Ayabaca's pleasures are mostly outdoors and in the surrounding mountains. In town, the main stop is the church on the Plaza Central — home to the Señor Cautivo, the legendary wooden Christ that draws tens of thousands of pilgrims to Ayabaca every October — and the small municipal museum. Outside town, the Inca ceremonial site at Aypate is the most significant archaeological site in northern Peru, and the walk up Cerro Yantuma is the classic afternoon excursion. The petroglyphs of Samanga and the Bosque de Cuyas cloud forest are both accessible by mototaxi.