore:

• Period-decorated rooms recreating life aboard during the rubber boom.

• Authentic machinery and engine rooms, giving insight into the ship's mechanical operations.

• Historical artifacts, expedition maps, and photographic records, housed within respectful display cases.

Each cabin immerses visitors in the world of early Amazonian trade and colonization, offering an educational and visually compelling journey into the past.

🎥 Film Connection & Local Lore

The Ayapúa bears an uncanny resemblance to the steamboat used in Werner Herzog’s legendary film Fitzcarraldo, shot in the Peruvian Amazon. A local restaurant named “Fitzcarraldo” nearby pays tribute to the film, further enriching the cultural storytelling for curious travelers.

💡Traveler Tip:  This museum is best visited after exploring the nearby Casa Morey, especially for those interested in rubber boom history, early river trade, and steamboat engineering. It’s not highly interactive, but the authentic atmosphere and visual detail make it a rewarding stop for culture lovers and history enthusiasts.

Located along the scenic Malecón Tarapacá, the Amazonian Indigenous Cultures Museum is a fascinating two-story exhibition space with air conditioning—ideal for escaping the Amazonian heat while diving into the rich cultural past of the region. The museum is open to the public from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, and the entrance fee is 20 soles per person.

Inside, visitors will find an impressive collection of ancestral Amazonian technology—including primitive tools, spears, and ceremonial items—alongside authentic tribal attire and elaborate feather headdresses. One of the most striking exhibits features the preserved shrunken heads (tsantsas) used by Jívaro warriors as war trophies, offering a visceral glimpse into the rituals and warfare of the past.

The museum features items from over nine Amazonian ethnic groups, including:

• Boras

• Witotos

• Kukamas

• Matsés

• Yaguas

• Shipibos

• Asháninkas

• Jívaros

• Ticunas

These artifacts come from regions of Peru, Colombia, and Brazil, offering a multicultural view of Amazonian heritage.

💡 Traveler Tip: Don’t miss the upper floor, where the most elaborate ceremonial outfits and feathered regalia are displayed under optimal lighting. The museum's quiet, climate-controlled environment makes it a perfect cultural stop between jungle tours.

The Malecón Tarapacá, built during the height of the Amazon rubber boom, is one of the most emblematic colonial-era promenades in Iquitos. In the early 20th century, the powerful flow of the Amazon River used to run directly along this boulevard. However, due to the river’s natural serpentine evolution and formation of new affluents over time, the Itaya River is now the one bordering the city, forming a calm front along the boardwalk.

This scenic promenade stretches for approximately seven blocks, starting from Calle Napo (block 1) and continuing up to Calle Ucayali, where it connects with the beginning of the Belén market area. The first 2 to 3 blocks are well-maintained and safe for visitors, offering beautiful river views, colonial houses with mosaic-decorated façades, and cafés and local restaurants—a perfect spot to enjoy the Amazonian sunset.

However, as you walk beyond the third block, you begin approaching the lower zones near Belén. These areas, especially during nighttime, are considered less safe due to the proximity to lower-income neighborhoods where crime and informal activity, such as drug trade, may occur. For this reason, it is highly recommended to visit with a certified local guide, especially if you're venturing toward Belén Bajo or seeking a deeper look into Iquitos’ socio-cultural contrasts.

🚤 The Yakumama embarkation point for our Full Day Amazon Tours is conveniently located at block 1 of Calle Napo, where travelers board boats to cross the Amazon River and explore key points of the surrounding jungle. While there are independent guides (known as “jaladores”) offering budget tours nearby, many are not registered and may lack safety standards or transparency—visitors should be cautious and verify credentials before committing.

💡 Traveler Tip: Enjoy the first blocks of the boardwalk during daylight hours to admire colonial mosaics, riverfront cafés, and safe public areas. For deeper exploration, always hire official local guides to avoid scams or risky situations in less regulated zones. The Yakumama Full Day embarkation dock is located at the safest entry point.

The places we've shown you —the Ayapúa Ship Museum, the Indigenous Cultures Museum, the Tarapacá Boardwalk, and of course, the iconic Belén Market— represent the most important tourist spots within the city of Iquitos. Most of them can be explored on your own, offering a glimpse into the city’s vibrant culture, history, and daily life.

However, we strongly recommend visiting Belén Market with a certified local guide, due to the complex social dynamics and unpredictable surroundings. It's the kind of place that’s better understood —and much safer— when explored with someone who knows it deeply.

Now… if you’re ready to go beyond the city streets,
we’ll take you there.

From our private dock, we launch into deeper Amazon journeys that require boats and expert guidance. Think of authentic tribal encounters with the Boras, a walk through our Caiman Breeding Reserve (Fundo de Lagartos), thrilling piranha fishing, and river navigation to hidden channels and native villages you won’t find on the map.

So—are you ready to leave the pavement behind and discover the real jungle?
With us, it’s not just a tour. It’s an experience.