Walk Arequipa’s historic centre with a local guide. The Plaza de Armas and its cathedral, the Jesuit church with its gold-leaf altarpieces and 18th-century cloisters, the San Ignacio chapel, the Casona Tristan del Pozo and the San Francisco complex — all on foot, within a few blocks of sillar streets. Add the Santa Catalina Monastery to turn it into a full morning.
The tour starts at our office on Calle San Agustin 104, Cercado, half a block from the Plaza de Armas. Please arrive 10 minutes before departure. There is no vehicle on this tour: the whole route is on foot within the historic centre. If your hotel is outside the centre, tell us when you book and we will help you plan the short ride in.
Prices may differ on public holidays, Fiestas Patrias, Christmas, New Year and Holy Week. Write to us for a quote on those dates.
Suitable for all ages.
It is an optional add-on and the entrance is not part of the tour price. The monastery charges S/ 45 for adults and S/ 25 for foreign visitors aged 7 to 21, and it requires one of its own site guides – S/ 20 on your own, or S/ 10 each in a group of two or more. Both are paid in cash in soles at the door. It adds roughly an hour to the tour. Tell us when you book and we will build it into your route.
Only what you choose to go inside. The walking route and your guide are covered by the tour price. Santa Catalina is S/ 45 plus its site guide, and the San Ignacio dome is S/ 10 if you want to climb it. Everything else on the route is free or seen from the street. Bring small notes in soles – none of these places take cards.
No, this is a walking tour. We meet at our office on Calle San Agustin 104, half a block from the Plaza de Armas, at 9:00 or 14:00. If you are staying outside the historic centre the ride in is short and inexpensive – tell us where you are staying and we will point you the right way.
About two hours at an easy pace, or three if you add Santa Catalina. Everything sits within a few blocks of the Plaza de Armas, flat but on cobbled colonial pavement, so comfortable shoes help. Arequipa’s sun is fierce at this altitude even when the air feels cool, so a hat and sunscreen matter more than a jacket.
Much less than elsewhere in the Andes. Arequipa sits at 2,335 m, roughly a thousand metres lower than Cusco and well below Puno, so most visitors feel nothing beyond slightly shorter breath on the stairs. It makes the city a sensible first stop before heading to Colca or on to higher ground.
