Plaza de Armas (Cusco) - The Only Peru Guide

Overview

About Plaza de Armas, Cusco

Cusco’s main square – Plaza de Armas – is a busy and vibrant space that marks the colonial centre of the city. The plaza, which features wide stone pathways and well-kept colourful gardens, is home to two iconic buildings: the Cusco Cathedral and the Church La Compañía de Jesús.

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Cusco’s Plaza de Armas covers part of the area that was once the Haukaypata – The Great Inca Square. Today however, Spanish colonial buildings and long stone arcades dominate the architecture of the plaza, but many of the precisely carved Inca walls remain as foundations.

The plaza is where many of the city’s most important gatherings, events and festivals take place, including Inti Raymi – the Inca Festival of the Sun and the religious festival of Corpus Christi.

The plaza is always bustling with activity whatever time of the day (or night), and is great place to soak up the laid back atmosphere of this Andean city.

Food & Drink in the Plaza

The plaza also has a wide variety of restaurants and eateries, which offer everything from traditional Peruvian food like cuy, lomo saltado and aji de gallina through to more well-known international cuisine like pasta, pizza and steak. Indeed the plaza is home to some of the city’s best restaurants like the up-market Limo or Gaston Acurio’s new gourmet burger restaurant Papachos.

Nightlife by the Plaza

Unlike many cities around the world Cusco is buzzing every night of the week, and if you are looking for nightlife you simply need to head to the plaza. Norton Rat’s Pub is a favourite of both locals and tourists alike, who harmoniously drink the night away whilst playing darts and pool. Paddy’s Irish Pub is also another great place to meet people from around the world, whist enjoying exceptional homemade food and drinking few local Cusqueña beers. If you want to dance there are also many cool clubs and lounge-bars dotted around the plaza; Mushrooms and the famous Mama Africa are to name a few.

For tours in Cusco and the Sacred Valley, we highly recommend using Find Local Trips, a tour comparison and booking website that helps you research the best tours in South America.

Vendors in the Plaza

When wandering the plaza expect to see local vendors (often children) selling everything from day trips to Machu Picchu to wooden carvings to paintings and alpaca clothing. If you are not interested simply say “no gracias.” Be warned, many vendors can be persistent, but simply ignore them or repeat “no gracias.” If you think it’s annoying, then think of the poor ex-pats that live in Cusco and are asked by the same people day in day out if they want to buy a finger puppet! However, Cusco is the ideal place to pick up souvenirs in Peru at a good price!

Adjusting to Altitude in Cusco

Cusco is a beautiful city surrounded by many equally as beautiful tourist attractions such as fascinating Incan & Pre-Incan ruins and amazing mountains in Sacred Valley for hikes and treks. However, a lot of these things can’t be thoroughly enjoyed by travellers suffering from altitude sickness, which is often the case. Many travellers fly directly from Lima and don’t allow time in their itineraries to adjust to the altitude in Cusco. For some travellers this simply means shortness of breath and mild headaches. However for many travellers, these conditions can get much worse and medical attention can be required if they remain after several hours.

We advise preparing in advance to make sure you allow time to adjust to the altitude. One of the ultimate ways to adjust is by advancing up Peru gradually via bus rather than taking a flight from Lima to Cusco. We strongly recommend following Peru Hop‘s route by the coast and up to Cusco if opting for bus travel. This route goes through some wonderful Peruvian destinations such as Nazca, Arequipa and Puno.