Cusco Things to Do Tips by chrissyalex

The Plaza de Armas is the beautiful main square of Cusco which is surrounded by many restaurants and shops .Two must-see churches , La Catedral and La Campania de Jesus are also located here. There are many benches, flowers and a pretty fountain to enjoy as well. If you are staying in Cusco, you will pass through this square many times. The most enjoyable time to visit is very early in the morning before many of the vendors arrive. .

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This beautiful cathedral is built on the site of the palace of the Inca Viracocha. Its ornate silver altar weighs over 400 kilograms. There are hundreds of paintings from the Escuela Cuscuema in this church. The most interesting painting is a depiction of the Last Supper which shows the apostles dining on local Peruvian dishes such as cuy ( guinea pig) and drinking chicha. The apostles are also sitting around the table, not sitting on just one side on the table.. It is forbidden to take pictures inside the cathedral. I found this painting so unique that I bought a postcard of it to remember it.
The Cathedral also contains the famous statue "El Senor de los Temblones" ("Lord of Earthquakes") which is a figure of Christ on the cross that has a dark complexion and Quenchan facial features. In 1650, there was a very large earthquake and the people of Cusco were frightened. They started praying and had a procession around the square carrying this statue . The earthquake then stopped. This was thought to be a miracle.
Admission to the museum is with the tourist ticket.

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Directions: Located on the north side of Plaza de Armas

La Compania de Jesus or The Company of Jesus Cathedral is the other beautiful church on the Plaza de Armas. It is smaller than La Catedral, but it is still very pretty with its gorgeous gilded altar. The other similiarity to La Catedral is that it was also built on a site on an important Incan palace.
Admission is free, but you cannot visit when there is a mass.

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Directions: Located on the eastern side of the Plaza de Armas

Pretty neighborhood not too far from the Plaza de Armas with some restaurants and art studios. . There are many steep steps here and many of the streets are pedestrian only. You can see some pretty views of Cusco from this neighborhood.

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This adobe church located in the Barrio de San Blas is the oldest parish church in Cusco. It has a pretty gold-leafed altar, but it most impressive feature is its cedar pulpit which was carved from one tree trunk! I stared at it for awhile admiring all its intricate features. You aren't allowed to take pictures inside the church so I bought a postcard of the pulpit.
Admission is by the tourist ticket.

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Directions: Beside a small plaza with a fountain near the top of the San Blas neighborhood

You will see some of these walls on the streets of Cusco.They were built with huge boulders carved to fit together perfectly without mortar. On some of the streets, these sturdy walls are the foundations for some of the buildings the Spaniards built.

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Directions: There are some streets with these walls located east of the Plaza de Armas

This is probably the most famous stone of the Inca walls in Cusco. It has twelve angles and you will see the image of this stone on Cuzquena beer bottles.

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Directions: Northeast of the Plaza de Armas, off of Calle Palicio, past the Archbishop's Palace on the right hand side of the street

This series of stones is said to form the shape of a puma. I had read of it but kind of forgot about it. As we were walking around Cusco, one of the young postcard boys came up to us and asked us if we had seen it yet. We said "No" and he said "It's very near here, I'll show you the way!" He then took us there and told us all about it and showed us the outline of the puma( which is kind of hard to make out unless someone shows it to you) Well, of course we happily had to buy some of his postcards. I thought this nice little postcard salesman/ tour guide had a pretty smart idea. There are many,many young boys selling postcards allover Cusco and even if you are looking to purchase postcards, you really can't buy from all of them. So he was pretty clever and we were glad we met him. Otherwise, we may have never seen the stone.

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Directions: Ask one of the postcard vendors! :-)

This was one of the larger museums I visited in Cusco. There are many Inca artifacts, ceramics,textiles,jewelry and large Inca drinking vessels carved out of wood. It is housed in the Admiral's Palace. The price of admission is 5 soles and it is not one of the included museums on the tourist ticket. You are not allowed to take pictures here, and I found this true of all the museums I visited in Cusco.

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Address: Cuesta de Almirante

We actually thought at first this building was a police station because on a few occasions we walked by and saw several ( like 5 or 6) police officers standing in front of it. I am not sure why, actually. This museum contains many religious paintings from the Cusquena School, a chapel(which is protected with bars) and a beautiful room covered with religious frescos which told a story.
The most interesting item on display in this museum was a large foldup box which contained close to two hundred figurines depicting stories of the bible.
Admission is with the tourist ticket

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Directions: not far from the Plaza de Armas on the corner of Hatunrumiyae and Palacio