Church in Huaraz, Peru
Huaraz is a city high in the Andes in the Ancash region of Peru at an altitude of 3052 m (10,013 feet) above sea level. It has a population of about 100,000. Its is pronouced like ‘Wa-raz’.
It was founded in 1574, but was badly damaged in a massive earthquake in 1970, which killed an estimated 80,000 people in the area. This led to most of the town being rebuilt, so the buildings you find there are quite new, and the roads are wider than they were before.
Huaraz is situated in a long valley between the Cordillera Blanca (White Range – a long snow capped mountain range) and Cordillera Huayhuash.
Local women in traditional dress off to the market. (Their kids probably wear jeans!)
Travel to Huaraz
It is about 420 km (about 261 miles) north of the capital, Lima. It can be reached by bus for around $20 US each way, which takes about 8 hours usually leaving late at night from Lima and arriving in Huaraz in the early morning. Good bus companies have comfortable seats as many journeys in Peru are very long so they have to be! You can sleep in the bus, but you might find that as you travel high into the mountains, even higher than the town of Huaraz, that you get short of breath and wake up gasping!
You can buy a tour from Lima for going to Huaraz, the travel agency arranges accomodation, and transport from Lima to Huaraz, they even pick you up from Huaraz bus station and take you to the hotel but you can go by yourself as well.
I recommend you chose a reputable company like Cruz Del Sur, which have a very good safety record, as the mountain roads can be dangerous and bus accidents are quite common in Peru (partly because it is the most common way to travel from city to city). I will put more information about buses on other pages on this site.
A colourful street in Huaraz
Huaraz is a popular destination for trekking and climbing. It is close to the Huascarán National Park, which contains the moutain of Huascaran, which is 6768 m (22200 feet) high which makes it the tallest moutain in Peru.
The weather can be cold at night, even in the summer months. When I visited I saw some rain as well, which is from the clouds coming over the mountain range from the Amazon. In many mountain towns it can be very cold at night and warm in the day.
A lake in the Ankash region high in the Andes
There are lovely views in the way to Huaraz, we visited the Llanganuco lake that has an incredible light blue colour from the minerals in the water. You can go on a little boat and buy some simple hot traditional food nearby cooked by local women, like boiled corn or boiled Peruvian potatoes with chili sauce. If you go as part of a tour they will take you to restaurant where you can try more elaborate typical food from the area.
Links (open in a new window):
www.cruzdelsur.com.pe
