4 Best Sights in The Central Highlands, Peru

The Central Highlands' Ferrocarril Central Andino once laid claim to being the world's highest rail route. With the 2006 opening of China's Qinghai–Tibet Railway, the Peru route was knocked down to second place. No matter, though: this is one of the country's most scenic areas, and tracks cut through the mountains and plains all the way from Lima to Huancayo. The line these days is a shadow of what it once was, and trains ply the route only a few times a year. Tickets are easy to come by, but you will have to plan around the infrequent departures if you want the journey to be a centerpiece of your visit to Peru. The railway's website lists departure dates, with Lima–Huancayo service operating just a handful of days between April and November. Trains depart the capital's Desamparados train station for the 12-hour journey to Huancayo, twisting along the 335-km (207-mile) route through the Andes at an average elevation of 4,782 meters (15,685 feet). The engine chugs its way up a slim thread of rails that hugs the slopes, traveling over 59 bridges, around endless hairpin curves, and through 66 tunnels—including the 1,175-meter-long (3,854-foot-long) Galera Tunnel, which, at an altitude of 4,758 meters (15,606 feet), is the climax of the journey. Snacks, lunch, and soft drinks are included in the price. You can request oxygen if you get short of breath over the high passes, and mate de coca flows freely at all hours. The decades-old clásico cars are okay in a pinch, but the newer turístico cars are much more comfortable, with reclining seats and access to the observation and bar car.

Recent excavations at this massive archaeological site have uncovered multilevel underground galleries, burial chambers, circular plazas, arched portals, and other architectural magnificences. Together they make this capital city of the Huari culture one of the most impressive non-Inca ruins in the Peruvian sierra. The Huari flourished from around 700 to 1200 AD, and wandering the quiet alleys of this 5,000-acre complex gives you a sense of how its 60,000 residents lived, worshipped, and died. Especially noteworthy are the temples and communal tombs. There's a small museum on-site with mummies and ceramics, as well as a lounge to rest in after roaming the cactus-covered grounds. The best way to visit is to take a tour from a travel agency in town for S/30, as taxis andcollectivos to the site are sporadic and hard to figure out.

Four long hours south of Ayacucho on winding, unpaved roads is the former Inca provincial capital of Vilcashuamán, set where the north–south Inca highway crossed the east–west trade road from Cusco to the Pacific. You can still see the Templo del Sol y de la Luna and a five-tiered platform, known as the Ushnu, crowned by an Inca throne and surrounded by stepped fields once farmed by Inca peasants. An hour's walk from Vilcashuamán (or a half-hour's walk south past the main road from Ayacucho) is the Intihuatana, where Inca ruins include a palace and tower beside a lagoon. Former Inca baths, a Sun temple, and a sacrificial altar can also be seen on the grounds. Check out the unusual, 13-angled boulder, one of the odd building rocks that are an Inca hallmark. Ayacucho travel agencies can organize tours of both sites (S/65), or you can catch a bus or colectivo for S/15–S/20. Ask around to confirm where these public transport options are leaving from, as pickup points change frequently.