Best Things to Do in Cusco

Best Things to Do in Cusco

Guide: Ten Ways to Read Cusco and the Sacred Valley Edge

These experiences combine essential Inca and colonial sites with market food, weaving, astronomy, cooking, a four-site ridge route, Inti Raymi, and Pisac. Acclimatization, steep streets, weather, and ticket windows should set the pace.

• SaqsaywamanCyclopean limestone walls, terraces, and a broad ceremonial field reveal Inca engineering on the ridge above Cusco.
• Qorikancha and Santo DomingoFine Inca stone walls survive beneath and beside a Spanish convent, making conquest and architectural adaptation visible in one complex.
• Museo de Arte PrecolombinoCarefully lit galleries isolate masterworks in ceramic, gold, silver, shell, wood, and stone from ancient Peruvian cultures.
• Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del CuscoWeavers demonstrate backstrap techniques while the museum and shop explain regional patterns, natural dyes, and cooperative authorship.
• San Pedro Market Food WalkA morning circuit through juice, bread, produce, soup, and medicinal-herb stalls introduces everyday Cusco before tour buses leave town.
• Cusco Four Ruins CircuitSaqsaywaman, Q'enqo, Puka Pukara, and Tambomachay form a ridge route of masonry, ritual rock, military views, and water architecture.
• Planetarium CuscoAn evening program connects naked-eye constellations, Inca dark-cloud astronomy, storytelling, and telescope observation above city light.
• Cusco Culinary Cooking ClassMarket ingredients become ceviche, lomo saltado, causa, and pisco sours through a practical small-group kitchen session.
• Inti RaymiCusco’s June 24 Sun festival stages Quechua ceremony, music, and dance at Qorikancha, Plaza Mayor, and Saqsaywaman.
• Pisac Archaeological Park and MarketTerraces, hilltop masonry, tombs, and a valley market make Pisac a substantial Sacred Valley day trip rather than a souvenir stop.

Reviewed by RGuide Editorial · Venue details checked August 2026