Trujillo

Known as the city of Eternal spring for its mild year-round climate, Trujillo is the 3rd largest city in Peru with about 900,000 inhabitants. A Spanish colonial town with a rich history, it was first inaugurated in 1534. It was briefly home to Simon Bolivar and the first Peruvian City to declare its independence from Spain.

While the city’s historic center is home to many colonial mansions and churches, Trujillo is also quickly changing with the features of a modern city, such as shopping malls and varied nightlife with live music and clubs. The city is the center for higher education in Northern Peru, with several large universities.

Trujillo is the ideal location to develop Spanish language skills. Though it has a tourism industry based around archeology sites and the nearby seaside resort of Huanchaco, it remains a “genuine” Peruvian city, friendly with little English spoken and menus only in Spanish.

The Surrounding area

While in Trujillo your day will be pretty full. However, you may still find time to take advantage of the many opportunities available to you.

Combine your elective with surfing 20 minutes from Trujillo is Huanchaco, a seaside resort and surfing mecca, recognized as a World Surfing Reserve. Here several surfing schools offer classes and equipment hire.

If you like the idea of surfing but prefer to stay dry, you could try Sandboarding at Conanche. Here, 20 minutes from Trujillo you can fly down the huge dunes without getting wet.

Trujillo is one of the Archaeological capitals of the world boasting both the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Chan Chan, and also The Temples of the Sun and Moon, one of the ten most important archaeological sites in the world.

Day trips

Within 2 hours of Trujillo, you can travel to the wine growing region of Cascas or the Andes town of Otuzco.

For serious surfers, Chicama with the longest surfable wave in the world can be reached by bus in 90 minutes.

Further afield

Each month most participants use one or two weekends to explore beyond Trujillo to see more of Peru. Some of the most popular weekend trip options are:

Huaraz in the Andes offers excellent Trekking among beautiful glaciers and boasts the highest mountains in Peru. It is also the most popular weekend trip for our participants.

Mancora and the surrounding area have the best beaches in Peru. They are also a place to swim with giant turtles.

Cajamarca is a charming colonial city in the Andes with beautiful countryside and lots to do.

Cusco/Machu Picchu can be reached with direct flights from Trujillo for a long weekend. Many participants choose to give themselves a few extra days here at the end of their program in Trujillo.

Chachapoyas and Kuelap have just 1% of the tourism of Cusco. It boasts Gotca waterfall, one of the highest in the world, and the amazing Kuelap, which is both higher and 1000 years older than Machu Picchu.

Take a look at this video to see if it is worth the trip

Machu Picchu & Cuzco

Without a doubt, the most famous destination to visit in Peru is Machu Picchu and Cuzco, the capital city of the Inca Empire. If you intend to visit, we recommend that you go just before or after your program with us.

Since 2013, Martijn at Fairtravel4U has provided tours for many of our program participants. For more information, please see https://www.fairtravel4u.org/medical-elective-student-tours-in-cusco/

In addition to the tours on the Fair Travel site, they will be happy to arrange trips tailored to your interests and timetable.