DESTINATION

Tarapoto

Peru · San Martin

Tarapoto, founded in 1782 as Santa Cruz de los Motilones de Tarapoto, is a commercial hub town in the San Martín Province of the Department of San Martín of northern Peru. It is an hour by plane from Lima, in the high jungle plateau to the east of what is known as the selva baja. Although Moyobamba is the capital of the region, Tarapoto is the region's largest city and is linked to the Upper Amazon and the historic city of Yurimaguas by a relatively well-maintained transandean highway, paved in 2008–9.