In case you’re wondering if you should stay a night or two in Trujillo before making your way to Huanchaco, then you could probably spare yourself the effort. Budget places to stay are hard to find and noise, traffic and harassment can be a nuisance. But of course Trujillo has something to offer and a half- or full day trip from Huanchaco is a good idea. Trujillo is very easy to reach by bus so there is absolutely no obstruction for pleasantly staying in Huanchaco and daytripping Trujillo. On top of seeing the colonial buildings there are some more reasons why Trujillo could be worth a visit.
Colonial center and Plaza de Armas
The ‘Plaza de Armas’ (central square/park) has benches, a monument, some trees and a couple of nice colonial buildings that surround it. Most of Trujillo’s colonial mansions (casonas) and churches are to be found in the proximity. On Wikipedia some suggestions are made.
From the Plaza de Armas the pedestrian-only shopping street ‘Avenida Pizarro’ offers possibilities for shopping or comfortably sit down for a coffee.
Left-over parts of the old city wall are to be found at Avenida España but they might be a bit of a disappointment.
Museums
Trujillo has some interesting museums like the toy museum (Museo del Juguete) which includes a beautiful bar, Museo de Zoología , Museo de Arqueología and Museo de Arte Moderno.
Mercado Mayorista
The huge indoor market of Trujillo, Mercado Mayorista, has everything Peru has to offer and makes for an interesting visit even if not looking for something in particular. The area around the market serves as one big commercial zone with whole streets dedicated to specific groups of products. The market is easily reached by bus from Huanchaco.
Mall Plaza
This modern mall is at Huanchaco’s side of Trujillo and therefor reachable in only 15 minutes by bus. The mall is a pleasant modern getaway with some high end clothing shops, a RipCurl, Billabong and Quicksilver store, a big modern supermarket TOTTUS, hardware store SODIMAC, a hobby store, a bookstore with books in English and a lot of western food chains (McDonald’s, KFC, Pizzahut, Starbucks,…).
The cinema in the mall plays the latest movies with normally a movie in English too.
The mall gets very lively at Saturday evening and Sunday, often even with live music or other performances.
Nightlife
Trujillo has some nightclubs to go out on weekends. Most popular is Ama. A place to enjoy live music, food and dance performance is Canana.
