Trujillo's Colonial Centre

Trujillo was laid out in the 1530s and later ringed by an oval defensive wall, of which one bastion and the shape of the ring road survive. Inside it the streets run in a tight grid around the Plaza de Armas, and the houses are the point: two-storey colonial and republican casonas painted in flat blues, ochres and yellows, their windows covered by wrought-iron grilles that bulge out over the pavement like cages. Several are open, some as bank offices and cultural centres with courtyards and painted ceilings. The cathedral holds the north side of the square, and the marinera, the coastal courtship dance, has its national contest here each January.

What you actually see

• The Plaza de Armas - the cathedral and the ring of painted colonial facades.
• The window grilles - elaborate wrought iron over almost every ground-floor window.
• Casa Urquiaga and Casa Ganoza Chopitea - two of the casonas open to visitors.
• The marinera contest - the national dance competition held in the city each January.

When to go

The coast here is dry all year and never cold, so season matters little. January brings the marinera contest, which fills hotels and gives the centre a reason to stay busy after dark. Otherwise aim for weekday mornings, when the casonas that operate as offices are actually open; several shut at lunchtime and all day Sunday.

Honest expectations

Many of the finest houses are working banks or private, so what you see from the street is often all you get, and opening hours are short and inconsistent. Outside the immediate square the grid is loud with traffic and horns. The centre empties after early evening. The buildings are handsome rather than spectacular, and most people are really here for Chan Chan and the Moche sites.

Nearby

Chan Chan, the Moche pyramids and Huanchaco beach are all within half an hour.