"Tacna - Not a boring town!" Tacna by adelinemmc

When you cross into Peru from Chile, there's a good chance that you'll end up in Tacna.

Most people immediately board a bus to Arequipa and spend no more than a couple of hours in this town.

However, we found it to be cheap and cheerful and ideal for a stopover. There are plenty of sights to see: lovely avenues and plaza, a big craft market, casinos, a train museum and cheap hotels.

The fountain designed by Eiffel

Louis Eiffel, the guy who designed the famous tower in Paris also designed the cathedral in Tacna and a very nice art deco-style fountain in Tacna's main square, the Plaza de Armas.

Tacna has a duty free zone a bit outside town (approx 10/15 mins walk).

You can buy anything in there from shoes (average price 38 soles) to designer trainers, to cheap asian-branded electronics, to bootleg DVDs, to cycles to clothes, branded or not, etc...

Several blocks chock-full of stalls and shops await you. Beware though, there will be a custom control when you leave town (although they did not really check much)

• Pros:Great stopover town with warm climate & animated centre
• Cons:Easy to overbuy in the craft market or duty-free zone
• In a nutshell:Chilled town with lots to do