The question most people ask is what vaccines Peru requires. The more useful question is what your particular itinerary requires, because the answer changes completely depending on whether you go down into the jungle.

This is general information, not medical advice. Vaccination decisions belong to you and a travel health professional, ideally six to eight weeks before you fly.

Peru does not require any vaccine to enter

Start here, because it is the source of most confusion. Peru does not ask arriving travellers for a yellow fever certificate, whatever route you come in on.

Recommended and required are two different things. Everything below is recommendation, based on where you are going and what your own health situation is.

Yellow fever: it depends on the jungle, not on Peru

This is the one that actually matters, and the rule is geographic.

If your trip is Lima, Cusco, the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu and any of the treks, you are in the highlands. The mosquito that carries yellow fever does not thrive at those altitudes, and vaccination is generally not considered necessary for that itinerary.

If you add the Amazon basin, the picture changes. For Puerto Maldonado, Iquitos or Manu National Park, yellow fever vaccination is recommended.

Two practical points. The vaccine takes about ten days to become effective, so it has to be arranged well before you enter the jungle, not the week you fly. And a single dose is now generally considered to give lifelong protection, so if you have had it before you may well be covered already.

The certificate matters for where you go next

Peru will not ask for it, but neighbouring countries might. Brazil, Bolivia and several African countries can require proof of yellow fever vaccination from travellers arriving from a risk area.

If Peru is one leg of a longer trip, check the requirements of the next country before you book, not at the airport.

The routine ones worth checking

Most travel health services suggest making sure your standard vaccinations are current before any trip of this kind: tetanus and diphtheria, measles, mumps and rubella, and polio.

Hepatitis A and typhoid are commonly recommended for Peru, because both are linked to food and water rather than to a specific region.

Hepatitis B and rabies come up for longer stays, for work involving contact with animals, or for trips well off the usual routes. They are a conversation with your clinic rather than a default.

Malaria

Malaria is not a concern in the highlands. Cusco, the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu are not malaria areas.

It can be relevant in parts of the Amazon lowlands, and whether prophylaxis is advised depends on exactly where you are going and for how long. That is a question for a travel clinic with your itinerary in front of them.

Either way, covering up at dusk and using repellent does more day to day than any tablet.

What to do, in order

Write down your actual itinerary first, with altitudes and regions. The advice you get is only as good as the detail you provide.

Book a travel health appointment six to eight weeks before departure. Some vaccines need time, and some need more than one dose.

Take your vaccination record with you, so nobody guesses at what you have already had.

And carry the yellow fever certificate if you get the jab, in the same place you keep your passport. It is a small card that is very annoying to be without at a border.

Reviewed September 2026. Health recommendations change: confirm with a travel health professional and your national health authority before travelling.