What to see in Cusco
7 h route3 stopsBest: Museums in the afternoon: the groups arrive in the morningUpdated July 2026
Cusco’s walls tell the story without needing a museum: almost any building in the centre has its lower three or four metres in Inca stone and the rest in adobe and colonial balcony. Learning to read that seam is what pays off most here.
From there, everything else sorts into two layers: the Inca, in the foundations and on the outskirts, and the colonial, mostly churches and a school of painting with its own name and its own rules.
The route, stop by stop
3 STOPS- 01
The church of La Compañía
It stands on the Plaza de Armas itself, beside the cathedral, and it’s the finest example of Andean baroque there is. It was built over the palace of the Inca Huayna Cápac, following the usual pattern: new power on top of the site of the old.
The story that explains it is that the Jesuits made it so spectacular the bishop complained it was eclipsing the cathedral, and the matter went to Rome. The Pope sided with the bishop, but by the time the letter arrived the façade was finished.
It remains more impressive than the cathedral and everyone knows it.
- 02
San Blas and its workshops
Climbing from the square you reach San Blas, a quarter of steep lanes and white houses with blue balconies where the religious-image workshops settled and the craft workshops remain. It’s the prettiest part of the centre to walk, and also the steepest, which at this altitude is not a minor detail.
Its church is small and says nothing from outside, but inside is a pulpit carved from a single piece of cedar considered the finest carving on the continent.
Legend says an ill indigenous craftsman made it and was cured. The skull crowning the work is said to be his.
- 03
San Pedro market
The city’s produce market, in an iron-framed building, and where you see what Cusco actually eats. The section that surprises is the tubers: Peru has over three thousand potato varieties and dozens are here, in every colour and size, with names in Quechua.
At the back are the juice stalls, where you pick the fruit and they make it in front of you, and the row of soup stands, which is what the people working here have for breakfast.
It’s a working market and not a gourmet one: go early and with respect for those doing their shopping.
Frequently asked
What is the Cusco tourist ticket?
A combined ticket giving access to a set of archaeological sites and museums in the city and the Sacred Valley, Sacsayhuamán included. There are partial versions and a general one with different validity. It does not cover Machu Picchu or Qorikancha, which are paid separately.