Tourist Attractions :
Cerros de Amotape National Park
36 km / 22 miles from Tumbes (1 hour and 20 minutes by car)
This park is spread out over 91.300 hectares and is located at the border of the Departments of Tumbes and Piura. The altitude varies from 120 masl / 394 fasl (Rica Playa) to 1538 masl / 5045 fasl (Cerro Campana), and its diverse geography combines dry tropical forests with the mountains of the North Peruvian Cordillera or the Amotapes Mountains.
These mountains gather a large amount of biodiversity. Carob trees, spruce trees, charan trees, sapote trees, pasallo trees and guayacán trees grow there. The wildlife is very diverse and includes species representative of tropical forests, arid zones, and the Andean mountain ranges such as the Andean condor, the little spotted cat, the red deer, the percari, the northern anteater, the spectacled bear, the gray deer, the Guayaquil squirrel, and the scarlet macaw.
The ecological importance of the area has allowed it to be considered as part of the Northwest Peruvian Biosphere Reserve. There are many different circuits you can take to hike around the mountains and gorges allowing you to observe the equatorial dry forest flora and fauna and to navigate through the Tumbes River canyon, an impressive site on the Peruvian coast.
The zone can be visited all year round, but it is difficult to get there during the rainy season (January – March) or when El Niño phenomenon strikes.
Zorritos Beach Resort
28 km / 17 miles from Tumbes (30 minutes by car)
This beach is made of fine, white sand and is stroked by continuous waves. The waters are warm (on average 26°C / 79°F) and the area offers lodging, restaurants, shops, Internet access, small markets, and public phones. Zorritos is an ideal place for sports such as jet ski, surf, and fishing.
Punta Sal Beach
80 km / 50 miles from Tumbes (1 hour and 15 minutes by bus)
It is one of the most beautiful and longest beaches of the north coast of the country characterized by its warm, tranquil waters (average temperature 24°C / 75°F). The beach is divided in two, the Big and Small Punta Sal beach resorts. The latter is an isolated, half-moon beach with white sand and protected by two small headlands.
Hervideros Hot Springs
40 km / 25 miles from Tumbes (45 minutes by car)
South of Zorritos, the water bubbles through a layer of fine clay where it forms a mixture much like the pure liquid clay used by potters, with elements of iodine, chlorine, and iron which is supposed to have medicinal properties. The concentration of mineral substances in the solution gives it the aspect of a volcano of mud or some type of boiling liquid.