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Introduction to Cusco’s history and culture through this half day City Tours Cusco with our local guide is the best way to start your trip in the ancient capital of Incas. Cusco City, which once served as the capital of Incas, showcases the remnants of Incan architecture at every turn.
Often Cusco is considered as a jump off point to Sacred Valley of Incas, Machu Picchu and Rainbow Mountain. On this half day Cusco Tour, our local guide will reveal that reputation simply underscores its acclaim.
The Incas named the city as “Qosqo” which means the navel of the world. As both geographically and administratively, Cusco was the centre of the Inca empire.
This is one of our signature tours. On this half day City Tours Cusco, we aim to uncover some of the lesser known mysteries of sites in and around the city of Cusco.
Accompanied by a local expert, you will be visiting sites like the Cusco Cathedral, Incas Temple of the Sun (Qorikancha) – Temple of Santo Domingo within the city. We will then give you a guided tour of the archaeological sites like the Sacsayhuaman, Q’enqo, Puca Pucara (Puka Pukara) and Tambomachay.
It is ideal to do the half day city tour Cusco on your first day in the city before your Sacred Valley tour or before you visit Machu Picchu. Not only it would help you acclimatise to the higher altitude but also will give you an orientation to the history and culture of Incas.
Kuntur Peru, is a fully locally owned tour operator in Cusco. We are certified local guides with an excellent knowledge of Incas history and culture. As natives, our guides will be sharing some of the astonishing facts on this half day Cusco city tour.
We offer the Cusco City Tour, both as a small group tour and as a private tour. We invite you to take a moment to check out our reviews on Tripadvisor.
Cusco Hotel Transfer
01:00 PM
The half day city tour Cusco begins with a visit to the Cathedral of Cusco which dominates the main square, Plaza de Armas. The site where the cathedral stands today, was once the Royal Palace of Incas. On conquering Cusco, the Spanish conquistadors demolished the palace and built the cathedral on its remains.
To Incas, Qorikancha was the most sacred site. As they worshipped the nature entities, this temple was dedicated to their supreme God – Inti (Sun). Legends say that the patio of the temple was once full of statues made entirely of Gold.
When the Spanish conquerors kidnapped the Incan emperor, Atahualpa, they demanded a ransom for his release. Most of the gold was melted and was paid as ransom for his release. The conquistadors however, much to the colonial form, killed him on receiving the ransom.
This is one of the unmissable sights in Cusco. This stunning stone fortress is built on a hilltop overlooking the main square of Cusco city. This is one of the places where you can see the advancement of Incan engineering. They did not use any mortars to join these stones that weigh over a ton each.
They accurately carved the edges of the stones to fit each other. Infact is it so precise that you cannot even slide a paper between them. It is however still a mystery how the Incas transported these heavy stones here.
Nestled quite off the beaten track, Q’enqo was used by Incas as a site to do sacrifices. Also, it is in Qenqo they did the mummification of corpses.
Another renowned archaeological site, Tambomachay served as a spa to the political elite of Incas. There are channels here from where natural spring water from the nearby hot springs flow even today.
The name in Quechua means red fort. It was named by Incas after the colour of the rock that becomes reddish at sunset.
Incan military used this site to safeguard their capital city, Cusco.
I have been to Peru a few times now, including the famous Inca Trails in Cusco. And have had great experiences. But this was a special trip. 2016 was a hard year for our family, especially my mother. Her mother (my grandmother) had passed in the spring, and my father had suddenly passed as the year ended. I wanted to treat my mother to a trip to get away for awhile. And I thought of the beautiful sites and delicious foods of Peru. My mother was hesitant, as she had never been to South America before. (Actually, the question was “Why can’t we go to Paris??”) But after some coaxing, off we went. Ruben, who took care of us during the trip, was amazing and attentive. He took special care in the itinerary to make sure my 67 yr old mother can enjoy the tour at a comfortable pace and explained everything in wonderful detail. He is an excellent storyteller and made us laugh. It was nice to see my mother enjoying herself.
When I came down with altitude sickness (I didn’t have the time to get my prescription of diamox and I stupidly thought I may be ok since I have been in Cusco before. How wrong I was!) Ruben ran to the pharmacy and got the acetazolamide for me and delivered it to the hotel. (Note: It worked fine for me but please purchase at your own discretion.) We spent 5D/4N, first walking around the beautiful city of Cusco, then a day around the Sacred Valley. We spent the night at Ollantaytambo, which was nice since we were able to wake up leisurely and was a short walk away from our train to the climax of our trip: Machu Picchu!
The hotels booked for us were clean and the staff friendly (and included free wifi and breakfast!). Our driver, David, was really sweet. By the end of the trip, my mother went from “Why not Paris??” to wanting to come back and do the Nazca Lines next.
