Arequipa old town

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
4
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
8
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
5
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
5
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
3
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
7
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
62 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
264th/457
Top 60%
continent
South America
country
Peru
Length of time
1-2 days
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$70 (typically $30 - $100)
Time of year visited
May
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Christian site Old town Volcanoes
All Tags
Museums Restaurant recommendations UNESCO world heritage site
Wow Factor
Two scores: first is the wow factor which ranges from ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️, and a separate category for the truly "gash". The second is the more analytical travel experience score, which considers 6 varied criteria to give an overall score out of 100.
⭐⭐

Summary

I think the city centre of Arequipa must be my favourite old town in Latin America (or at least joint with Havana!).  The Unesco world heritage site is a series of beautifully maintained streets with white stone Baroque buildings all with facades of intricate carvings that give you the feeling of being in a different time and world.  The low rise nature of the buildings (almost all are only 2 stories tall to protect from earthquakes) add to this vibe, and so do the three majestic, dramatic,  perfectly coned volcanoes that surround the city off in the distance.

On top of that, the food is superb and its a great starting point for a 3/4 day adventure for Hiking and zip-lining in the Colca Canyon.

A must visit for Peru, along with the adventures near Cusco area (see entries for more details on these – Machu Picchu, Hiking the 4 day / 3 night Inca Trail, Driving through the Sacred Valley, A walk around some of the key Inca sites near Cusco).

Table of Contents

Highlights

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#1 Wandering the white stone streets, finding hidden courtyards and catching occasional glimpses of the towering volcanoes in the distance

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#2 Checking out the eerily quiet Santa Catalina Monastery right in the heart of town

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#3 Grabbing a rooftop, looking over the low level city with volcanoes in the background and having a drink as the stars creep in

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#4 Working your way through some of the seriously high quality restaurants on offer

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#5 Heading into the various pretty, secluded courtyards that are dotted all around the hidden spots of the historic centre

Travel Tips

The highlight for me of Arequipa was wandering through the Unesco World Heritage city centre,  but make sure you also check out:

  • The Santa Catalina Monastery – the high walls around the monastery make this place feel so separate to the rest of the city and worth a visit
  • Santuarios Museum – to learn the story of the Juanita, aka the ice mummy, a 12 year old girl sacrificed on one of the volcanoes in the 1400s, yet preserved in the cold temperatures.  The story of how she would have came to be there and how she was found is fascinating

Rooftop drinks – make sure you find a spot to have drinks or food on one of the rooftops (there are many to chose from) where you can look over the low rise white city and see the 3 volcanoes looming in the background.

The food is amazing in Arequipa.  We had dinner at Chicha por Gaston Acurio, which more than lived up to the hype.

We stayed in the centre in a hotel called Palla Boutique Hotel.  Lovely inner courtyard, nice rooms.  Highlight is the roof which gives a stunning view of the city and volcanoes – a fitting place to celebrate your day exploring . . . or a return from an adventure to the Cola Canyon!

General Peru travel Tips

 

Altitude – Arequipa is 2,335m / 7,660ft and Cusco 3,300m / 11,150 feet which is high enough to give you altitude sickness (generally feeling a bit like a bad hangover, which isn’t fun).  You can do various things to help, such as take pills (we took Acetazolamide and felt like it helped), drink coca tea, take pain killers to help with the headache etc, but the best way is simply to give your body time to get used to the altitude.

History of the Inca – this part of Peru is all about the Inca as the real master builder civilisation so it adds a lot to the trip to know a bit about them.   I’d recommend Turn Right at Machu Picchu by Mark Adams – an easy read as the author re-creates the rediscovery of Machu Picchu and gives enough detail that any first time visitor would need.  For the broader context on the Incas and the other pre-Columbus American civilisations, I’d highly recommend 1491 by Charles Mann which will, I think, open your eyes to just how sophisticated these civilisations were before the arrival, in particular, of Eurasian diseases.

Dogs! – when walking around on your own, just keep an eye out for local dogs.  We had a few run at us from a local farm just outside Cusco, which can be a little unnerving if not used to dogs.  Just remember not to panic, face them and back away slowly.  If they get super close and you feel like you need to defend yourself, give them a kick or see if you can pick up something nearby like a stick or rocks to scare them off.  I know, not fun – but unlikely they’ll be vicious and better to be prepared.

For tips on other great experiences in Peru and for an itinerary for a trip there, see 2/3 weeks for the highlights of Peru.

What to prioritise in Peru

Peru is an amazing country to travel around, but can be a little overwhelming as to what to prioritise. As a first time traveller, I would be thinking about the 3 main clusters of Lima, Cusco and Arequipa (in blue):

 

 

And I would prioritise the key activities this way:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Hiking the 4 day / 3 night Inca Trail
43km hike that snakes its way majestically through a combination of dramatic Andes mountains and peaceful Peruvian countryside.  You’ll see perfectly maintained Inca ruins, thick misty cloud forest and end at the Sun Gate, the mountain entrance to the world famous ruins of Machu Picchu.  It is one of those rare travel experiences that really lives up to the hype and should be the focal point of your Peru trip. Hiking the 4 day / 3 night Inca Trail.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Lima
The food is world-class and the coastal neighbourhoods beautiful.  You’ll be passing through Lima on any Peru trip, so make sure to give yourself 2 days.  Lima – a weekend of world class restaurants, super cool neighbourhoods and rapid paragliding.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Hiking the Colca Canyon 
A great 3/4 day trip from Arequipa.  Stunning scenery as the canyon is the second deepest in the world (twice the depth of the Grand Canyon) with majestic condors flying overhead, plenty of traces of the old Inca construction and a fraction of the tourists of the Inca Trail.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Driving through the Sacred Valley 
Gorgeous Inca sites such as Pisac, Moray and Ollantaytambo, stunning surrounding scenery and picturesque Peruvian villages.  Driving this is a beautiful thing to do before hitting Machu Pichu and the Inca Trail, but hire a driver rather than doing a tour. Driving through the Sacred Valley.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Machu Pichu 
A Wonder of the World and it lives up to the hype.  Wow views, constant gawping and easy to get to from Cusco. Its downside is the crowds, which are intense.  This is why the approach from the Inca Trail makes sense as you have the higher points largely to yourself and your fellow hikers. Machu Picchu.

 

⭐️⭐️ Arequipa 
Super pretty UNESCO World Heritage listed old town with beautifully maintained streets and white stone Baroque buildings.  Entry point for the Colca Canyon and surrounded by three majestic, dramatic, perfectly coned volcanoes.  Arequipa old town.

⭐️⭐️ Cusco 
Great sites abound as you walk around the Plaza de Armas, the grand Christian Churches and generally walking through the narrow cobbled streets.  Plus some of the smaller sites just to the north, which come as a really pleasant surprise for more Inca ruins.  You’ll pass through here on the way to Machu Pichu, the Inca Trail and the Sacred Valley, and its worth a day or so. A walk around some of the key Inca sites near Cusco.

Experiences nearby

Wow Factor Score Two scores: first is the wow factor which ranges from ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️, and a separate category for the truly "gash". The second is the more analytical travel experience score, which considers 6 varied criteria to give an overall score out of 100. LowHigh
  • Elite, unmissable
  • World-class, downsides
  • Meets the Wow Factor
  • Worth it
  • Meh
  • Gash

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Score Detail

The scores above are the real point of this site.

Over 20+ years and 100+ countries, I’ve tried to rank the world’s best travel experiences - from genuinely mind-blowing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to the properly gash.

Every one of the 500+ places on this site has both a Wow Factor rating and a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score based on the things that actually make travel memorable.

If you're curious about the thinking behind it, head to the About page.

Otherwise, explore the map above or on the Home page and see which places truly deliver maximum wow.

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