# Cusco: map, what to do and when to go

In Cusco, colonial houses and churches rest on Inca stone walls, older than the 1533 Spanish conquest. Former capital of the Inca state, it sits at 3,399 m in the Peruvian Andes and is the starting point for Machu Picchu, 75 km away.

Canonical: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/cusco/
Language: en. Extended author commentary and itinerary notes may remain in Portuguese. Dates below belong to individual sources; this is not live availability.

## Direct answer
- **Cusco: how long does it take to reach Pisac, in the Sacred Valley?** Pisac is 33 km and 1 hour away, with a market and a set of terraces and tombs on the ridge above the village.
- **Cusco: what's the currency, and how much is the Brazilian real worth?** The currency is the sol (PEN, S/), at about 3.4 to the dollar and about 0.65 to the real in September 2026.
- **Cusco: what are the seasons like through the year?** Cusco has two seasons, split by rain, because daytime temperature changes little.

## Acclimatization: the colonial center over the Inca one
Arrive, drop your bags, and don't sleep the whole afternoon: walk slowly to the Plaza de Armas and sit down for a coca-leaf tea.
- Plaza de Armas (Haukaypata)
- Qoricancha and the Convent of Santo Domingo
- San Pedro Central Market

## The stones above the city and the artisans' neighborhood
Take a taxi to Tambomachay and walk down past Puka Pukara, Q'enqo and Saqsaywaman.
- Saqsaywaman
- Q'enqo, Puka Pukara, and Tambomachay
- Calle Hatunrumiyoc and the Twelve-Angled Stone
- San Blas neighborhood and church

## Plaza de Armas (Haukaypata)
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/cusco/#g-lugar-plaza-de-armas
Departamento de Cusco · Up to half an hour
The Inca ceremonial plaza where the roads of the four suyus met, now with half of its original area built over. It was covered with sand brought from the coast and was the site of the executions of Túpac Amaru I, in 1572, and Túpac Amaru II, in 1781.
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## Cusco Cathedral
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/cusco/#g-lugar-catedral-do-cusco
Cusco
Built between 1560 and 1654 over the Kiswarkancha palace, with blocks taken from Saqsaywaman. It houses the darkened Christ of the Señor de los Temblores and Marcos Zapata's Last Supper, in which the central dish is a roasted cuy.
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## Church of the Compañía de Jesús
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/cusco/#g-lugar-igreja-da-companhia-de-jesus
Cusco · Up to half an hour
Built by the Jesuits over the Amarukancha, palace of Huayna Cápac, rebuilt after 1650 and completed in 1668. The façade turned out so grand that the archbishop appealed to Rome claiming it outshone the cathedral; the papal reply arrived after the work was finished.
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## Qoricancha and the Convent of Santo Domingo
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/cusco/#g-lugar-qoricancha
Distrito de Cusco
The Inca sun temple had its walls lined with gold plates. In 1533, Pizarro's envoys tore off much of it for Atahualpa's ransom, and what was left was looted after the Spanish entry, in November. The Dominicans built the convent on top; the curved fitted-stone wall survived the earthquakes of 1650 and 1950, and the colonial church did not.
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## Saqsaywaman
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/cusco/#g-lugar-saqsaywaman
Cusco
A megalithic complex on the hill to the north, with three zigzagging walls and blocks over 100 tons, begun over Killke structures and expanded from the 1440s. It was the base for the 1536 siege and later a quarry for the colonial churches; today it hosts the Inti Raymi on June 24.
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## Q'enqo, Puka Pukara, and Tambomachay
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/cusco/#g-lugar-q-enqo-puka-pukara
Departamento de Cusco
Three sites on the road above Saqsaywaman, covered by the same Boleto Turístico: a rock outcrop carved with channels and an altar, a red-stone checkpoint, and a spring complex with water still flowing after five centuries.
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## Calle Hatunrumiyoc and the Twelve-Angled Stone
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/cusco/#g-lugar-calle-hatunrumiyoc
Cusco · Up to half an hour
The wall of Inca Roca's palace, today the Archbishop's Palace and Museum of Religious Art, with a twelve-cornered block fitted without mortar. Touching the stone is forbidden; there's a guard on site.
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## San Blas neighborhood and church
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/cusco/#g-lugar-bairro
Departamento de Cusco · Up to half an hour
Cusco's oldest adobe church, from 1563, houses a carved cedar pulpit from the 17th century, attributed to Juan Tomás Tuyru Túpac. Around it are the sculpture workshops of the Mérida and Olave families and the square where you sit to look out over the city.
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## San Pedro Central Market
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/cusco/#g-lugar-mercado-central-de-san-pedro
Distrito de Cusco
Opened in 1925, with a metal structure popularly attributed to Gustave Eiffel's workshop, an attribution without documentary confirmation. It sells herbs, cheeses, fruit juices for S/6–10, and cheap set lunches; it opens around 6am and empties out in the late afternoon.
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## Museum of Pre-Columbian Art and Inka Museum
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/cusco/#g-lugar-museu-de-arte-pre-colombina
Cusco · Up to half an hour
The MAP occupies the Casa Cabrera, on Plaza de las Nazarenas, with Nazca, Moche, Wari, and Inca pieces displayed as art objects. The Inka Museum, in the Casa del Almirante, holds the largest collection of queros (painted wooden ceremonial cups) and mummies from the Inca period.
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**Cusco: how long does it take to reach Pisac, in the Sacred Valley?**
Pisac is 33 km and 1 hour away, with a market and a set of terraces and tombs on the ridge above the village.

**Cusco: what's the currency, and how much is the Brazilian real worth?**
The currency is the sol (PEN, S/), at about 3.4 to the dollar and about 0.65 to the real in September 2026.

**Cusco: what are the seasons like through the year?**
Cusco has two seasons, split by rain, because daytime temperature changes little. The dry season, from April to October, has steady sun and 18°C to 21°C by day, with nights of 0°C to 5°C that in June and July reach −2°C, so it's worth packing a thermal layer for guesthouses with no heating. The rainy season, from November to March, has similar highs, lows of 6°C to 9°C and late-afternoon downpours, and January and February are the cloudiest months.

**Cusco: is it correct to write Cusco or Cuzco?**
Cusco, with an s: the spelling with a z is seen as a colonial leftover, and the municipality also uses Qosqo, the Quechua form, on documents and signs.

**Cusco: what's the real risk for visitors?**
For a city its size, Cusco is comparatively calm, and the risk that weighs most is theft: at the San Pedro market, on crowded combis and outside the Plaza de Armas bars in the small hours.


## In the Nilo app
- Plan these 4 days on the map: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/app/guide/cusco/?utm_source=llm&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=door-itinerary
- Mark your hotel on the map: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/app/map/cusco/?utm_source=llm&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=door-stay

## Full editorial guide (Portuguese)
https://nilopelomundo.com/llm/cusco.md