Grand Amazon Lodge and Tours — Hotel in Fernando Lores

Wow! My husband and I had an AMAZING time at Grand Amazon Lodge! We went there for our honeymoon and all of the staff went out of their way to make it a great experience for us.

When we first arrived they had put a flower pedal heart on our bed, gave us complimentary wine, serenaded us with a love song, the whole nine yards.

But let me back up- First I'll start with the pickup, it's very simple they will pick you up at the airport or your lodging in Iquitos and take the multi hour journey (car & boat) out to the lodge with you. From the moment they pick you up you don't have to worry about anything. Everything is planned and taken care of for you. We stopped for lunch on the way, it was yummy.

There were a few other guests there at the same time as us and each group or couple had their own guide. This allows the experience to be very personalized, instead of just being stuck with what a big group wants to do! We are a couple that likes to be outdoors, camp, etc. There was a family there at the same time as us, with kids, who also had a great time but didn't do all the same activities as us...which they preferred.

Our guide was LUCHO and he was incredible. He grew up in the jungle and his love for the area just glowed. He took us on new adventures every day and catered the experience specifically to our personalities and desire for adventure. He knows the area like the back of his hand and showed us animals plants and paces that we would never have found without him. All around super friendly guy, easy to talk to and joke around with, and also a walking encyclopedia of info. (We miss you Lucho!!!)

The schedule while we were there pretty much ran like this: wake up, morning adventure, come back for lunch, take a siesta after lunch, then do an afternoon adventure, then dinner , then either a nighttime adventure or just relaxing depending on what we wanted.

Among other things our experiences included: hiking, blazing our own trails with machetes, canoeing, exploring in the outboard motor boat, swimming with pink dolphins (literally WITH them), fishing for piranha (and then eating them), seeing 6 different kinds of monkeys, multiple different kinds of frogs (yes the amazingly colorful ones!), so many beautiful birds I can not name them all, caman, capybara, cotton trees, rubber trees, a million other plants i can not remember the names of, and more.

The lodging itself was solid. Each unit is a cabin- type- fixture with thatched roofing, mosquito netting surrounding it, and a front porch with a hammock. Mosquitos are definitely out especially at dusk, and the mosquito netting worked great. (By the way, on the note of mosquitos, I recommend spraying your cloths with permethrin before you come, it worked wonders, we barely got bit at all our entire time there!)

In your cabin, there's a toilet, running water for sink and a shower (looked like rainwater was being collected for this...no the water is not heated). Theres a common area with couches, dining tables, and a bar (pisco sour. So refreshing.)

The cooks did a great job the food was really good 3x a day. Honestly we traveled Peru for another week afterwards and went out to eat many places, and the food we had at Grand Amazon topped our lists.

You are in the middle of the jungle so keep in mind no cell service. Theres wifi in the common area but its not super fast- just put your phone away, you're in the Amazon enjoy it!

Last thing I will say is when you book your trip, please remember to factor in tipping to your planning. Of course its optional but I promise you, you will want to. Everyone there works hard to make sure you have a nice experience and your dollar goes a long way to help the local communities, villages, and environment.

Thank you Grand Amazon Lodge for a...

We spent 4 nights in this beautiful lodge. The service was phenomenal. We got picked up from the hotel and somebody carried our trolley to the boat (mind you from the car to the river bay was long way down and steep!)Starting from the tour itself, you always get a private boat with 3 activities per day but still customized to your needs/wants. (I find this is truly beneficial because you decide what you want without any interruption from anybody. This pro tbh was my major point why I chose this place from the first base). Our guide, Johnny has outstanding knowledge about animals and plants and is capable of explaining it in scientific way too. Our boat driver, tonny is amazing as well. He can't speak English but his capability to see animals in far far distant was always amazed us. He always brings his machete to clear the path for us (I remembered he spotted Cayman in the darkness just with headlamp or sloth, iguana, and Blue Macau from high trees)or maybe just in case of something else. The room is spacious! Not necessarily fancy like other lodges but extraordinarily clean and so far when we were there, I didn't get any mosquitoes bite in my room (they kinda have strict rules that you have to follow. For example, you have to immediately close the door right after you come inside the room/dining room). I didn't see any group of mosquitoes flying around the lodges or even in front of our room. Mainly only in the forest or night boat tour, idk why but we were forever happy for it. Every room has a private hammock and also The lodge offer 24 hours wifi and electricity which I LOVE!!!! This lodge doesn't have many rooms so you can always (if you want of course) say hi or easy chat for what have you done during the fishing time/hike/boat tour with other guests and crews. Sometimes in the evening, the crew play some instruments and sings too! It feels intimate in a good way and also somehow so cozy and homey. The lodge is located in one of the tributaries of the Amazon River. There is no more lodge after this place so there is a little chance of a boat passing by so it's a very calm and quiet place. Extra: In the morning at the lodge, around 5 am sometimes you can hear howler monkey howling. Extremely loud and amazing! Overall we saw: many types of monkeys, birds, capybara, Cayman, FROGS, sloth, tarantula, iguana, Blue Macau bird, huge plants and trees, mushrooms we also caught fish and ate Piranha!

Btw they also have books that you can read! One of them is about birds. Mist of crew knows type of birds so they can cross check what you found in the book!!! So overall I personally think this lodge is the perfect place if you want to experience the real Amazon. We are truly grateful to be there with you guys. Thank you for the amazing...

Incredible experience during our 8 day / 7 night stay with Grand Amazon Lodge & Tours. Our guide Alfredo and all of the staff were incredibly knowledgeable and went out of their way to make our experience as enjoyable and comfortable as possible.

The lodge is quite new with mosquito netted rooms/private bathrooms and a netted dining room area too. Outside of the mosquito netted rooms and dining room be sure to wear long sleeved shirts and pants (or use mosquito repellent) and bring a mosquito/bug head net for jungle hikes.

We did several jungle hikes during the day and 1 at night where we saw plenty of wildlife ranging from tucans and macaws/parrots to several different monkey species, piranhas, pink river dolphins, caiman, to various interesting insects and trees.

We took many small and medium boat rides along the yanayacu and amazon rivers and around several of the nearby lakes. We had 2 nighttime boat rides for caiman spotting and we could even see the milky way quite clearly for at least 1 of the nights.

Food at the lodge was prepared by Chef Jorge and was quite varied and healthy and we even had several opportunities to observe and assist with cooking some local dishes including Juane, fried piranha, and patacones.

We took advantage of several fishing opportunities in which we caught and ate a few different types of fish including red-bellied piranha and white piranha. We even learned how to prepare the fish from the hook all the way to the dinner plate.

The housekeeping staff was excellent- our beds were made daily, new towels and soap always provided. The staff provided a fan also which made sleeping at night extremely comfortable.

Overall our stay was, to our knowledge, as good as it gets with the number and quality of excursions, level of cuisine, comfort of the lodge, and expertise of the staff.

Our guide was even able to show us around the city of Iquitos the day after our stay.

We wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Grand Amazon Lodge and Tours to anyone interested in spending some quality time deep in the amazon...