Huaraz Travel Guide: What to Do, Where to Stay, and Local Tips
Huaraz is a small, high-altitude town in the heart of the Peruvian Andes, where I ended up spending a lot of time in between hikes!
Admittedly I didn’t think too much of the town when I first arrived, but by the time I left I had developed a soft spot for it and its people. It’s less touristy than Cusco, but it’s still well set up for tourism – especially if you are going there to hike.
It’s the second time I had been to a high altitude town (sitting at 3,500m above sea level), and after feeling the effects of the altitude in San Pedro de Atacama and my Bolivia tour, I allowed myself a quiet couple of days to acclimatize again.
Here is what I did in my month-long stay there!
Where I stayed:
Mariandes Hostel
Cost per night: AUD$25.90/USD$17.55
Room type: Double room, private bathroom
Website: https://www.booking.com/hotel/pe/mariandes-hostel.en.html
We loved our stay at Mariandes Hostel, mostly thanks to it’s incredibly lovely and helpful owner, Alan. We went on a couple of multi-day hikes, and Alan always kept a room for us to come back to, even when we did the Huayhuash Circuit and weren’t 100% sure on what day we would be back.
The hostel was full of like-minded adventurous travellers, mostly all there to hike as well. It was only a 10-minute walk to town, and a supermarket just a couple of blocks away. The hostel has a massive kitchen to cook in, as well as a beautiful rooftop to enjoy the sunset views across the town and the mountains in the distance (the cityscape photo above is taken from the rooftop!).
Where I ate:
Chilli Heaven
What we ate: Chicken Kathmandu Curry (cashew curry)
What I drank: Diet Coke
What we spent: AUD$15/USD$10.11
This place is a bit out of the way, about a 15-minute walk from the main town area. But it’s worth the walk to get there – their curries were incredible, the best I’d had in South America! They also serve Mexican food as well, but the curries are what stand out.
Café Andino
What I ate: 1st visit: Chicken Quesdilla, 2nd visit: Quinoa Bowl
What I drank: 1st visit: Mixed Fruit Smoothie, 2nd visit: House Red Wine
What I spent: 1st visit: AUD$12.80/USD$8.50, 2nd visit: AUD$20.40/USD$13.57
I loved this café due to it’s extensive menu, and perfect nooks to set up for a few hours with my laptop. It’s definitely catered to tourists, as I didn’t see a single local dining there, but the food was still excellent quality albeit a bit pricey compared to other places in Huaraz.
Paulinos Indian Cuisine
What I ate: Karahi Chicken lunch deal (comes with rice and naan)
What I drank: Juice (came with deal)
What I spent: AUD$7.20/USD$4.80
Another delicious curry restaurant – although not quite as good as Chilli Heaven, it’s in a more convenient location and their PEN18 lunch special (which I got) is a great deal!
What We Did:
To be honest, there isn’t a whole lot in the way to do in Huaraz except for hiking! We spent our days either recovering from hikes or preparing for hikes. The hiking is some of the best I’ve ever done, and there are so many hikes to choose from it can be overwhelming.
The main reason for coming to Huaraz was to hike the Huayhuash Circuit, which is an 8-12 day trek. However, due to the high altitude, it’s highly recommended to spend a few days in Huaraz beforehand and do a couple of practice hikes. These are the hikes we did to prepare, and the links for more information:
Laguna 513: This hike isn’t as popular as some of the other day hikes, as it is quite hard. We booked this tour through our hostel, and we went with a group of 12 – and we didn’t see any other groups until our way back from the lake.
Laguna 69 (blog post coming soon!): By far the most popular day hike, so to beat the crowds and get some extra practice in before the Huayhuash, we did this hike as an overnight hike via Refugio Peru. If you have the means to do Laguna 69 this way, I highly recommend it!
Top Tips:
When to go:
Dry season runs from June – September, and although there is much less rain, it gets really cold at night!
If you are doing overnight or multiday hikes this is really important to keep in mind, as you will need to bring lots of layers to sleep in (I even purchased a balaclava to sleep in, it was THAT cold!), and make sure you have a suitable sleeping bag. If you are staying in Huaraz and doing day hikes, you won’t need to go that extreme, but it’s definitely jeans and jumper weather past 5pm.
Getting there/around:
The only way to get to Huaraz by public transport is via a 7/8 hour bus from Lima. There are multiple bus companies that make this trip. It’s important to note, there isn’t one specific terminal they all go to – each bus company has it’s own small terminal dotted around the city. I would recommend Movil Bus, as their terminal is in a good location in the middle of town, and the buses are well kept and comfortable.
Huaraz is a walkable city, however if you want to get out to the hikes you are best to either join group tours (most hostels can book these for you, or there are lot’s of booking agents in town) or hire a taxi driver for a day. Note, the trails are generally a couple of hours drive away, so joining group tours are often the cheapest way to go. Another option to find transportation if you don't want to join a tour is to check the noticeboards at the tour agencies such as Andean Kingdom, as people often leave their details and what hike they are looking to do so you can link up and share transportation costs.
Shopping:
There are hundreds of shops in Huaraz selling clothes, but as a warning, if you wanting to purchase brands such as The North Face, Columbia or Patagonia for hiking – I could only find knock offs. I was searching for a good quality down jacket, and even the outdoors shops that claimed they had the real brands were selling jackets with wonky labels or misspelt tags.
Most of the shopping we did was food shopping in preparation for our hikes. Mercardo Central was our go-to for all fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and trail snacks. Dehydrated meals are hard to find in Peru, but we found a couple of options at the outdoor agency Andean Kingdom.
Money:
Most places accept card, but for booking tours through some companies or through your hostel, buying at markets and some smaller local restaurants you will need cash. The MultiRed ATMS won’t charge you any fees, so if your bank card also doesn’t charge fees (I use Wise and UP Bank from Australia), these are your best option. Otherwise, there are a few Western Unions you can use to get cash out.
Prices were what I paid at the time in 2024, please check updated prices when travel planning!
Mariandes Hostel Kitchen
Chilli Heaven
Cevicheria Pez Lobo
What I ate: Seafood platter (shared) including: Ceviche Mixto, Chicharrón de Pescado, Leche de Tigre, Arroz con Maricos
What I drank: Chicha Morada
What I spent: AUD$30/USD$17.30 (split between two)
If you want to try traditional Peruvian food, I highly recommend this place and this dish! The seafood platter gave you portions of some of Peruvians most popular dishes. This restaurant doesn’t have high reviews on Google, and I am not sure why as we found it to be a really good spot. My only complaint was the music was quiet loud, does that mean I am getting old??
Salvia Vegetarian Restaurant
What I ate: Broth soup, tamale with salad, oats in water
What I drank: Chicha morada
What I spent: AUD$2.80/USD$1.85
This vegetarian restaurant offers a “Menu of the Day” set menu that changes each day, and it’s a surprise what you will end up with! Although my main tasted good, I didn’t love my soup starter so I didn’t go back. Tim loved it however and ended up dining there three times!
Trivio Restobar
What I ate: Cordόn Bleu
What I spent: AUD$18/USD$12
A tourist hotspot, but a great location with people watching over the Plaza de Armas square and live music in the evenings. It was really busy when we dined there for lunch at around 2pm, so the service was understandably a little slow with the waiters run off their feet, but the food portions were HUGE and so tasty.
Charlies Pizzas and Pastas
What I ate: Medium Hawaiian BBQ
What I drank: Mulled wine (x2!)
What I spent: AUD$26/USD$17.30
This cozy Italian restaurant really did feel like we had stepped out of Huaraz and into a small Italian village. It was bustling – every table was full of people drinking wine and eating pizza or pasta and chatting away. They had a small selection of games to play, so we entertained ourselves with Jenga whilst waiting for our pizzas, which turned out to be absolutely delicious – but the highlight was my mulled wine, and after having almost a month off drinking, it was the perfect first drink back!
Paulinos Indian Cuisine
Cafe Andino
Laguna 513
Laguna 69
