The Cusco region is a truly magical place! Awesome archaeology, history, nature, road traveling, gastronomy and much more. On this article we will tell you about 8 places you must see on a first time in Cusco. We are sure you will be so marveled!
Machu Picchu
The wonderful citadel at the heights of the Urubamba river valley, between the clouds. Originally built as a luxury resort for the Inca elite and also as a place for special religious rituals, the site has become one of the top 5 destinations in the world. There is a marvelous natural and architectonic beauty, nice warm weather, a lot of history, culture to be learned and the complex is awash in quietude and mountain energy flow. Quite close to an earthly paradise. We offer the famous Inca Trails to Machu Picchu and a great variety of classic tours as well. For the latter, visitors can choose among several excellent trains, from the economical to the 5-star.
Maras Salt Mines
A quite unique place, located in the middle of an enchanting mountainous landscape. These are large salt deposits, which were a resource in Inca times and before (salt had many uses, for example to make foods last longer, flavoring of course, etc). Ideal for amazing pictures and videos, for a relaxing, energizing walk too. People can even buy the famous pink salt of the site, which is organic and has many health benefits. The deposit is still used nowadays, being a source of income for peasants around the complex. We have an amazing tour of the site, available daily.
The Koricancha Temple
Located at downtown Cusco City, we can fairly say it was the Vatican of the Incas. Built with the sophisticated imperial style, it was a fantastic place, with its inner walls covered in gold and silver, beautiful religious sculptures, pottery and altars where the priests conducted the liturgies. The site museum has 5 rooms, where you’ll see exhibitions dating from pre-inca times, Inca and Spanish ages. The whole exhibition develops the timeline of the region’s cultural evolution, with textiles, pottery, metal works (gold, silver, bronze, etc). A very interesting model of the Koricancha in the splendour Inca times can also be admired. This amazing place is included in our Cusco City tour, available daily.
The Paccha Monument
In Quechua (the official language of the Incas) paccha is a word related to water. This monument is located on Avenida El Sol (El Sol avenue) one of the main in Cusco City. It resembles a high waterfall and also has a quite beautiful pool with some fountains. On the top of the waterfall, there is a huge disc showing the Sun god. The Paccha monument is really a wonderful view and a relaxing place to be. It’s also perfect for great pictures and videos, there are several benches where people can sit and admire the water spectacle for as long as they want.
Sacsayhuaman Fortress
Just outside north of town, we can find the immense, cyclopean stones of this fortress. To this day engineers don’t know for sure how they managed to build such massive structures. It stands on a very beautiful natural plane, surrounded by woods, a very relaxing place, where visitors can lay down on the grass and enjoy the views. The fortress has massive stones, walls and also some alleys. Another of the great places for videos and pictures, and for being truly awed by the presence of the mighty complex. A great time for a very affordable price. A professionally-guided visit of Sacsayhuaman is included in our wonderful Cusco City tour, with daily departures.
San Pedro Market
A very famous place in downtown Cusco, this is a large, popular market where visitors will find many things: typical Andean clothing, pottery and all kinds of souvenirs, many stands selling economical meals, also many of them selling a wide variety of juices, vegetables, meat, cheese and more. The market is visited every day by many people, both local and foreign. Most of the prices are very convenient. You can also find there all kinds of medicinal herbs and beverages, medicines based on them.
The Saylla village
A very renowned, traditional destination for Cusco people. It is a small town with plenty of restaurants specialized in chicharron, a dish made of delicious, tender chunks of fried pork meat accompanied with potato, sweet potato, sliced onion, green leaves, corn and beans. For drinking, visitors can have premier Peruvian beer or other typical beverages. It is very close to our city, and the restaurants are comfortable and with affordable prices. Saylla is one of the perfect places to enjoy on your first time in our region!
The Sacred Valley of the Incas
This wonderful lands are surely among the places you must explore in a first time here. They originally were owned by the very Inca royalty, who cultivated coca leaves, corn, potato there. They also built several villages in the valley, like Pisac, Ollantaytambo, Chinchero, which have now become splendid archaeological sites.
The Sacred Valley also offers a stunning natural beauty, quite pleasant warm weather, many history and traditions to learn, top gastronomy, typical villages and so on. If it’s going to be your first time in Cusco, this region will surely make a truly great first impression! TOUR IN PERU offers wonderful packages to the Sacred Valley, which are very affordable and have daily departures.
TOUR IN PERU has wonderful tours to most of the above places, and we surely can include any of them you may want in our regular itineraries. With us, your tours can be fully personalized to suit all vacation goals, and also you can book them as private tours, to be given our top-quality service with exclusivity.
Please check this website and talk to our travel experts for planning an unforgettable first time vacation in unforgettable places of our region!
