Peru Travel Safety Guide

The short version

Two areas of Peru are under a standing advisory against all but essential travel: a strip within twenty kilometers south of the Putumayo River and the Colombian border in the Loreto region, and the Valley of the Apurimac, Ene and Mantaro rivers, known as the VRAEM. Both are remote, both relate to organized crime around coca production, and neither is on any ordinary route. The Amazon River itself and the triple border towns are explicitly outside the restricted strip.

What actually affects visitors is more mundane and more likely: theft in cities, criminals posing as taxi drivers, and protests that stop trains and block roads.

Protests are usually a logistics problem

Political protests in Peru are unpredictable and can escalate quickly. They produce roadblocks, travel disruption and the suspension of immigration services at land borders, often with no notice and no estimate of when things will reopen. Strike action can be announced at very short notice, particularly in mining areas, and can spread from one region to another.

The part that catches travelers is specific: train services in the south, including those to and from Machu Picchu, are occasionally suspended or disrupted because of protests. Lima protests concentrate in the historic center. Arequipa, Ayacucho, Cusco, La Libertad, Madre de Dios and Puno have all seen them.

The practical consequences are not dramatic. Build a buffer day before any flight home. Carry enough water, food, medication and cash in local currency to sit somewhere for a day. Do not try to drive through a blockade.

One legal point that is easy to miss: it is illegal for foreign nationals in Peru to take part in political activity, including demonstrations. Taking part can lead to detention or deportation. Watching from a distance is not the same thing as joining, but the safest position is not to be there.

Street crime, and the three cities where it concentrates

Muggings and thefts are a significant problem in Lima, Cusco and Arequipa. Attacks happen in the tourist districts of Lima, including Miraflores and Barranco, which is the detail most people find surprising. There have been armed robberies of foreign visitors.

The habits that reduce it are small and worth making automatic:

• Do not use your phone at the roadside. Riders on motorbikes snatch phones from hands, and this is the single most commonly reported version of the crime.
• Do not wear or display anything expensive.
• Do not walk alone in quiet areas, and do not walk alone at night.
• Use ATMs inside banks, supermarkets or large commercial buildings, during business hours.
• Keep car doors locked and windows shut. Criminals target cars stopped at lights.
• On a bus journey, keep your passport on you and do not leave a bag unattended.

Taxis: the one piece of advice with no exceptions

There is a documented risk of robbery by criminals posing as taxi drivers, and it is concentrated exactly where an arriving visitor is most vulnerable: Jorge Chavez International Airport and the bus terminals. People pretending to be tour operators approach arriving passengers too.

Never take a car you have not arranged. Use a licensed telephone or app based service, ask your hotel to book it, or use one of the official companies at the desks directly outside the baggage hall at the airport. At a bus terminal, use a taxi registered at that terminal.

The reason this matters more in Peru than the general advice suggests is express kidnapping: a passenger is held and driven between ATMs until the daily withdrawal limits are exhausted, usually at night, and the incidents frequently involve armed men posing as drivers or drivers working with a gang. If it happens, do not resist and agree to the demands. Report it afterwards.

Money scams

Counterfeit US and Peruvian banknotes circulate. There are reports of money changers in the Cusco tourist areas passing intis, a former Peruvian currency that has been out of circulation for decades and is worthless. Never change money with someone who approaches you on the street. Use a bank or a licensed exchange house and count what you are handed.

A related scam needs no contact at all: criminals call the numbers stored in a stolen phone, claim to have kidnapped its owner, and demand a ransom. If you receive that call, contact the police rather than paying.

Drinks

There have been deaths and cases of serious illness in Peru caused by alcoholic drinks containing methanol. Methanol cannot be identified by taste or smell, and a small quantity can kill. Buy spirits from licensed premises, watch drinks being poured, and treat sudden visual disturbance or severe illness after drinking as an emergency.

Things that are illegal and do not feel illegal

• Carry identification at all times. Peruvian police can ask for it, and without it you may be taken to a police station.
• Do not photograph anything military. It carries a prison sentence of two to five years.
• Do not carry coca leaf or coca tea out of Peru. Drinking mate de coca in Cusco is completely ordinary; putting a packet in your luggage is not, and it is a controlled substance at the United States border.
• Drug offenses carry long sentences and prison conditions are extremely poor. Pack your own bags, keep them with you, and carry nothing through customs for anyone.

Adventure activities and the mountains

Peru sells a great deal of adventure tourism and not all of it is regulated. Check that an operator offering ziplines, canopy tours, bungee jumping, paragliding, kayaking, rock climbing, sand buggies or surfing is licensed, and ask what their safety procedures are. Confirm that your travel insurance covers the specific activity.

The Cordillera Blanca deserves its own paragraph. Peru's highest peaks are there, several hikers have died and others have needed rescue, and much of the range cannot be reached by helicopter, so a rescue is carried out on foot and takes a long time. Speak to the iPeru information service in Huaraz before setting out.

Personal safety for solo travelers

Personal attacks including sexual assault are infrequent but do happen, mostly in the Cusco and Arequipa areas, and there are reports of unscrupulous tour agents targeting young women traveling alone around Cusco. Buy your own drinks and keep them in sight, book through operators you can verify, and tell someone your plan for the day.

Natural hazards

Peru is in an earthquake zone and tremors are frequent. Ubinas, the most active volcano, has been emitting gas and ash. The rainy season runs from November to May and brings rockslides and mudslides that close walking routes, roads and railways in the mountains and the jungle, including routes to Machu Picchu and the Salkantay route. Our Peru weather guide covers what that means for a trip.

Numbers worth having

• 106 for an ambulance.
• In Lima, two private ambulance services are listed by name: Alerta Med and Clave Medica. They are private and you will pay.
• iPeru, the national tourist information service, for questions about operators, regional conditions and disruption.

What is not the risk

It is worth saying plainly, because most Peru packing lists get this backwards. On the classic highland itinerary the mosquito borne diseases are not the problem and the altitude is. That is covered in our Peru packing list and our guide to the best time to visit.

Verify before you travel

Advisory boundaries, protest activity and railway disruption all change. Check the current position close to departure, and register your trip with your own embassy.

Sources

• UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office: Peru travel advice: the two areas under a standing advisory against all but essential travel, the strip within twenty kilometers south of the Putumayo River and the Colombian border in Loreto, and the Valley of the Apurimac, Ene and Mantaro rivers, and the statement that no travel can be guaranteed safe. Accessed 16 September 2026.
• UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office: Peru safety and security: protests and strikes and their effect on the southern railways, street crime in Lima, Cusco and Arequipa, robbery by criminals posing as taxi drivers at Jorge Chavez airport and the bus terminals, express kidnapping, counterfeit notes and the withdrawn intis passed by street changers in Cusco, methanol in spirit drinks, the requirement to carry identification, the prohibition on photographing military sites, the illegality of carrying coca leaf out of the country, driving and overnight bus standards, the rainy season from November to May, and the earthquake and volcanic risk. Accessed 16 September 2026.
• UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office: Peru health: the ambulance number 106, the eight week lead time before travel, altitude sickness named as a serious risk in Cusco, Puno, the Colca Canyon and Kuelap, the dengue outbreak following floods, and the difficulty of accessing medical treatment outside Lima. Accessed 16 September 2026.
• US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Travelers' Health, Peru: the yellow fever recommendation for areas below 2,300 meters in the eastern regions, the record that the vaccine is not an entry requirement and is not recommended for travel limited to Lima, the city of Cusco, the Inca Trail or Machu Picchu, and the malaria transmission map including the absence of transmission in Lima Province, the highland tourist areas and around Lake Titicaca. Accessed 16 September 2026.