Safari to Cajamarca

where the Spanish murdered the Inca emperor

Set high in the Andes Mountains around 700 km north of Lima, Cajamarca is an important cultural and commercial town, the thirteenth largest in Peru, with a population of around 300,000 people.

The town is best known as being the location at which the Inca Empire finally fell to the Spanish under the command of Francisco Pizarro at the Battle of Cajamarca in 1532, during which Emperor Atahualpa was captured. Famously the Spanish told him that if he got his subjects to fill a large room with gold and silver, then he would be released. He did so within the allotted two months, but they killed him anyway and ran off with the loot.

The famous ‘Ransom Room’ can still be visited in town and although there’s not a great deal to see, the story is so powerful that it makes the experience worthwhile.

The town itself is pleasant enough, with the usual selection of impressive Spanish architecture centred on the Plaza de Armas, several large churches and a set of steps which leads to the top of Santa Apolonia, a hill from which the Inca leader is said to have addressed his subjects.

Around 4 km east of the town lies the Baños del Inca, an original Inca spa set around natural hot springs.

Perhaps the most interesting historic sites are the Ventanillas de Combaya and Ventanillas de Otuzco, which are pre-inca necropolises dating from around 200AD, with cliff faces pock-marked with a network of man-made openings and caves in which the dead were placed.

Another remote site is Cumbemayo, a pre-columbian aqueduct built around 1000 BC to bring water from the mountains down to the town during the dry season. To access the site it’s necessary to undertake a rather pleasant hike through the mountains.

Cajamarca can be accessed by air from Lima and or by road if you are planning a much more extensive exploration of the north of the country.

Where to stay

There’s not many decent places to stay in Cajamarca. We usually opt for the semi-rural Hotel Laguna Seca, which has its own natural hot springs and makes for a relaxing break at the end of an arduous road trip through the region.

a pleasant and atmospheric market town