With a population of some 700,000 local people, who keep the ancient Peruvian traditions alive, there are endless treasures to discover in Cusco. At an elevation of 3,400m (11,200ft), it is one of the world’s highest cities. Filled with cultural heritage and (literal) treasures, Cusco is home to some of the most beautiful and mysterious sites in the world. 

Cocooned by six mountains – some of which are more than 6,000 meters high – and as the historic and cultural capital of the Incan Empire, Cusco is the oldest city in the Western hemisphere. Since 1983 it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a major tourist destination, receiving almost 2 million visitors each year.  

With a history dating back to the 12th century, within 200-years of Incan rulership Cusco was to be referred to as the ‘Navel of the World’, as all roads in the Incan Empire ran through Cusco. It also owes its unique layout, which takes the form of a Puma, to the Incas, who had visionary architectural abilities. 

Incan mythology attributes the founding of the city to the Inca Manco Cápac; according to legend the golden scepter that the Sun gave to him was thrust into the fertile soil of Cusco, to designate the site of the Capital. After five-hundred years of successful rulership, Peru was invaded in 1534 by the Spanish under Francisco Pizarro. 

The cultural weaving of modern Spanish and prehistoric Quechua has transformed every aspect of Peruvian culture and, particularly and perhaps most fascinatingly, is apparent in the Andean capital of Cusco. The result today is a colorful city that thrives with a measure of contradiction. Many of the city’s finest Inca architectural treasures were so masterfully constructed out of local stone that they remain in great shape today, having withstood nearly a thousand years of use. These ancient stones are laid cheek-to-cheek with the Baroque style favored by conquistadores, creating a magical and deep dichotomy which lives in the fabric of the city. 

Today, the stately and lively Plaza de Armas with its huge archways, carved wooden balconies, shops, restaurants, cathedrals and La Compañia de Jesús church – an incredibly sculpted marble monument, clustered around lawns and flower beds and framed by the surrounding Andes, is the focal point of Cusco. With its quaint cobbled streets, hidden plazas and endless churches and temples, Cusco is an amazing amalgam of Inca capital and colonial city.   

Under the Incan rulership, the plaza used to be twice its current size, and only recently roadworks in the Calle Plateros have exposed extensive Incan foundations/ruins. Now, the undisputed archaeological capital of the Americas, Cusco (or Cuzco) is also a city of entrepreneurs with a diverse mixture of hotels, restaurants, women in traditional woven skirts offering to be photographed with baby llamas, alongside expensive boutiques selling the finest alpaca knits for small fortunes. On the pavements are stoic women, sitting for hours at a time offering trinkets, cigarettes, stones and other small items for sale, alongside a surprisingly small number of beggars. In short, tourism is now the main wellspring of the local economy.