P E R U
C U S C O
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Cradled high in the Peruvian Andes, Cusco was once the sacred capital of the Inca Empire. Here you’ll find Spanish colonial façades atop ancient Inca walls, where the memory of the Incan empire still vibrates through the narrow cobbled streets.
At over 3,300 metres (11,000 feet) above sea level, the air is thinner, the light is sharper, and time feels somehow different here. Even the movement of the sun along the rooftops seems slowed, more deliberate. Churches built by conquistadors sit beside indigenous markets where Quechua is still spoken, and a sense of dual heritage — spiritual, architectural, political — defines the city’s character.
The very name Cusco comes from the Quechua word Qosqo, often translated as “navel” or “centre,” referring to its status as the symbolic and literal heart of the Inca Empire. According to legend, it was founded by Manco Cápac and Mama Ocllo, the children of the sun god Inti, who emerged from the sacred waters of Lake Titicaca and were tasked with bringing civilisation to the Andean peoples. They were told to build a city where a golden staff would sink into the earth — and it was here, in the lush highland valley, that Cusco was born.
This story isn’t just myth. In the layout of the Inca city — designed in the shape of a puma, a sacred animal — and in the ceremonial axis of Qorikancha, you find a worldview encoded in stone. A city created not just to govern, but to harmonise heaven and earth.
Though many travellers pass quickly through Cusco on their way to Machu Picchu, the city is much more than just a gateway. It is, in every sense, the cultural heart of the Andes.
Here's what we think should form the core of your experience:
Inca History, Spanish Layers & the Living City of Cusco
Cusco was once the hub of the Inca world — a cosmological and administrative centre where the four great highways of the empire converged. The city’s original stonework still endures to the point of legend: massive blocks, precisely fitted, forming the foundations of buildings that have withstood centuries of earthquake and upheaval.
The most striking example is Qorikancha, the Inca Temple of the Sun. Once lined with sheets of gold, it was the most sacred site in the Inca Empire before being partially dismantled to make way for the Dominican convent of Santo Domingo. The layered architecture makes its own argument about cultural conquest — but also about endurance.
Elsewhere, the city’s colonial history is written in ornate baroque churches and monastic courtyards, particularly around the Plaza de Armas, which itself sits atop the original Inca ceremonial plaza. And above it all, watching from the hillside, stands Sacsayhuamán — a vast, zigzagging fortress built from monoliths too massive to believe.
Some of the stones weigh up to 200 tonnes, fitted with a precision that won’t allow a sheet of paper to slip between them.
In many ways, the experience of coming here is about the pilgrimage of standing in front of these achievements, one of the many wonders of the world that transcends age or ownership.
Cusco Markets, Textiles & Andean Life
Cusco is a city of trade, colour, and craftsmanship. Step into the San Pedro Market and you’ll see this in full expression — stalls bursting with tropical fruit, medicinal herbs, dried potatoes, freshly ground corn, woven goods, and the daily rhythms of local life.
Andean textiles are one of the region’s most important cultural exports, and the weaving traditions of the Quechua-speaking peoples are alive in and around Cusco. Visit a textile co-operative or workshop to understand the meaning behind each pattern and the natural dyes still used today. It’s an education in symbolism and patience.
While writing this, the author is sitting here at his desk in a pair of marvelously soft and comfortable chocolate brown Peruvian alpacca slippers with a big wooly fringe around them remembering little bits and pieces of this particular adventure.
Beyond the markets, Cusco’s neighbourhoods like San Blas offer quiet courtyards and artisan studios, perfect for visitors interested in ceramics, silversmithing, or simply absorbing the city’s quieter creative energy.
Altitude, Cuisine & the Cusco Flavour of the Andes
Cusco’s cuisine is mountain food — hearty, high in energy, and full of local ingredients you won’t find anywhere else. Think quinoa soups, earthy potatoes (of which Peru has thousands of varieties), slow-roasted cuy (guinea pig), and chicha de jora, a mildly fermented corn beer that dates back to Inca times.
More refined restaurants in Cusco now blend traditional Andean ingredients with contemporary technique, part of the wider Peruvian culinary renaissance that has made the country a global food destination. From alpaca steaks to river trout with uchucuta (a spicy herb sauce), the flavours here are distinctive and rooted.
And yes — coca tea is ever-present. Not a gimmick, but a centuries-old way of coping with the high altitude, and very much part of the local culture.