Inca Cusco
Walk the ancient capital of the Inca Empire — from the golden Temple of the Sun through streets built by emperors to the colossal fortress of Sacsayhuaman, where walls of stone have outlasted everything built on top of them for six hundred years.
Start
Qorikancha — Temple of the Sun
End
Sacsayhuaman Esplanade — The Return Vista
Tour Stops (7)
Qorikancha — Temple of the Sun
The most sacred site in the Inca Empire — center of the cosmos, once covered in over seven hundred sheets of gold, now partially buried beneath the Spanish church of Santo Domingo.
Calle Loreto — Inca Walls
The finest surviving Inca street in Cusco — flanked by the walls of an emperor's palace on one side and the House of the Chosen Women on the other.
The Twelve-Angle Stone
A single block of green diorite with twelve perfectly fitted angles — the most famous stone in South America, set into the wall of the palace of the sixth Inca ruler.
Qolqampata — Palace of Manco Capac
The site of the palace of Manco Capac, legendary founder of the Inca dynasty, now marked by the church of San Cristobal — and a panoramic viewpoint revealing Cusco's puma shape.
Cristo Blanco & Pukamuqu
An eight-meter white Christ statue atop Pukamuqu — Red Hill — a sacred Inca site now marking the transition from the city to the archaeological zone above.
Sacsayhuaman
The climax of the tour — a colossal Inca fortress with three zigzag walls stretching four hundred meters, built from stones weighing over a hundred and twenty tons, without mortar, wheel, or iron.
Sacsayhuaman Esplanade — The Return Vista
The final viewpoint from the great esplanade of Sacsayhuaman — looking back over all of Cusco and reflecting on six hundred years of Inca engineering that outlasted everything built on top of it.