Kuélap, the forgotten Machu Picchu with 20-meter-high walls

Have you ever heard of Kuélap ? Probably not because, like most people visiting Peru , your attention is entirely focused on the incredible place that is Machu Picchu. But you don't know what you're missing by not including Kuélap on your travel itinerary: you'll literally find yourself with your head in the clouds . After all, it was built by the indigenous people of Chachapoyas, which means "Warriors of the Clouds."

What you see before you is a walled fortress nestled in the jungle of Kuélap, in the northern highlands of Peru, the gateway to the Amazon region. This pre-Inca site extends over 6 hectares, making it one of the largest stone ruins in the Americas. It comprises over 400 circular buildings , many of them well preserved, overlooking the lush Utcubamba Valley.

It took at least 400 years to complete this grandiose project, called Kuélap. What the Chachapoyas people achieved was a stone complex nearly a mile long, divided into three sections and surrounded by walls, some over 20 meters high , with three narrow entrance points that would force intruders to slow down and enter single file.

These are just a few of the details that testify to the ingenuity and flourishing of the Chachapoyas culture : over the years, Kuélap evolved into a fortress, refuge, strategic defense point, and high-altitude city. A people who lived peacefully for several hundred years, until the arrival of the Incas : archaeological evidence shows that the newcomers drove the Chachapoyas from their lofty fortress towards the end of the 15th century and built some of their own structures on the site.

A century later, they too suffered the same fate, being defeated by the Spanish when they violently colonized the pre-Columbian empire.

Kuélap remained abandoned for many years, until a local judge visiting the site stumbled upon the stone complex in the 1840s. It wasn't until 1979 that the Peruvian Ministry of Culture took note and implemented plans to protect and preserve a piece of its history.

Visiting Kuélap means immersing yourself in a place suspended in time, shrouded in mystery and beauty , surrounded by the majestic northern Andes of Peru . This imposing citadel, often called the “Machu Picchu of the North,” offers a unique experience far from the beaten tourist track.

Consider that only a third of the site has actually been excavated , but don't worry: what's visible is truly astonishing. What you'll see during your visit are low circular walls , the remains of dwellings that were once covered with high thatched roofs. And it's precisely their roundness that makes them unique, as most ancient Andean cultures used straight lines in their designs, rather than circular ones.

The site also features a temple , where archaeologists have found an underground chamber housing the remains of animal sacrifices, and a tower, probably used as a lookout post.

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