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Choquequirao
◈ hidden gem
Choquequirao

📷 Bryan Dougherty (bryand_nyc) from New York City, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0

Where in the world

Peru

The site

Choquequirao is a 16th-century Inca site perched on a steep mountainside above the Apurímac River in southern Peru's rugged Vilcabamba range. Often called the sister city of Machu Picchu for its similar plan, it spreads buildings and agricultural terraces around a truncated hilltop, famed for fine stonework, water channels and white-stone mosaics of llamas set into its terrace walls. A ceremonial and administrative hub, it became one of the last strongholds of Inca resistance and is still reached only by a two-day hike.

Field notes

civilizations
Inca
types
Citadel · Temple
built
1,536 CE — 1,500 CE
occupied
1,450 CE — 1,590 CE
country
Peru