Iquitos is the capital of Loreto region, the gateway to the Amazon river

Iquitos is located in the northern jungle, to the east. It is the capital of the Loreto Region, with nearly 30% of the country is the largest and most northern of Peru. The city lies on the banks of a secondary arm of the Amazon River, opposite a large white permanent called Padre Island, wooded and almost twenty kilometers. The city is surrounded by a number of smaller rivers and canals.

Near the confluence of the great Napo River is the Amazon. In this river world, the communications depend as much or more than the navigation of land transport, virtually nonexistent outside the city of Iquitos.

In Iquitos there is a zoo recently opened and some buildings of interest, due to the rubber boom of the last century, as the old houses of mosaics front of the boardwalk, and the first manufactured home of America: the Iron House, designed and built by Gustave Eiffel, brought from Europe by parties (including nuts and bolts) and assembled in the place where it is located in the city center.

ways for comming to Iquitos
The traditional way to reach Iquitos is by air. Alternatively sailing down the Amazon River and its major tributaries such as the Ucayali River and the Maranon River.

The city of Iquitos has no roads linking it to other major cities of Peru; There is only one road of 115 Km. from Iquitos to Nauta. Only cars circulating in the urban area and around Iquitos, dominates the river environment.

Mass-transportation in the city are the bikes, including "motorcycle taxis", there are also public transport buses and conventional taxis. Transportation to nearby villages and the interior of the department of Loreto is in river boats or seaplanen

Waterway
Many tourists who want to experience navigate your rivers begin their journey from the port of Iquitos on the Amazon River and can reach ports in Brazil and its mouth in the Atlantic Ocean, arriving at ports such as Manaus and Tabatinga in Brazil and Leticia in Colombia. From the port of Iquitos motor boats regularly sail to Pucallpa and Yurimaguas.

Sailing from Pucallpa to Iquitos may take 4-7 days for the Ucayali River with stops at Requena and Contamana if you decide to travel in "motorboat," a boat with 250 people, and from Iquitos to Yurimaguas 3-6 day. The most used big rivers are the Amazon, Napo, Maranon and Ucayali.

In this area you can find a very peculiar kind of boat called "small-small" (a canoe with motor), the "pecamari" (boat with medium roof), speed boats with powerful engines overboard and medium-sized vessels dedicated to transport locals and other dedicated exclusively to the load, with regular itineraries. You can rent small boats for a private service.

The Amazon River; considered the worlds largest river