Cusco was the capital of the Inca Empire till the conquest of Spanish. Today, it is designated as the historical capital of Peru and a world heritage site. The town is the gateway to Machu Picchu and hence it has become a top tourist destination. Its location in Andes mountains also attracts lot of adventurer seeking people. During my recent Peru visit, I spent about 4 days in Cusco. In this post, I am putting the list of things that can be done by a traveler.
Walk in the historic city
The streets of the historic city are steep and narrow with colonial structures. It is here you see the buildings built over the Inca foundations. The decisive battle between Spanish invaders led by Francisco Pizarro and Incas under Atahualpa was fought here. Atahualpa was tricked to attend a peace meeting where he was captured. Pizarro demanded a room full of gold and silver in exchange to release the Inca ruler. Incas filled two rooms with gold and silver but Spanish executed Atahualpa and sacked the city of Cusco. Today, You get to see the glimpse of Inca days in the historic city.
Visit Qorikancha temple
Qorikancha, dedicated to Inti (Sun) was the most important temple of Inca Empire. Something similar to Kashi for Hindus. During its prime time, the entire temple was plated with gold and the courtyard was filled with golden statues!!
I went with great expectations but came out very depressed. It was because there was no temple at all. Spanish conquerers demolished the temple and build a church. Only the few remains of the temple exists today to tell the great history and gory details of the Spanish invasion. European conquest of Americas can be called as one of the great tragedy in human history. Millions of indigenous people were killed or murdered. The “gift” in terms of deadly diseases like Smallpox simply eliminated the entire population. These diseases were unknown in Americas and people had no immunity against these deadly viruses. Imagine few hundreds of conquers defeating the civilisation of millions of people!!
Well, I digressed a lot but travel is not just taking some photographs!!
I would still say that Qorikancha is an important place to visit in Cusco to understand the past. Get an audio guide which is well constructed. It is an app that will be downloaded on your mobile. Just take your headphones with you!!
Spend an evening at Plaza de Armas
Plaza de Armas is a very vibrant place in the evenings. Nice stone pathways, gardens and the iconic buildings of Cusco cathedral and the Church La Campania de Jesus gives the place a great feeling. Free Wi-Fi is also available!! I spent almost all evenings at this location. Most of the restaurants are also nearby.
Visit San Pedro market
It is a market for Peruvians but it is a nice place to visit to have a feel of the local culture. It is also a good place to buy some souvenirs.
Experience the ruins of Saksaywaman
This is a fortified complex located on the hill overlooking Cusco. You can either walk up the steep path from Plaza de Armas or take a taxi to the entrance. I took taxi (costs 10 soles) while going up and later walked down. It is a huge complex and some of the stones used for building are bigger than most humans. Surprising how incas carried them from the queries and placed it no nicely.
Further away from Saksaywaman are the ruins of Qenko, Pukapara and Tambomachay. You can either take a taxi or collective.
Go outside Cusco town
Lot of attractions are outside Cusco town and most people make Cusco as the base to cover these places.
Machu Picchu
Most visited place in Peru. You can read my experience here.
Sacred Valley
About an hour of drive from Cusco is the sacred valley. The valley itself spans from Pisac to Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu. You can read my experience here.
Moray and Salinas de Maras
A day trip from Cusco. You can ready my experience here.
Rainbow mountain
This has received immense popularity and now it stands as the second most visited place after Machu Picchu. The pictures in the internet pushed me to plan for this mountain but still I did not visit it for two reasons. It involved serious trekking at 5,000 meters and I felt that I was not yet fully acclimatised. When it comes to altitude, I am generally conservative as I have seen people’s vacation screwed as they did not respect altitude.
Another reason was due to the hype surrounded this mountain. While internet photos looked great, few people also shared how it looks without photoshopping. I was not very inspired by that. The fact that I had to be start at 3 AM in the morning, trek at 5,000 meters and just spend less than 10 minutes to take a selfie or portrait did not enthuse me.
Humantay lake
A beautiful lake above 4,000 meters. Unfortunately, I could not visit it due to lack of time.
Few points to keep in mind
- Cusco is a big city but it is the historic part that is touristic. It makes full sense to stay in that area. Else, if you will away from all “actions”.
- Cusco is at the altitude of 3.399 meters above sea level. Take it easy for first day especially if you reached Cusco flying directly from sea level.
- Most of the historical areas can be reached by walk. For areas faraway, taxi are reliable. They are also quite cheap. Public transport is bit confusing.
- At least 8 days are needed to see Cusco and the surrounding areas. With 4 days, I could only visit few important places.
- Tickets are required to enter most ruins. The 10 day Cusco tourist ticket provides entrance to most ruins in Cusco and sacred valley. (Except Machu Picchu and Qorikancha)
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