There is more to Peru than Machu Picchu

Last month, Peru was hit with torrential rains which triggered landslides that blocked the railway between Machu Picchu and the city of Cuzco. Known as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World, Machu Picchu is a big tourist attraction. As a result, they had to close down the the trails and railways leading to the place. They even had to airlift stranded tourists and evacuate them along with the locals.

Needless to say, reopening the 15th century Inca ruins is important to Peru's economy. The ruins attract about 850,000 tourists a year. Officials say that 15,000 jobs are dependent on the ruins and that tourists bring hundreds of millions of dollars to Cuzco's economy. As one solution, Peru's government is cutting airfares and hotel rates to draw tourists to the Incan city of Cuzco even though the country's top tourist destination, the nearby Machu Picchu citadel, remains inaccessible.

If you are an enterprising traveler you would want to take advantage of this. After all there is more to Peru than Machu Picchu. Below is a list of other destinations that are as equally breathtaking:

1. Nazca Lines

Nazca Lines are the most outstanding group of geoglyphs in the world. Etched in the surface of the desert pampa sand about 300 hundred figures made of straight lines, geometric shapes and pictures of animals and birds - and their patterns are only clearly visible from the air. These markings are out of this world. There are a lot of theories about their origin...aliens perhaps? The Nazca Lines are pretty easy to get to by bus from the cities of Lima, Cuzco or Arequipa.

2. Colca Canyon

The Colca river begins high in the Andes, at Condorama Crucero Alto, drops down to the Pacific in stages, changing its name to Majes and then Camana as it goes. Where it runs, between the tiny mountain villages of Chivay to Cabanaconde, there is a deep canyon known as the Colca Canyon. Here, condors soar above the canyons and high into the thin mountain air. Again, getting there is easy by bus from the city of Arequipa.

3. Lake Titicaca

Lake Titicaca is the largest freshwater lake in South America and the highest of the world's large lakes. Titicaca is one of less than twenty ancient lakes on earth, and is thought to be have been there about a million years. Lake Titicaca sits between Peru to the west and Bolivia to the east. Its main attractions are the Floating Islands of Uros and Taquile Island which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Also accessible by bus from the city of Puno.

4. Puerto Maldonado

Puerto Maldonado is a small jungle town in the south of Peru, close to the Bolivian and Brazilian borders. It is also one of the main jungle destinations for foreign travellers to Peru, largely due to its easy accessibility from Cuzco. For visitors wishing to experience some of the jungle, but only having a couple of days, the area around Puerto Maldonado is a good option. It's part of the Amazon river basin and also the entry point to the Tambopata-Candamo Reserved Zone, one of the areas with the greatest biodiversity in the world.

Below are some helpful links to help you jumpstart your travel to beautiful Peru:

Lonely Planet Peru

Wikitravel Peru 

GapAdventure- Peru Travel 

SASTravel Peru

Travelzoo Deals on Peru