Cuzco: 10 Things Worth Doing
Cuzco sits at roughly 3,400m, and that number matters more than any single item on this list: soroche, altitude sickness, catches a real share of visitors in the first day or two, headaches and short breath included, and no amount of fitness back home changes that. Acclimatise here or in the Sacred Valley before adding Rainbow Mountain or the Inca Trail’s high pass, and don’t schedule anything demanding for day one. With that out of the way, here are the 10 things in and around Cuzco actually worth doing, verdict included.
| Essentials | Cuzco |
|---|---|
| Days needed | 4-5 minimum: 2 to acclimatise and see the city, 1 for the Sacred Valley, 1-2 for Machu Picchu |
| Best months | Apr-Oct dry season (peak Jun-Aug, Inti Raymi 24 Jun); Nov-Mar is wetter but quieter |
| Typical costs | Boleto Turistico about S/130 for 10 days and 16 sites; a Machu Picchu day trip runs roughly US$200-400+ all in |
| Book first | Machu Picchu entry, months ahead in high season, only through tuboleto.cultura.pe |
- Plaza de Armas and the Cathedral
- Qorikancha
- San Blas
- Sacsayhuaman
- San Pedro Market
- The Sacred Valley (Pisac, Ollantaytambo, Moray, Maras)
- Machu Picchu
- Rainbow Mountain, with a caveat
- The Inca Trail, or more realistically Salkantay
- A museum or a viewpoint for the day you need a low-effort plan
Plaza de Armas, Qorikancha and San Blas: the city core, ranked honestly
The Plaza de Armas earns a slow lap and nothing more. It’s a square ringed by the Cathedral and La Compania de Jesus, built directly over the Inca plaza of Haukaypata, and most walking tours spend an hour here that would be better spent elsewhere. Qorikancha, a 10-minute walk away, is the one first-timers most often underrate: the Spanish built the Convent of Santo Domingo straight into the walls of the Inca sun temple, so you’re looking at colonial stonework grafted onto the real thing, not a reconstruction, and it charges its own entrance fee separate from the Boleto Turistico. San Blas, the hillside district above the plaza, is worth the climb for the viewpoints and the workshops, less so for the shopping, since most of the alpaca-wool stalls sell the same stock as everywhere else in the city. Both the historic centre and Machu Picchu were inscribed as separate UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1983, listed on whc.unesco.org as two distinct properties rather than one.
Sacsayhuaman and San Pedro Market: the two half-days that pull their weight
Sacsayhuaman, the Inca complex on the hill above the city, is covered by the Boleto Turistico and reachable on foot, steep enough to budget more time than the map suggests, or by a short taxi. Skip the add-on guided tour unless you specifically want the history explained; the polygonal stonework does most of the talking on its own. It’s also where Cuzco stages Inti Raymi every 24 June, the city’s biggest festival, which spikes hotel and Machu Picchu ticket demand for weeks around it. San Pedro Market has nothing to do with the Inca empire and everything to do with what the city actually eats: produce stalls, prepared food counters, and the closest thing to unposed daily life in the historic centre. Carry small bills and keep bags zipped, same as at any large public market.
The Sacred Valley: worth a full day, not the rushed version
Pisac’s Inca terraces sit above a genuinely good Sunday market; Ollantaytambo is the best-preserved Inca town in the valley, still built on its original street grid, and doubles as the train departure point for Machu Picchu; Moray’s concentric terraces and the Maras salt pans are a striking pair, and, worth knowing, neither is covered by the Boleto Turistico. The verdict: this is worth a full day, ideally with a night in Ollantaytambo, not the single rushed tour that tries to hit all four sites before dinner. Book a Sacred Valley day tour on GetYourGuide if you’d rather have Pisac, Ollantaytambo, and the Moray-Maras pair organised for you instead of piecing together colectivos yourself.
Machu Picchu: the ticket logistics matter as much as the view
Machu Picchu earns the hype. What it doesn’t forgive is showing up without a plan: entry is advance, timed, and dated through the government’s own tuboleto.cultura.pe , with no walk-up option, and popular slots, plus the separate Huayna Picchu climb ticket, sell out weeks or months ahead in June-August. One detail that surprises people: Machu Picchu itself sits at about 2,430m, roughly 1,000m lower than Cuzco, so the right order is acclimatise here first, then descend. Getting there means a train from Ollantaytambo or Poroy to Aguas Calientes, then a short shuttle bus up; book a Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu tour on Viator if you’d rather have the train, bus, and entry bundled instead of booking each leg yourself.
Is Rainbow Mountain worth the altitude?
Only if you’re already acclimatised and reasonably fit. Vinicunca’s summit sits at 5,036m, higher than most travelers will ever stand, and the striped-mountain photo gets sold as a casual day trip far more often than the altitude justifies. Go after at least two days in Cuzco or the valley, not on your first morning.
Inca Trail or Salkantay: which one should you actually book?
Salkantay, for most people. The Classic Inca Trail requires a licensed operator and a permit, capped at 500 a day with only 200 of those trekkers, released each October and largely gone within weeks for the June-September season, and the whole trail closes for maintenance every February. Salkantay needs no such permit, runs year-round, and passes genuinely high terrain near Salkantay Mountain on the way to the same Machu Picchu finish. Book the Classic Trail only if the permit and the February closure fit your dates months out; otherwise Salkantay is the trek that’s actually available when you want to go.
A museum or a viewpoint, kept in reserve
This is the one to hold back rather than schedule: Cuzco’s city museums and San Blas’s viewpoints are the right call for an off day, a rain day, or the morning after a long trek, when the altitude or the itinerary just needs something lower-effort.
When to go: dry season, wet season, and Inti Raymi
Dry season runs roughly April to October, with June-August as the crowded, priced-up peak; wet season runs November to March, with real rain but thinner crowds and lower rates, and most sights, Machu Picchu included, stay open through it. The one hard exception is the Inca Trail, closed for all of February regardless of weather. If your dates land near 24 June, book flights, hotels, and Machu Picchu entry further ahead than you would for any other week of the year, since Inti Raymi is the single biggest demand spike Cuzco sees.
Where to stay in Cuzco
Base yourself in the historic centre or San Blas if walkability and Inca stonework at your doorstep matter more than a bargain rate. Compare current rates in Cuzco and San Blas on Booking.com before assuming the centre is out of budget, since San Blas in particular covers a wide range.
FAQ
Do I need a visa for Peru? Most Western passports, including US, UK, EU, Australian, and Canadian, enter visa-free for tourism, commonly for up to 90 days, though the exact allowance is set by nationality and by the border officer, so check peru.travel or your own government’s travel advice before booking flights.
What does the Boleto Turistico actually cover? The Cusco Tourist Ticket runs about S/130 for 10 days across 16 sites, including Sacsayhuaman, Pisac, and Ollantaytambo, but not Qorikancha’s main temple, Moray, or the Maras salt pans, which each charge separately. Buy it in person and confirm the current price on the spot rather than trusting an old citation.
Is the tap water safe to drink? No. Stick to bottled or treated water for drinking and brushing your teeth, and take the Andean sun as seriously as the altitude: at 3,400m, UV is stronger than it feels at sea level.
Cuzco runs on the Peruvian Sol (S/), not the dollar, so carry cash for markets and colectivos even though cards work fine at hotels and sit-down restaurants; Spanish is the everyday language, with Quechua still widely spoken outside the tourist core. You’ll fly into Cuzco’s own airport (CUZ), almost always connecting through Lima, since the long-delayed Chinchero airport still isn’t open. For the day-by-day version, start with the 2-day itinerary if Machu Picchu is the whole trip, build up through the 3-day , 4-day , 5-day , and 6-day versions if you’re adding the Sacred Valley or a trek, or go straight to the 7-day itinerary for the full loop. Still deciding whether the trip is worth the altitude at all? Read the honest take on Cuzco first. Whatever else you cut, don’t cut the two acclimatisation days; every other item on this list gets harder without them.