Cusco Free City Tour

Cusco Free City Tour

The tour meets at the selected time at Plaza Regocijo, by Plaza de Armas, the most important in Cusco. From here we begin our free tour, heading back to the origins of the city, when it was founded by the indigenous Inca civilization.

On the southern corner of the Plaza Regocijo, you'll come across the exterior of the Casa del Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. In front of this colonial mansion, we'll tell you about the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, the most famous Peruvian chronicler and writer of the colonial period, considered the father of Peruvian literature.

Next we'll make our way to the Plaza de San Francisco, where we'll see its spectacular botanical garden filled with plants native to the Andes region. Plants such as llaulli, el yacon, cedroncillo, molle and even queuña are some of the highlights of this beautiful botanical garden.

From here we'll head onto the Colegio Nacional de Ciencias y Artes, the oldest public school in Cusco, founded by Simón Bolívar in 1825. We'll continue the tour passing by the Arch of Santa Clara, representative of the city's colonial style. 

Our next stop will be the San Pedro Market, the perfect place for an initiation into local cuisine! Then the free tour contnues around one of the most important squares in the city: Plaza de Armas. It's here that you can find the Compañía de Jesús Cathedral - built on the site of ancient Inca ruins.

Another highlight of the tour will be the Calle del Sol, or "Inti Kijllu" in the Quechua language, one of the very few originals from the Inca period. The last two stops will be at the Palace of the Inca Pachaquteq and the exterior of the Church of Santo Domingo and the temple of Qoricancha. We'll learn all about these historical and religious sites.

Finally, we'll end the free tour of Cusco after two and a half hours near the church of Santo Domingo.

Groups

On our free tour, we're unable to accept bookings for more than 6 people. If you're in a larger group, we recommend booking our private tour of Cusco.