In which South American country can you find not one, but two, canyons deeper than the Grand Canyon in the US?

The scenery and vistas found in Peru will steal your breath, from the snow-capped peaks of the Andes to the seemingly endless Amazon jungle, which covers around 60% of the country. But when it comes to jaw-dropping vistas, Peru’s two deepest canyons are unmatched.

Within a bus ride of Machu Picchu is a fissure nearly twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. Home to soaring condors, endless trekking routes (hiking trails) and Spanish, Inca and Pre-Inca traditions little altered since the conquistadors arrived in the 1570s, Colca Canyon, at 10,730 feet (3270 m) deep, beats the Grand Canyon’s 6,000 feet (1828 m) by a wide margin. It is Peru’s third most-visited tourist destination (after Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail), with approximately 120,000 visitors a year. Slicing through the High Andes for over 43 miles (70 km). Colca, despite those impressive numbers, is not even the world’s deepest canyon.

Deeper still is nearby Cotahuasi Canyon, with a depth of 11,004 feet (3,354 m). Cotahuasi Canyon was cut by the Coatahuisi River, which has headwaters in Lake Wansuqucha. The lake itself lies nearly 15,580 feet (3 miles, or 5.2 km) above sea level. Reached from the nearest city of Arequipa by overnight bus, partly on unpaved roads, the entire trek to the bottom of Cotahuasi takes 10-12 hours. The buses head out daily between 4 and 6 pm. Relatively few make the trip, but those who do never forget it.

The photo shows an Andean Condor soaring above a Colca Canyon overlook.