Huancaya is a small town in the Lima Region of Peru, located in the province of Yauyos in the country's central highlands. It sits at high altitude in the Nor Yauyos-Cochas Landscape Reserve, a protected area established to conserve the headwaters of the Cañete River basin.
The town is best known for its surrounding landscape of turquoise lagoons, waterfalls and wetlands, formed where the Cañete River and its tributaries cut through the Andean terrain. The area's series of cascades and pools, sometimes described as the "Huancaya waterfalls," is the feature most often associated with the town.
Huancaya is reached by road from Lima via the province of Yauyos, a journey through mountainous terrain. Its economy and local life are tied largely to agriculture and, increasingly, to visitors drawn to the reserve's scenery.