Where to Stay in Cusco, Departamento de Cusco

What is Cusco known for?

Cusco is best known as the historic capital of the Inca Empire, its old core layered with Andean stonework and Spanish churches. The fortress terraces of Saqsaywaman rise above the city. Below them stands Coricancha, the sun temple whose walls the Convent of Santo Domingo now encloses.

Travellers pass through on the way to Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley of the Incas, yet the streets around the old plaza reward a longer stay. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

What are the main landmarks in Cusco?

The landmarks of Cusco pair Inca stonework with colonial building above and around it. Saqsaywaman crowns the ridge in massive fitted blocks. Coricancha, once the empire's sun temple, carries the Convent of Santo Domingo on its walls, while the Basilica of La Merced and the Iglesia del Triunfo del Cusco face the streets of the old core.

On the edge of the city, the carved outcrops of Q'inqu and the terraces of Suchuna record ritual work in living rock.

What is the history of Cusco?

Cusco was the capital of the Inca Empire, the seat from which its rulers governed a domain reaching across the Andes. The city was planned as a ceremonial and administrative core, and Coricancha, the temple of the sun, stood at its heart. Saqsaywaman guarded the heights above in walls of fitted stone that later builders never matched.

Colcampata, on the slope, is remembered as an early royal ground of the founding line. Spanish forces reached the Andes in the sixteenth century and refounded the city over the Inca plan in 1534. Churches and convents rose on Inca foundations, so the Convent of Santo Domingo came to sit on the walls of Coricancha, and the Basilica of La Merced joined the new colonial core.

The Iglesia del Triunfo del Cusco marks that first Spanish century in the old plaza. Older lineages endured in the city's memory. Garcilaso de la Vega's House recalls the chronicler born here of Inca and Spanish parents, whose writings carried the story of the empire into a wider world.

Where is Cusco?

Cusco lies in southeastern Peru, high in the Andes above the valley of the Huatanay. The river drains toward the Urubamba, which winds through the Sacred Valley of the Incas to the north. Steep hills wrap the old core, and the terraces of Saqsaywaman crown the ridge that closes the city on its upper side.

This is high mountain country. Cold air settles at night, and the surrounding slopes rise well above the plaza that anchors the streets below.

What is the climate of Cusco?

Cusco has a cool highland climate shaped by its altitude in the Andes rather than by any coast. Days can feel mild in the sun. Nights turn cold across the year, since the thin mountain air of southeastern Peru holds little warmth once the light drops.

A wetter season brings afternoon rain to the Huatanay valley, and a long drier season leaves clear, bright skies over the ridges above the city.

How do you get to Cusco?

Cusco is the usual base for reaching Machu Picchu and the wider Sacred Valley of the Incas, and most travellers arrive here first before pushing on toward the ruins. Roads climb through the Andes. Rail lines then run down the Urubamba valley toward Machu Picchu, so many visitors ride the train onward from the city.

The altitude asks for a slow start. A night or two in Cusco eases the change.