Our Arequipa city tour will take you through the streets of the White City, passing cathedrals, churches, monasteries and more. Your guide will tell you all about life in Arequipa, from colonial times through to the present day. You’ll learn how the city has changed, and how the first Spanish colonists built upon an area once home to ancient peoples of the Peruvian Andes.
We will stop to admire some of the city’s most famous buildings, such as the Basílica Catedral de Arequipa. Located on the city’s elegant Plaza de Armas, this huge cathedral has been damaged by earthquakes on numerous occasions over the centuries, but each time it has been rebuilt, becoming ever more impressive.
After exploring the Plaza de Armas and surrounding streets, we’ll head to the famous viewpoint of Yanahuara. With its carved sillar stone arches, this beautiful viewpoint offers sublime views across Arequipa and beyond the volcanic peaks of Misti, Chachani, and Pichu Pichu. Yanahuara was built in the 19th century and stands next to the pretty San Juan de Yanahuara, a Baroque church built in 1750. Engraved into the sillar stone of Yanahuara are the names of notable people who have lived in Arequipa during the last two hundred years.
After exploring the Plaza de Armas and surrounding streets, we’ll head to the most famous attraction in Arequipa: the 16th-century Santa Catalina Monastery, which opened to the public in 1970 after nearly 400 years as a cloister. For a nun to enter the monastery, they first had to prove their Spanish origin and pay a dowry of at least 1,000 gold pesos. Once inside, they were largely cut off from the world within the sprawling monastery, which is like a little town all of its own, with narrow streets, gardens, and different sections for sleeping, cooking, and prayer. The monastery covers an entire city block, and exploring its picturesque alleyways and rooms is quite an experience.
When the restoration of the Monastery began, before it opened to the public, a great collection of primarily religious paintings was found, some dating to the Viceroyalty of Peru. Some 400 works were restored, revealing influences from Italian and Spanish schools of art, as well as excellent examples of the Cusco School. The most important paintings are displayed in two immense rooms inside the monastery, with high vaults, in the shape of a cross, from which the plaster has been removed to reveal the Sillar walls.
The Santuarios Andinos Museum is located about a block from the Plaza de Arma. The museum is home to a 550-year-old Inca sacrifice, discovered atop Mount Ampato in 1995, the remains mummified by aridity and cold. Dressed in finely crafted ceremonial robes and surrounded by spiritually significant objects, this victim turned out to be a 12-year-old girl who was sacrificed to the gods in the 1450s. The archaeologists named Juanita the Ice Maiden. Juanita is now the centerpiece of the excellent Museo Santuarios Andinos, her mummified remains eerily preserved in a climate-controlled glass case. The atmospheric rooms of the museum house many other artifacts discovered during the expedition that found Juanita including more than 300 Inca relics, including textiles, ceramics, golden statues, silver, and copper.
Highest Altitude: 2,430 m (7,972 ft).
Lowest Altitude: 2,335 m (7,661 ft).
