The Amazon has long been the subject of legends, with tales of lost cities like El Dorado—and the prospect of the fame and fortune of being the first to find them and looting their rumored untold riches—captivating explorers for centuries.
Such auromania (an obsession with looking for gold) has sparked countless historical expeditions across each of the nine South American countries in which the Amazon Rainforest can be found (Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana).
While most of these so-called ‘lost cities’ of the Amazon have been relegated to legend, research suggests some are more than just myth. Recent scientific discoveries have revealed that some may be rooted in reality, and that the Amazon did in fact host highly sophisticated urban societies.
There is also the question as to whether these cities were ever really lost at all. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that indigenous peoples in the Amazon are well aware of their location, thanks to knowledge passed down for generations, but for whatever reason—whether it be spiritual reasons, a desire to remain uncontacted, or perhaps directions being given but lost-in-translation—this knowledge has never been imparted (accurately) with explorers.
Below are seven of the world’s most storied lost cities that remain shrouded in mystery and may still lie hidden—to the Western World at least—somewhere beneath the Amazon’s dense canopy.
The Amazon’s secrets lie hidden within its emerald depths. Imagine what ancient wonders await discovery in this majestic, untamed wilderness.
El Dorado, or ‘The City of Gold,’ as it has been dubbed, is undoubtedly the most famous lost city of the Amazon. The first accounts of El Dorado were written in the 16th century by Spanish colonists in the Americas, but even within the space of 30 years its rumored location had changed from Ecuador to Colombia, and what’s more, its very meaning had evolved—some describing El Dorado as a man, others a lake, and even a valley.
From there on out, stories of an unimaginably wealthy city became increasingly embellished and whether its original location was once known or not, by 1849 its whereabouts was so mythologized that famous writer Edgar Allan Poe offered in his poem “Eldorado” the fantastical directions “Over the Mountains of the Moon, down the Valley of the Shadow, ride, boldly ride … if you seek for Eldorado.”
But this lost city of gold in the Amazon may be more than just a myth. Modern historians have uncovered a people called the Muisca who lived in the Andes mountains of modern-day Colombia whose traditions give a possible explanation.
To appease Chía, their goddess of the Moon and waters, the chief was anointed in gold dust and paddled across Lake Guatavita—considered sacred by the Muisca—on a raft, all the while tossing gold and emerald offerings into the lake below, before finally jumping into the waters himself.
So does El Dorado exist? Perhaps not in a tangible sense. But based on what we now know today, it’s easy to see how a legendary gilded figure could have been morphed by man’s imagination into a golden city — and become one of the most enduring tales of lost cities in the Amazon.
The serene waters of Lake Guatavita hold the enduring legend of El Dorado, a testament to the Amazon’s capacity for myth and mystery that continues to inspire.
Based on early histories of South America, indigenous sources, and his own explorations of the Amazon region, British surveyor Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett, set out on an expedition to the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso accompanied his son Jack and close friend Raleigh Rimmel, convinced that he would find the remnants of a long-lost civilization he dubbed simply ‘Z.’
The expedition began on April 20, 1925. His wife Nina, received a letter from him just over a month later, on May 29. It would be the last anyone heard from the trio, and the expedition was declared lost two years later in 1927.
What followed was one of the most enduring mysteries of the 20th century. Since Percy Fawcett and his expeditioners mysteriously vanished, there have been hundreds of attempts to locate their final remains and possible destination.
Dozens of theories have been proposed and discarded, from assassinations to illness, starvation, and natural causes. But while most of these clues have led to dead ends, scientific evidence for Z’s existence has not.
Researchers recently uncovered an archeological site named Kuhikugu located near the headwaters of the Xingu River. This is very close to where Fawcett and his expeditioners would have crossed on their doomed search for the Lost City of Z. When scientists used scanning technology like lidar to survey the site, they discovered more than 20 unique settlements across roughly 7,700 square miles.
Whether Z truly exists remains uncertain. And yet, Fawcett’s instincts may have been more than fantasy. Time will prove the value of his final expedition — but the jungle keeps its secrets well.
The unwavering determination of Colonel Percy Fawcett, seen here, fueled his legendary quest for the Lost City of Z, inspiring generations to seek the Amazon’s hidden wonders.
While technically not part of the Amazon Rainforest, the province of Bahia in northeastern Brazil does contain stretches of South America’s Atlantic Rainforest, and its lost city will forever be inextricably linked with Fawcett’s search for ‘Z’, having dubbed it a secondary goal once he’d found ‘Z’ after learning of its supposed existence in Manuscript 512 (although he didn’t rule out it being one and the same site).
The enigmatic manuscript was discovered in 19th-century Rio de Janeiro, and recounts an expedition in 1753 by a bandeirante (explorer) who claimed to have found a ruined city deep in Brazil’s interior—believed to be in the province of Bahia—characterized by multi-story buildings, arches, sculptures, and inscriptions.
The manuscript describes a main square with a column featuring a figure pointing north, and a golden archway with characters resembling ancient Mediterranean or Greek script, suggesting a highly developed, non-indigenous civilization in pre-Hispanic Brazil.
Despite various expeditions mounted to find this “Lost City of Bahia” the city described in Manuscript 512 has never been definitively located. The manuscript’s detailed yet fantastical descriptions have led some to believe it’s a hoax or a fabrication, while others argue it describes a genuine lost civilization, perhaps one that was highly advanced and had connections to Old World cultures.
Its mysterious nature and the associated disappearance of Fawcett continues to fuel speculation and searches for its Greco-Roman riches in the vast Brazilian wilderness.
Could this ancient Manuscript 512, describing a forgotten city in Bahia, be the key to unlocking the Amazon’s greatest secrets? Its faded script hints at incredible discoveries awaiting us. Source: Wikimedia Commons, Fundação Biblioteca Nacional http://acervo.bndigital.bn.br/sophia/index.asp?codigo_sophia=497
Paititi, sometimes referenced as El Dorado, has fascinated the Western world for over 500 years. You’ve likely encountered its mythos before — The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, video games like Tomb Raider, and even TV shows like UnXplained have incorporated its legend into pop culture.
According to local accounts, Paititi was a sanctuary city shrouded deep in the Peruvian rainforest to hide Incan riches from Spanish conquistadors. Legend has it the city is ruled by a divinely undying hero named Inkarri, who served as the last true ruler of the Incan people.
But what makes Paititi unique from other lost cities is its strong history of evidence and oral accounts. One such example stems from a missionary named Andres Lopez, who wrote a letter to the Vatican in 1600. The note describes a hidden city rich with gold, silver, and jewels, which the locals referred to as Paititi.
Upon the letter’s discovery in 2002, there have been numerous attempts to explore the jungles of southeast Peru. French explorer Thierry Jamin discovered large geoglyphs and petroglyphs he believes to be a map showing the location of Paititi, in the vicinity of the Megantoni National Sanctuary. Another expeditioner, Vincent Pélissier, claimed to have found the lost city in 2015 but supposedly suffered a ransomware attack that permanently destroyed any directions to the site.
While the Megantoni region remains a focal point for most expeditions, other researchers have begun to suggest alternative locations, including areas in northern Bolivia and northwest Brazil, but as yet archeologists have investigated multiple dig sites to no avail.
To this day, Paititi has never been definitively located, but scientists believe they’re on the right path. As to whether or not there are ‘vast riches’ to find, only the unforgiving jungle knows.
Are these enigmatic petroglyphs the breadcrumbs leading to the legendary lost city of Paititi? Each symbol whispers tales of a forgotten civilization, waiting to be understood.
Source: Turismo Inkaiko SRL, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Few lost cities stir as much controversy — or as many questions — as Akakor.
In 1977, German photojournalist Karl Brugger published a book entitled The Chronicles Of Akakor. It describes meeting a man named Tatunca Nara in a Brazilian market, who claimed to hail from an ancient society. He felt inspired to bring adventurers to the lost city of Akakor and believed it was time to share his secret with the world.
Nara described a city surrounded by high stone walls and a vast tunnel system, watched over by skeletons with six fingers instead of five. He also claimed to have maps and scrolls of ancient writing, which scientists didn’t believe should exist during that period of history.
It was a tale too fantastical to ignore. Dozens of people set out to find the mysterious settlement, although none were successful. At least three explorers, each of them highly experienced, perished searching for the lost city. Brugger himself was gunned down outside a Rio de Janeiro restaurant under circumstances that remain unresolved.
The story came to a head in 1993 when author Rüdiger Nehberg published Der selbstgemachte Häuptling (The Self-Made Chieftain). Nehberg discovered Nara was actually named Günther Hauck, a man who emigrated from Germany to avoid alimony after a divorce. The once incredulous narrative fell under heavy criticism, and today, is widely regarded with suspicion.
And yet, Akakor refuses to fade into obscurity. It continues to inspire documentaries and conspiracy theories, as well as popular movies such as Indiana Jones. For many, it remains a symbol of the unknowable — a testament to the Amazon’s power to blur the line between history and legend.
Deep within this impenetrable Amazonian jungle lies the enduring legend of Akakor. Could its hidden pathways still lead to a lost civilization, waiting to be revealed?
In 2024, archeologists uncovered 15 unique settlements across 120 square miles in the Upano River Valley. Excavations have revealed roads, ceremonial structures, and relics such as jars, grinding stones, and burned seeds. At one time, scientists believed there was an urban population of 10,000 people or more.
The lost Upano Valley cities also had a higher level of sophistication than was initially thought possible for remote communities living in the Amazon. Modern scanning technology has identified flood barriers designed to stop annual flooding across 60+ square miles, embankment gaps to catch fish grounded from floodwaters, and canals and causeways to drain excess water into nearby streams. There were also complex neighborhoods made up of different societal classes, including fortresses created for the elite and ceremonial huts for spiritual leaders.
Archaeologists continue investigations into the artifacts, clay pottery, and other remnants of this ancient civilization. This means, for now, the Upano Valley remains closed to casual visitors.
The lush landscape of the Upano Valley, seen here, once concealed a network of ancient cities. Its recent revelation inspires us to ponder what other Amazonian secrets still await discovery.
Long before the Maya and Andean cultures, the Casarabe people (dating back to 400 AD) were building a mud-brick supercity along the Llanos de Mojos in the Bolivian jungle. Scientists believe the city was abandoned nearly 600 years prior in the 1400s — at least a century before the recorded Spanish occupation.
Why did the Casarabe abandon their homes? Archeologists don’t know for sure. However, the existence of large reservoirs suggests widespread drought, which may have destroyed crops and animals and forced any surviving people to leave.
Today, archeologists have investigated 1,700 miles of what they call ‘Amazonian urbanism’: a network of cities containing residential houses, monumental platforms, and pyramid architecture. They rely on technologies such as airborne lidar to take snapshots of the landscape without damaging the environment.
In 2022, scientists uncovered 11 new sites thanks to the simplicity and speed of this scanning technology. They’ve uncovered artificial terraces, civic and ceremonial buildings, and even cone-shaped pyramids once stretching over 70 feet into the air.
These specific sites remain inaccessible to the public.
From above, the Amazon’s vastness conceals secrets. Imagine ancient Casarabe cities hidden beneath this endless green, waiting to be rediscovered within the heart of this incredible landscape.
It’s been nearly 600 years since the Western exploration of the Amazon began, and yet, the world remains enthralled by tales of lost cities and vanished fortunes. Thoughts of crumbling temples, unclaimed riches, and hidden secrets have captivated scientists, archeologists, and tourists alike, and today many international travelers opt for expeditions of their own by Amazon river cruise.
While it’s unlikely you’ll find a long-lost city on such a trip, there are cruise itineraries in the Brazilian Amazon that bring you face to face with the ‘forgotten’ city of Velho Airão, and, of course, there is also a particularly popular destination in Peru called Machu Picchu, the so-called “Lost City of the Incas”, that can be easily visited in conjunction with any Peruvian Amazon cruise.
Velho Airão is a poignant historical site located on the banks of the Negro River in Brazil’s Amazonas state, approximately 180-250 km northwest of Manaus. Originally founded by the Portuguese in 1694, it holds the distinction of being one of the earliest colonial settlements in northern Brazil. While not a ‘city of gold’ in the El Dorado sense, Velho Airão was sometimes referred to as a city of white gold, given its inextricable link to the Amazonian rubber boom when it flourished as a pivotal collection and distribution hub for the white-colored latex tapped from the rubber trees in surrounding region.
However, Velho Airão’s prosperity was short-lived. Following the collapse of the Amazonian rubber industry after 1945, the town went bankrupt and was gradually abandoned, with its last official resident reportedly leaving in 1985. For two decades thereafter, the Brazilian Navy utilized the deserted town for firing practices, further contributing to its deterioration. Fortunately, in 2005, Velho Airão was listed as a historic landmark by IPHAN, the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage, granting its ruins official protection.
Today, Velho Airão exists as an evocative “ghost town,” a striking example of the rainforest’s relentless reclamation of human structures, but it is occupied by a single resident who shares the history of its aging ruins with visitors.
The haunting beauty of Velho Airão’s ruins invites you to step into history and experience the Amazon’s lost cities firsthand. Imagine the stories these walls could tell!
One not-so-lost city located in the cloud forest where the Andes meets the Amazon that certainly can be visited is the UNESCO World Heritage site of Machu Picchu. Famously mislabeled as the “Lost City of the Incas”, it remained hidden from the Spanish after their conquest of the Inca Empire in the 16th century, and later from the broader historical and scientific community until its ‘rediscovery’ by American explorer Hiram Bingham III in 1911—found with the help of directions from the local indigenous communities who clearly still knew of its existence.
Despite its fame, remarkably an estimated 60-70% of Machu Picchu is still hidden under vegetation and earth, so some of the the site technically still remains ‘lost’ and inaccessible for the time being, but with advances in technology and greater archaeological funding, the site is slowly being excavated, with several newly refurbished sets of terraces being made available to the public for the first time in as recently as 2011.
To experience this ‘rediscovered’ city with an expert private guide, ask our destination specialists about how they can help you seamlessly combine a land tour extension to the majestic mountaintop citadel in conjunction with your cruise.
While not “lost” anymore, Machu Picchu’s awe-inspiring presence reminds us of the Amazon’s ancient civilizations. Experience the majesty of the Incas and imagine what other wonders await discovery!
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