South Valley of Cusco Tour: living archaeology, Andean landscapes and colonial art

Explore the South Valley of Cusco on a tour designed for those who want to make the most of their day by combining living archaeology, Andean landscapes, and top-level colonial art. From the comfort of your hotel, you will begin a flexible journey that will take you through three unmissable gems of Cusco’s cultural heritage, ideal for travelers seeking an alternative to the classic Sacred Valley. In Tipón, you will walk among terraces, stairways, and stone canals where water still flows after more than 500 years, considered one of the great works of Inca hydraulic engineering. You will be able to observe how the Incas controlled irrigation to create agricultural microclimates and how they integrated functionality and spirituality in a true “temple of water,” which would have been part of a royal complex and experimental agricultural center. You will then continue to Pikillaqta, an extensive city of the Wari culture with walls, straight streets, and hundreds of enclosures laid out in an almost geometric design. This site displays a level of urban planning that was advanced several centuries before the height of the Inca Empire and is considered one of the best examples of a pre-Inca city in the Andes. The trip ends in Andahuaylillas, a charming colonial town where the Church of San Pedro Apóstol awaits you, known as the “Sistine Chapel of America” for the richness of its interior decoration. Behind its simple façade lies an interior covered with murals, canvases of the Cusco school, carved and gilded altarpieces, as well as a beautiful coffered ceiling and one of the oldest organs in the region. At the end of the tour, you will return to your hotel with the option of stopping at a traditional restaurant to taste baked guinea pig, one of the most emblematic dishes of the South Valley.