Cusco Sightseeing

There is so much to see in Cusco and in the surrounding area that the number of attractions almost becomes overwhelming. Some years ago someone had the thought of selling a combined ticket which would allow visitors to visit everything. It never quite worked like that because a few attractions refused to join but it covered enough and was priced appropriately to make it a good buy. That changed somewhat when the Archdiocese of Cusco took the cathedral, the church of San Blas and the religious art museum out of the ticket. It was not helped either when the price almost doubled in 2007.

Never-the-less the ticket is still useful if you are planning a reasonable stay in Cusco and surroundings and plan to see many of the attractions. The "Tourist Ticket" of Cusco or Boleto Turistico is required to visit almost all of the Incan ruins in the Cusco Valley or "Sacred Valley", as well as the many of the interesting museums within Cusco itself. The ticket is good for 10 days, which is plenty of time to see just about all of the sites.

The places you can visit with the ticket are in three separate categories. Within Cusco City there is the Museum of Contemporary Arts, Museum of Popular Arts, Site Museum of Qoriqancha, Monument of Pachacutea, Regional Historic Museum, and Center of Native Arts and Dance. Then there are the four Incan Ruins near Cusco: Sacsayhuamán, Quenqo, Tambomachay, Tipón, Pikillaqta. Finally there are the Inca sites in the Sacred Valley: Pisac, Ollantaytambo, Chinchero.

Foreign visitors should expect to pay about S/. 140 (about $45 USD), Peruvian nationals pay S/. 70 with National ID. There is a discount for students under the age of 28, so take your current student ID for a potential discount.

The Tourist Ticket can be bought at Avenida El Sol 103 of 102 (Tourist Galleries), opposite InfoPeru. This is in the first block after leaving the Plaza de Armas, on the left hand side if you are walking from the Plaza. You can also buy it at an office at the corner of Calle Garcilaso and Plaza Recogcio. The ticket can be bought at almost all the sites with the exception of Historical Regional Museum, Centre Qosqo of Native Art, Tipon and Pikillaqta. You can only buy your ticket using soles (not dollars).

If you are interested in only Cusco’s cathedral, Inca Museum, Museo de Arte Precolombino and Temple of the Sun, the tourist ticket is no use. The Temple of the Sun, arguably Cusco’s most fabulous sight, levies its own admission price and is not part of the ticket. The Inca Museum and Museo de Arte Precolombino also charge admission independently. The cathedral can be visited separately or you can buy an integrated ticket to visit it, the church of San Blas and the religious art museum. This is what we did but it would have been just as good to buy individual admission because we didn’t make it to the San Blas church.

One of Cusco’s most extraordinary monuments, is the Santo Domingo and Qoricancha. The baroque church of Santo Domingo was built on the foundations of what was once the Inca Temple of the Sun or the Qoricancha, in an architecture that is symbolic of the Mestizo culture. It was here that the highest order of the Inca Empire came to worship the sun and observe the stars. When the Spaniards invaded, they demolished the temple and used the Inca walls for the foundation of the Church. It is one of the most jarring architectural juxtapositions you will see. Fortunately, today some of the cloister has been gutted to reveal the exquisitely crafted Inca stonework beneath.

Santo Domingo was built in the 17th century but the uninspiring Baroque decoration of the church makes a poor contrast to the superbly crafted Inca masonry. An ingenious restoration after the 1953 earthquake now reveals four of the original chambers of the great Inca Temple. Some of the finest Inca stonework in existence today is seen in the curved wall beneath the west end of the Church.

It is reported that in Inca times the walls of the temple were lined with 700 solid-gold sheets weighing two kilos a piece. There were life-size gold and silver replicas of corn, golden llamas, figurines and jars. Much of the wealth was removed to pay ransom for the captive Inca ruler but this was wasted effort because the Spanish murdered him anyway. All that remains today is the stonework; the conquistadors took the rest - unfortunately all the exquisite treasures ended up being melted down; nothing survived.

However the first conquistadors to arrive did not remove the holiest religious symbol of the empire, the golden sun disc, though they reported its existence. This solid gold disc, far larger than a man, mysteriously vanished before the main party of Spaniards arrived. It has never been found to the present day. The disc was positioned to catch the morning sun and throw its rays into the gold-lined temple, filling it with radiant light and bathing the mummies of the dead Inca rulers in sunshine which were seated in niches along the walls.

The entire temple complex was also an intricate celestial observatory. Every summer solstice, the sun's rays shine directly into a niche - the tabernacle - in which only the Inca was permitted to sit. Along with the main temple dedicated to the Sun, there were others for the adoration of lesser deities - the Moon, Venus, Thunder and Lightning, and the Rainbow.

We enjoyed the Incan ruins, the gardens, and the modern art gallery. One of our favorite parts was the large mural that depicted the various constellations as the Incans saw and named them. Don’t miss it.

Some visitors use Cusco purely as a stopping point n the way to Machu Picchu but this is a mistake. One of the joys of this city is to explore the many narrow cobblestone streets with their colourful terra-cotta roofed buildings. If you are not acclimatised to the altitude, this can be a real problem.


The central city is most enjoyable explored on foot. Even many of the streets which are open to traffic are so narrow that it’s simply faster to walk than to drive. One problem, however, is that streets change names every few blocks and this has been further complicated by the city erecting new street signs with old Quechua names to highlight its Inca heritage. These naturally bear no relationship to the common Spanish names that everyone still uses to designate addresses.


I strongly suggest you walk the narrow, steep streets which lead north from the Plaza de Armas to the San Blas district. This area has recently been restored and the white-washed adobe homes with bright-blue doors shine in the sun. Many of the stone streets are built as stairs or slopes not suitable for cars so it is pleasant, but exhausting, walking. The area is known as Cusco's artisans' quarter since many of the best craftsmen have their workshops and small art galleries in the cobbled, narrow streets surrounding the 16th-century church of San Blas. It is believed that this area was also the artists' district even during the Inca times, with the streets filled with the best gold- and silver-smiths, potters, painters and carvers from throughout the Inca empire.


San Blas church, founded in 1562, is of simple adobe construction but it contains an extraordinary wood pulpit once claimed to be carved from a single massive tree trunk. This is now disputed. At the top stands Saint Paul, his foot resting on a human skull, believed to belong to the craftsman who made the pulpit.


San Blas really comes to life in the evenings when the bars and restaurants open. It is wise, however, not to walk the pedestrian-only streets late at night because of possible opportunistic thieves. The area above the fountain to the northeast of the plaza is a good place to take advantage of the view out over Cusco and the red tiled rooftops. On Saturdays there is a handicraft market in the square.

One of the things that impresses everyone about the Inca civilization is the amazing stonework that they constructed. You can see a great example of this right in the centre of Cusco. Hatun Rumiyoc ("the Street of the Great Stone" in Quechua) is a narrow pedestrianized alley which runs to the north of the palace of Inca Roca, the sixth Inca. The massive Inca wall of the palace is well preserved and contains the famous 12-angled stone which is located about halfway along the wall. The stone is famous for its size and incredible workmanship since it fits perfectly with its neighbouring stone blocks. The 12-angled stone can also be seen on every bottle of Cusqueña beer!!

The quality of the stonework is most impressive. Around the world, no other ancient or modern civilization that I have seen had the technique, skills and ease to carve lithic material as Quechuas did in this corner of the earth. There are still some doubts about the way stones were fitted so precisely. Those doubts are based on the lack of chronicles or detailed ancient records about those techniques.

What is clear is that prior to executing any construction, Incan craftsmen made some sketches and designs, and scale models or maquettes. An indication of this advance planning is the large numbers of maquettes found in almost all the archaeological museums in the country; they are carved in stone or made in pottery.

The most feasible idea indicates that work was very slow but effective and, as is normal, walls were started by the lower part taking care of just the lateral fits. The following upper row was more complex because stones had to fit laterally as well as in the lower joints. The upper faces of lower stones were carved slowly bumping them with stone hammers according to the shape of the inferior surface of upper stones. The work was relatively simple when manipulating small or medium stones, because they could be placed or tried many times; but problems arose when working with megalithic boulders of dozens and even hundreds of tons.

Somehow the Inca managed to achieve a level of sophistication in their stonework that has been unsurpassed. Today we can only marvel at the results. You can see it at every Inca site but this wall in the centre of Cusco is a marvellous example for everyone to see without having to do the usual climbing.

The Museo Inka (Inca Museum), also known as the Archaeological Museum of Cusco run by the San Antonio Abad University, contains artefacts that trace Peruvian history from pre-Inca civilizations and Inca culture to the impact of the Conquest and colonial times on these native cultures. It is a Cusco highlight. By its name you might be mislead into thinking that this museum is solely devoted to the Incas, but it is not.

The building was once the palace of Admiral Francisco Aldrete Maldonado, hence its common designation as the Palacio del Almirante (Admiral's Palace). The palace itself is one of Cusco's finest colonial mansions, with a superbly ornate portal indicating the importance of its owner. The entrance into the building is through this plateresque portal that is highly regarded for artistic reasons.


The building has a beautiful courtyard which is a studio for women weaving traditional textiles and it is also where souvenirs are sold. Prices are quite expensive but the quality is high. The mansion was built on top of an Inca palace at the beginning of the 17th century. It was completely rebuilt after the 1950 earthquake.

The main draw of this archaeological museum is its collection of Inca mummies, but the entire facility is Cusco's best introduction to pre-Columbian Andean culture, including the rich cultures that thrived before the Incas. There are many well presented dioramas of Pre-Columbian life. We had little knowledge of these earlier civilizations and found the information very useful.

We were intrigued by many items in the museum including the elongated heads of the nobles, caused by having the head bound at birth. One room is dedicated to the story of Mamakuka and it documents indigenous people’s use of the coca leaf for religious and medicinal purposes.

The museum's other exhibits include ceramics, textiles, vases, jewelry, architectural models, and an interesting collection (reputed to be the world's largest) of Inca drinking vessels (qeros) carved out of wood, many meticulously painted. We found the museum very useful as we knew little about the earlier civilizations and we wanted to know more about the Inca before setting out to the various ruins in the region.

The museum is open from 9am to 5pm from Monday to Friday. On Saturday it closes at 4pm and on Sunday it is closed. It costs 10 soles to enter. An English-speaking guide is a good investment.