There are great eats at Iquitos’ markets, particularly the Belén mercado where a menú, including jugo especial (jungle juice) costs S5. Look out for specialties including meaty Amazon worms, ishpa (simmered sabalo fish intestines and fat) and sikisapa (fried leafcutter ants; abdomens are supposedly tastiest), and watch your valuables. Another good market for cheap eats is Mercado Central.
Belén Mercado
Top choice in Iquitos
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
0.01 MILES
At the southeast end of town is the floating shantytown of Belén, consisting of scores of huts, built on rafts, which rise and fall with the river. During…
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Moored below Plaza Castilla is the diverting Historical Ships Museum, on a 1906 Amazon riverboat, the gorgeously restored three-deck Ayapua. The…
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The sight of Iquitos' sophisticated riverside walkway, edged by swanky bars and restaurants and yet cut off from the rest of the world by hundreds of…
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Ostensibly, the Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm is a conservation and breeding center for Amazonian butterflies. Butterflies aplenty there certainly are,…
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Every guidebook mentions the ‘majestic’ Casa de Fierro (Iron House), designed by Gustave Eiffel (of Eiffel Tower fame). It was made in Paris in 1860 and…
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Museum of Indigenous Amazon Cultures
0.56 MILES
This intuitively presented museum takes you through the traits, traditions and beliefs of the tribes of the Amazon Basin, with a focus on the Peruvian…
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Nearby Iquitos attractions
0.01 MILES
At the southeast end of town is the floating shantytown of Belén, consisting of scores of huts, built on rafts, which rise and fall with the river. During…
2. Museum of Indigenous Amazon Cultures
0.56 MILES
This intuitively presented museum takes you through the traits, traditions and beliefs of the tribes of the Amazon Basin, with a focus on the Peruvian…
0.68 MILES
Every guidebook mentions the ‘majestic’ Casa de Fierro (Iron House), designed by Gustave Eiffel (of Eiffel Tower fame). It was made in Paris in 1860 and…
0.75 MILES
The sight of Iquitos' sophisticated riverside walkway, edged by swanky bars and restaurants and yet cut off from the rest of the world by hundreds of…
0.95 MILES
Moored below Plaza Castilla is the diverting Historical Ships Museum, on a 1906 Amazon riverboat, the gorgeously restored three-deck Ayapua. The…
7. Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm
4.37 MILES
Ostensibly, the Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm is a conservation and breeding center for Amazonian butterflies. Butterflies aplenty there certainly are,…
6.97 MILES
This lake, 15km south of Iquitos, is served by minibus (S2) several times an hour from near Plaza 28 de Julio (corner of Bermúdez and Moore), as well as…