Arequipa

Peru's White City -- colonial sillar architecture, three volcanoes on the skyline, and the Colca Canyon a few hours away.

Arequipa is Peru's second-largest city and the gateway to the Colca Canyon, one of the deepest canyons in the world. Its historic center -- a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000 -- is built almost entirely from sillar, a white volcanic stone quarried from the surrounding mountains, which is why Arequipa is known across Peru as the Ciudad Blanca, the White City. The Plaza de Armas, ringed by colonial arcades and the twin-towered Basilica Cathedral, sits in the shadow of El Misti, a near-perfect snow-capped cone flanked by the volcanoes Chachani and Pichu Pichu. A few blocks away, the Santa Catalina Monastery -- founded in 1579 -- is a walled citadel of colored cloisters, narrow stone streets and courtyards that functioned as a self-contained convent city for centuries. Most visitors spend two to three days exploring Arequipa itself before heading out to the Colca Valley, a patchwork of pre-Inca agricultural terraces and small Andean villages several hours from the city, where the canyon plunges to depths that make it one of the deepest in the world and where Andean condors can be seen riding the morning thermals at the Cruz del Condor lookout. Arequipa is also the natural link in a classic southern Peru circuit, most often combined with Cusco and Lake Titicaca (Puno) into a single overland or flight-based Cusco-Puno-Arequipa route.

Highlights

  • Historic center built in white sillar stone -- a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000
  • Santa Catalina Monastery -- a walled convent-city of colored cloisters founded in 1579
  • Plaza de Armas and Basilica Cathedral, framed by the volcano El Misti
  • Colca Canyon and Colca Valley -- among the deepest canyons in the world, with Andean condor viewing at the Cruz del Condor lookout
  • Terraced Andean valley villages and hot springs in the Colca Valley
  • Often combined with Cusco and Puno (Lake Titicaca) into a southern Peru circuit

Best time to visit

Dry season, April through December, has the clearest skies for volcano and canyon views and the best condor-viewing odds; January through March is Arequipa's rainy season, with more clouds and the occasional afternoon shower, though the city stays milder and warmer overall than Cusco at the same time of year.

Getting there

Arequipa's Rodriguez Ballon International Airport (AQP) is about 1 hour 15 minutes by air from Lima, with frequent daily flights -- most visitors fly rather than drive the roughly 620 miles (about 16-18 hours by road) from Lima. Arequipa also connects by air and overland bus to Cusco and to Puno/Lake Titicaca, making it a natural stop on a southern Peru circuit. The Colca Valley is a further 3-4 hour drive from Arequipa city, usually done by tour van, private transfer or the earlier-departing shared buses that time the trip to reach the Cruz del Condor lookout for the morning condor flights.

Hotels in Arequipa

Tours in Arequipa

Restaurants in Arequipa

  • La Nueva Palomino – A century-old picanteria tradition, still cooking over wood fire.
  • Sol de Mayo – Over a century of Arequipeno cooking, with the Misti volcano in view.
  • Chicha por Gaston Acurio – Gaston Acurio's take on Arequipeno classics, right across from Santa Catalina.
  • Zig Zag Restaurant – Andean meats sizzling on volcanic stone, under a staircase built by Eiffel's studio.
  • Crepisimo – A hundred-plus crepes and a rooftop view, inside Arequipa's Alliance Francaise.

Attractions in Arequipa

  • Monasterio de Santa Catalina – A 16th-century citadel of colorful colonial streets, still home to cloistered nuns today.
  • Plaza de Armas de Arequipa – Arequipa's colonial main square, framed by stone arcades and the Basilica Cathedral, with El Misti volcano rising behind it.
  • Iglesia de la Compania – A 17th-century Jesuit church just off the Plaza de Armas, famous for its intricately carved sillar-stone facade and jungle-motif chapel murals.
  • Yanahuara – A traditional Arequipa district built around a sillar-arched viewpoint with a postcard view of El Misti volcano.
  • Colca Valley – A living valley of pre-Inca terraces and colonial villages, best known as the gateway to Colca Canyon.

Festivals in Arequipa