Laguna de Paca

Paca is a shallow lake of about two square kilometres in the Mantaro valley just outside Jauja, ringed by reed beds and lined on one side with restaurants serving trout and pachamanca to weekend crowds from Huancayo and Jauja. Rowing boats and motor launches take people out to a small island, and there is a viewpoint on the hill above. The lake carries a well-known legend: that a city lies beneath the water, drowned when its people refused hospitality to a stranger, and that a golden bell or a submerged church can sometimes be heard - a story of the same family as many European drowned-town legends. Birds use the reed beds, with grebes, coots and ducks in numbers, and the Andean landscape around is farmland. Jauja itself was briefly the first Spanish capital of Peru in 1534 before the seat moved to Lima.

What you actually see

• The lake - about two square kilometres, shallow and reed-fringed.
• The restaurant strip - trout and pachamanca along the shore, busy at weekends.
• The boats - rowing boats and launches out to the small island.
• The legend - a city said to lie under the water, heard as a bell.

When to go

May to September for dry weather. Weekdays are quiet; weekends are the point if you want the food and the crowds. Two to three hours.

Honest expectations

A local leisure lake, not a scenic wilderness - expect stalls, music and litter at busy times. Water quality is poor and swimming is not advisable. Boats are basic, and life jackets are not always offered.

Nearby

Jauja and its colonial centre are close; Huancayo is south down the valley.