The stunning central highlands of Peru maybe a little off the beaten track but they are home to some of the country’s finest ruins which include the pre-Inca sites of Kotosh near Huanuco and Huari near the region’s southern city of Ayacucho. Ayacucho is not only full of attractive colonial buildings but plays host to one of biggest festivals in the celebration of Holy Week. Huancayo is another major town in the central sierra which can be accessed by train from Lima, one of the world’s most spectacular railway journeys. The mountainous terrain is scattered with pretty Andean villages where the indigenous peoples produce some particularly fine handicrafts, especially in the Mantaro Valley, which also boasts the bizarre Marcahuasi rock formations, at the edge of the central highlands.