Cusco Ruins & City Tour

After a brief stop to admire the views of the city below us and to rest, we will continue our descent to the artisans’ quarter of San Blas, with its narrow, cobbled streets and picturesque church which boasts a true jewel of colonial art in the form of its pulpit, which was carved from a single piece of cedar by the Cusco-born artist Juan Tomás Tuyro Tupaq.

Continuing our walk, we will head for the church of Santo Domingo, which was built by the Dominican order over the Inca Temple of the Sun, or Koricancha. Here we will be able to enjoy some of the finest Inca stonework found anywhere in Peru. After this excursion we will end the afternoon in the city’s main square, where we will have time to visit the cathedral built by the Spanish in the 16th and 17th centuries, as well as the fine Jesús, José y Maria chapel, which is home to several paintings from the Cusco School and other colonial-era treasures made from silver or carved from wood.

This program begins at 9:00 a.m. and ends at approximately 4:00 p.m. It is available every day throughout the year.

During the City Tour of the city of Cusco (Cultural Patrimony of the Humanity and Capital of the Tahuantinsuyo) you will visit:

The Cathedral of Cusco. Located in the historical center of the city of Cusco. It was built between the years 1560 and 1664, with enormous blocks of stone brought from Sacsayhuamán, on the foundations of the Suntur Wasi. It presents a front of Renaissance style that contrasts with the baroque and plateresque of its lavish interiors where the most significant religious samples of colonial art are conserved.

Qoricancha. Inca temple to the Sun God on which the temple and convent of Santo Domingo rises. In the interior of this Inca temple the best samples of the Andean cosmovision and numerous paintings of the Cusco school are exhibited. Currently this archaeological site is owned by the Dominican religious, a religious order of the Catholic Church founded by Santo Domingo de Guzman.

Sacsayhuaman. Inca ceremonial temple built during the government of Pachacútec and Huayna Cápac. It is located 2 kilometers northeast of the city of Cusco. And it is built with cyclopean stones that weigh hundreds of tons. Sacsayhuamán is distributed in platforms (bastions), towers, doors, platforms, reservoirs and an immense esplanade where the Inti Raymi (the celebration to the sun) is celebrated every June 24.

Qenqo. Located 4 km northeast of the Inca city of Cusco. Etymologically, it means labyrinth or zigzag. It fulfilled a purely religious function. On the outside there is a semicircular amphitheater with trapezoidal niches and a monolith that was probably a puma.

Puca Pucara. Military construction located near the city of Cusco. It is composed of large walls, terraces and staircases that served as a defensive complex of the Inca city of Cusco. Puca Pucara receives its name in Quechua of “Red Fortress”, due to the red color that the rocks acquire during the twilight.

Tambomachay. Located 8 km northeast of the wonderful city of Cusco, on the Tambomachay River and close to the main road to Antisuyo. It was a temple to water and a resting place for the Inca nobility. It is made up of a set of finely carved stone structures, aqueducts (canals) and waterfalls from nearby springs and hot springs.