If you’re visiting Peru, there’s no way you can get away with not spending a couple of days in Cusco. First of all, it’s literally the gateway to Machu Picchu – being the closest airport. Also, all travel agents suggest spending a day or so in Cusco to acclimatise to the elevation before going to Machu Picchu.
While trip planning, I wasn’t that kicked about wasting spending time in Cusco. That one extra day could have been spent elsewhere, I thought – maybe an extra day in Machu Picchu?
But, all the warnings about altitude sickness made me think I should accept the travel agent’s advice. After all, I’ve never been much higher than sea level before. I had no clue how my body would tolerate an altitude of 2500m above sea level.
So, I spent a day in Cusco. And came to really like the place. True, it was a rainy day, and a lot of the sight-seeing was marred by the poor weather. But the city is really pretty, and I discovered that it was good I was cautious about the change in altitude. The moment I got off the plane in Cusco (flying in from Lima), I found myself breathing heavily and with a slight headache.
So yeah, I was grateful to have a fairly mellow day to acclimatise to the altitude hanging out in a pretty city.
Here are some photos of the city. Click on the photos to view in full size.
Apart from hanging around the city square and roaming around the city, I also visited an old church – the church of San Blas. This church is stunning and I loved all the interiors. Photography is not allowed inside, but here’s one I found on the web of the altar.
Gorgeous!
Outside of Cusco too, there are some great places to see. Unfortunately, the weather was pretty bad, and with my headache and just generally feeling poor, I didn’t have the motivation to take too many photos.
One place where the sun peeked out a bit was Sacsayhuaman (pronounced sexy woman). This place was an important military base of the Incas, and is one of the must-visit places if you are in Cusco.
Unfortunately, it poured continuously for more than an hour, and it was pretty much a wash out for me.
This is the only photo I have of the place.
So, this was the one day I spent in Cusco. In summary, my day was like this:
- Visit Sacsayhuaman (spent 2 hours just hanging out there waiting for a break in the rain. Total waste of time!
- Return back to the city. Hang out at San Pedro market. This is a local market selling fruits, vegetables, meats etc. Nice to hang out. Tasted some fruits and breads (breads here are made with pork fat in them, so not a good idea if you’re a vegetarian 😔).
- Visit the cathedral of San Blas. Beautiful place, very nice mix of Spanish and Inca style.
- Walk around the city a bit. Then, visit Coricancha – this is an old Inca temple, which is now a museum. Quite interesting!
- Roamed a little bit more – sampling Peruvian chocolate, coca tea (tea made from coca leaves – incidentally cocaine is also made from this plant), and then finally ending the day with dinner at a small restaurant close by to the hotel, before calling it a night.
I have read many travel blogs where people spent a week or more in Cusco. I’m not sure I would have wanted to spend so much time there. That said, this is a really cool place to visit, and I enjoyed my day there. Would I have wanted to extend it? Maybe another additional day as well.
But, with my limited time, I think I am quite happy with all that I managed to see in a day.
Altitude sickness can be really frightening. I experienced it once, at the top of Jungfraujoch in Switzerland. Most people spend at least two-three days I Cusco before going to Machu Picchu exactly for this reason: to get used to the high altitude. Cusco is however very beautiful and truly worth visiting.
I had Diamox with me, and everyone had warned me about it. So, I guess I was somewhat prepared for it. Also, all that coca tea (supposed to be useful for altitude sickness) they served me everywhere helped, I am sure.
Glad to have read this so I can avoid making that mistake of not taking a day to just get used to the change in altitude. Thanks for letting us learn through your experience 🙂
Also I would totally enjoy this stop if I get to go around sampling Peruvian chocolate but again as a vegetarian it was good to learn of the breads being made of pork fat, which I might not have known otherwise.
Another favorite sight here would be the interiors of San Blas church, it’s so unreal!
I found out only after eating the bread. That’s why a word of warning for other travelers 😉.
Your photos are totally beautiful! Anyway, mishaps are part of adventures at least you learn something from it, right? Just be more careful next time.
Oh yes! Mishaps are part and parcel of traveling 😊
I’ve never been to this corner of the world, but it’s sooo high on my list! Your photos are just lovely and the interiors of the San Blas Cathedral look amazing. Eating Peruvian chocolate would definitely be one of the first things I’d do there 😀
Peru is beautiful, I loved every minute of my trip there. The chocolate was nice too, but if you’ve traveled through Europe, the chocolates there are definitely better!
It was good to see this view of Cusco. But it does make me sad we missed this when our trip to Peru got cancelled. We planned to visit Cusco mainly to get adjusted to altitude. But glad to know it is a good city to walk around. We would definitely go searching for some good Peruvian chocolate.
There’s always another time. Hopefully, you can visit next year. You might also be able to spend more time than what you planned with the cruise.
I feel the same about spending a day in Cusco, vacation days are so limited and precious. It sounds like it was a good idea to stay the day if you weren’t feeling well and had a headache. I bet the coca tea helped, really want to try it
Coca tea is definitely an acquired taste. I didn’t like it much, but everyone says it helps with adjusting to the altitude.
Sorry to hear of your altitude issues in Cusco. I have not been to Peru yet but I was in the Atacama desert where I was over 4000m for a bit. Breathing was more difficult and one in our party got a headache. Good that you took the advice to acclimatize. Cusco does look to be an interesting city.
Yeah, Cusco was great. It took a day to acclimatize, but after that I was fine.
Atacama sounds wonderful! I had no idea it was at such a high elevation.
Being a history junkie I would love to go to Coricancha to see anything ancient Inca. I bet the energy there was just amazing! It sounds like you were falling ill while visiting. At least you were able to get some chocolate tasting and a lovely dinner out of your experience.
Just terribly jet-lagged and headachey because of the altitude. It was just that day. I was fine the rest of the trip.