Experience the best of Tarapoto

Tarapoto lies in the foothills where the Andes descend to the Amazon basin, in the San Martín region of northern Peru, at roughly 350 metres above sea level. Its warm climate, green hills and palm-lined streets earned it the name Ciudad de las Palmeras. The city is the main centre of a region of coffee, cacao and tropical fruit farms, and Moyobamba, the regional capital, lies a couple of hours to the north-west by road.

The Ahuashiyacu waterfall, with a swimming pool at its base, lies close to town, and Laguna Azul, a large blue lake in the jungle, is an excursion. The mountain town of Lamas, home to the Quechua-Lamista people, has a museum and a hillside quarter, and Chazuta is known for pottery and cacao. The Cordillera Escalera range rises above, with forest trails and waterfalls.

Amazonian dishes include juanes, rice and chicken wrapped in bijao leaves, tacacho with cecina, mashed plantain balls with dried pork, and fish cooked in leaves; the jungle fruits aguaje and cocona turn up in juices. Cacao and coffee are grown on nearby farms. It is hot and humid all year, with heavier rain from November to April.