Four days aboard Delfin III on the Peruvian Amazon gave me kayaking, swimming and piranha fishing, pink and grey river dolphins, a visit to the birthplace of the Amazon, a morning with a shaman, macaws overhead and — after several days of looking — a sloth in the wild. If you want the Amazon without giving up comfort or good food, this is how to do it.
Jennie sailed Delfin III from 27 to 30 June 2026, on a trip to Peru she won in a Viva Expeditions competition; Viva arranged the journey. The opinions and photographs are her own.
I had always thought the Amazon would be an amazing place to experience, but until I found myself travelling along the river aboard Delfin III, I don’t think I fully appreciated how extraordinary it would be. Each day brought a new adventure, unexpected wildlife and moments I know I’ll remember for a very long time.
I flew with LATAM via Santiago, spent some time in Lima, then took LATAM’s flight from Lima to Iquitos. If you’d rather arrive rested for a trip like this, we can arrange Business Class on the long legs — see our South America Business Class fares.
Our Amazonian journey began as we landed in Iquitos, often described as one of the world’s most remote cities. From the airport we drove to Nauta, a port town on the banks of the Marañón River and our gateway to the Amazon. It was an interesting introduction to a much less-developed part of Peru, taking us through busy communities and along bumpy roads, past small roadside stalls selling food, fruit juices and local produce — and tuk tuks everywhere. From Nauta we boarded Delfin III and set off into the Amazon, and into the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve — the protected expanse of flooded forest the itinerary spends its days exploring.
The road to Nauta, and the boardwalk down to the ship
Before boarding, and again at the end of the cruise, guests pass through Delfin’s own thatched lodge. Delfin was the first river cruise in the world to join Relais & Châteaux, and you notice that standard from the moment you arrive.
Delfin’s lodge, where the journey begins and ends
Delfin offers a lovely balance between adventure and comfort. Our days were spent exploring the rainforest and waterways by skiff, kayaking, swimming and taking part in different excursions, before returning to the boat to relax, enjoy a meal and take in the ever-changing scenery. Excursions run two or three times a day, all of them optional, led by naturalist guides who speak Spanish and English. Delfin III sails three-night cruises from Saturday to Tuesday and four-night cruises from Tuesday to Saturday, both from Nauta; ours was the three-night.
Each day’s programme was chalked up on a board. Our second day began with breakfast at 7am and a skiff exploration at 8, then a session with a local shaman, lunch, and an afternoon of exploring, kayaking and swimming. At 6:45pm there was a recap and a briefing on the next day, dinner at 7, and a night excursion by boat at 8:30. The last full day started with piranha fishing at 6:30am, before breakfast and a jungle walk — Delfin hands out gumboots for these. On the final morning, after one last skiff ride, we disembarked and visited a stingless bee project and an aquarium of Amazonian fish on the way to Iquitos airport.
The programme for our second day
It feels very different from a traditional ocean cruise. It is much more intimate, and instead of looking out towards an endless horizon, we were surrounded by dense rainforest and winding waterways.
You don’t see wildlife around every corner, but there was always a sense of being completely immersed in nature. The excitement came from never quite knowing what might appear on an excursion — or, in our case, what might make its way onto the ship. At one point a baby anaconda came aboard, giving us a very close-up encounter with one of the Amazon’s most fascinating creatures.
Mornings on the water, afternoons on the sun deck
Delfin III carries up to 44 guests in 22 suites. Nineteen of them, the Suites and Upper Suites, measure 22 square metres; there are also two Corner Suites of 25 square metres and a single Owner’s Suite of about 55. Ours was extremely comfortable, well designed and a lovely retreat at the end of a day exploring. The suites have been designed to blend with the environment, using warm woods, natural colours and understated, earthy décor that feels at home in the rainforest. The large floor-to-ceiling windows were one of my favourite features, giving an uninterrupted view of the river and jungle beyond. There was something very special about waking each morning and looking out to the Amazon.
The suite, and the view that comes with it
One of the things I loved about cruising with Delfin was the quality of the food. As part of Relais & Châteaux I was expecting a high standard, but the cuisine was exceptional, and the dining was one of the highlights of our time on board. The chefs make wonderful use of local Peruvian and Amazonian ingredients, bringing them together in beautifully presented dishes that feel both sophisticated and connected to the region.
The dining room, set for breakfast
We enjoyed everything from heart of palm salad to Peruvian-style lomo saltado and corvina fish tiradito. There was doncella fish served over a warm cocona sauce with quinoa solterito, and a chicken breast stuffed with vegetables and served with bacon, cheese and yuca gnocchi. Desserts were just as good and another chance to taste the unusual flavours of the Amazon: an Amazonian custard apple flan with copoazú foam, pineapple bavarois with caramelised almond and arazá foam, and aguaje palm cheesecake. One evening we even tasted a piranha caught on one of our excursions and prepared by the chefs on board.
Amazonian ingredients carefully handled — and the piranha we caught that morning
I was also impressed by how accommodating the Delfin team was with dietary requirements. I am gluten free and was well looked after throughout, with the kitchen happy to adapt dishes and make sure I always had plenty of good choices.
Delfin’s fare covers dinner on the day you board, every meal on the cruise days and breakfast on the last morning. Drinks are included too: natural juices, soft drinks, coffee and tea, water, local beer, pisco cocktails, and house wine with lunch and dinner. Special diets are catered for with notice. There’s Starlink Wi-Fi on board, a plunge pool on the sun deck, a bar, a massage room and a small exercise room, and dress is casual throughout.
Seeing the pink river dolphins was one of my favourite moments. One evening I looked out from my suite and watched several swimming alongside us as the sun set — one of those moments when you realise you are experiencing something that simply can’t be replicated anywhere else. There were grey dolphins too, leaping from the muddy-coloured water and seemingly appearing from nowhere.
An unexpected highlight was spotting a Blue Morpho butterfly on a jungle walk. Its bright electric-blue wings stood out against the dense green rainforest, and our guide told us that seeing one is considered a sign of good luck. Then there were the macaws, and the noise that came with them — pairs flying overhead against that vast green landscape were another reminder of how far from home we were.
The list kept growing: squirrel and spider monkeys, great egrets, herons, kingfishers and parakeets, hawks and caracaras overhead, and horned screamers, whose call sounds remarkably like a donkey. The guides had stories for everything. Scarlet macaws mate for life, and the local communities won’t hunt the pink dolphins, because of an old belief that they can take human form.
And after several days of looking, I finally saw a sloth in the wild — a brown-throated three-toed sloth, which our guide told us has such a slow metabolism that it comes down from the trees only about once a week. Wildlife encounters are a big part of an Amazon adventure, but you never know exactly what you’ll see, and that uncertainty is part of it. For me, spotting that sloth was the little moment that made the whole trip.
An anaconda in the branches, and a poison dart frog barely bigger than a thumbnail
The Peruvian Amazon has two seasons, set by the river rather than the calendar. Delfin describes high water as roughly November to June, when more of the reserve is explored by skiff, and low water as roughly June to November, when falling rivers allow more trail walks. We sailed from 27 to 30 June, just as the river was turning. Our itinerary was billed as a low-water one, but we didn’t do the canopy walkway, which is one of the low-water activities; instead we spent a lot of time exploring by skiff, alongside jungle walks on dry ground, so we had a bit of both.
It’s worth talking through the season when you book, because it shapes what you’ll do each day.
Exploring by skiff, and a jungle walk on dry ground
Yes, and it became one of the parts of the trip I valued most. The Amazon isn’t simply wilderness; it’s home to communities who have lived alongside the river for generations. On our last full day there was a presentation on board about Amazonian fruit, and we tried aguaje, camu camu (so sour that locals add a little salt), camito, wild granadilla and ice cream bean, which is soft, sweet and a favourite of the monkeys. Peach palm fruit even stands in for potatoes, and can be ground into flour for pasta. After a talk on the people of the Amazon, we visited San Francisco, a riverside village. Fish, yuca and plantain are the staples here, and the villagers showed us what they were cooking. They also showed us how they dye natural fibres with plants and hand-spin chambira palm into cordage, which they weave into baskets, placemats and jewellery. Tables of their handmade crafts were set out for us to buy — they’re remarkably skilled, especially working entirely with natural materials — and I came home with a woven plate featuring a blue morpho butterfly, and a little woven macaw, to remember our visit.
Chambira palm, hand-spun into cordage, and the blue morpho plate Jennie brought home
Earlier in the trip we met Carola, a local shaman. She told us how she spent eight years training deep in the forest under her grandfather, living on a diet of fish, water and plantain while she learnt the plants and remedies of the jungle. People still come to find her by boat or canoe when they need help, and she uses only what the forest provides. She spoke about ayahuasca, the ceremonial plant preparation, with great respect — fascinating to hear about, though I’m definitely not tempted to try a ceremony myself!
A riverside village at the end of the day
On our final evening we gathered on the sun deck at the place our guides call the birthplace of the Amazon — the Unión de los Ríos, near Nauta, where the Marañón and Ucayali rivers meet to form what most countries consider the start of the Amazon itself. You can see the difference in the water, because each river is coloured by where it has come from. Everyone was handed a glass of sparkling wine to mark the moment and, with perfect timing, a rainbow appeared over the forest. After days of following these waterways, it felt like the whole journey coming together.
A rainbow at the birthplace of the Amazon, and a toast to mark it
I went to the Amazon hoping to see wildlife, but I hadn’t expected to become so fascinated by the environment itself. Seeing dolphins, macaws, the Blue Morpho and a sloth was exciting, but it was being surrounded by this extraordinary ecosystem that stayed with me. The Amazon is enormous, complex and very fragile, and time there gives you a far greater appreciation of how important it is that it’s protected. That is one of the wonderful things about exploring it by river: you aren’t looking at the rainforest from a distance, you are spending days immersed in it, in its changing landscapes, sounds and wildlife.
The people are a huge part of what made it memorable, too. All of the Delfin crew come from the river communities of the region, and their warmth, enthusiasm and knowledge came through every day — from the guides taking us out on excursions to the crew looking after us back on board, there was a real pride in sharing their part of the world. The scenery and wildlife are what bring you to the Amazon, but it was the people who brought the experience to life.
I’d particularly recommend Delfin to travellers who want to experience the Amazon without giving up comfort: people who love wildlife and nature but also appreciate good food, attentive service and a beautiful place to retreat to at the end of the day. It’s also a wonderful option for experienced travellers who feel they have seen a lot of the world and are looking for something properly different. Four days passed very quickly, and I would highly recommend every one of them.
Plan your Amazon journey
Just the cruise, or the flights, Lima, Cusco and Machu Picchu arranged around it — tell us what you have in mind and we’ll shape the rest.
About the author
Jennie Ready is a travel consultant at Fine Travel, and cruising is her speciality: she has been selling cruises for more than 20 years, almost all of them with Fine Travel. She has qualified to Ambassador and Masters level with CLIA, and is a certified Silversea Luxury Specialist, a Viking Cruises “Warrior of Wisdom”, a graduate of the Seabourn Academy and a Princess Academy Certified expert. Originally from the UK, she also plans Business Class travel to the UK and Europe for Fine Travel clients.
Established in 2000, Fine Travel is a member of the Travel Agents Association of New Zealand (TAANZ), the Cruise Line Industry Association (CLIA) and IATA Accredited.