How to Spend Your Time in Cusco // Peru Travel Vlog

so you are interested in cusco peru or perhaps  you're even visiting the region soon if so you've   come to the right video if you're new around here  we're nicole and mico we've been traveling south   america full-time for the last six months and very  recently we spent almost a month in cusco city   and the surrounding region in this video we are  going to cover lots of the cool things to do in   cusco and the surrounding area we'll pack in lots  of travel tips for cusco as well so hang tight and   if you find this video useful and helpful in any  way we'd love if you click that like button and   even that subscribe button so one of the first  things you're going to do when you get to cusco   is walk around plaza de armas that's like the main  part of the historic downtown city center you're   probably going to be staying nearby this area  it's really accessible full of people all the time   it's absolutely stunning but one of the main  reasons you're going to want to spend time here   when you first get to cusco is actually because  you're going to be acclimatizing so cusco city   sits at about 3 400 meters high so pretty much  no matter where you're coming from in the world   especially if you're coming by plane you're  gonna need a little bit of time to acclimatize   to that high elevation because you're going to  notice right away that you're just always out   of breath in cusco plaza de armas is really just  the main touristic part in all of cusco there's   tons of shops and tons of like restaurants and  cute like souvenir stations and things like that   in the area there's also like a really cool church  that we actually went inside and walked around and   you can actually go up to part of the bell tower  and see the entire plaza which is so stunning   because i think we went at like sunset and that  was really spectacular plaza de armas is also the   place where a ton of the really cool events that  are happening in the city are going to be sort   of stationed around so when we were there we got  super lucky we were there for a festival called   inti raymi which is like festival of the sun it's  a really traditional incredible incan festival   and uh it was just so colorful so vibrant there  was so much going on in the city and particularly   in plaza de armas obviously it's a once in a year  event it happens during the winter solstice and we   just happen to be there right on time but what's  important to note is that plaza de armas is a very   central place for all these special events so  if you're walking around plaza de armas chances   are you might see something going on all right  so now that you've done a lot of walking around   the plaza de armas you're probably getting a  little bit peckish well the good news is there   are tons of restaurants around the plaza de armas  and like those are probably some of the better   restaurants i'd say in all of cusco and maybe  all of peru here we had some incredible meals   while we were in cusco i think probably our best  recommendation would be to go to morena peruvian   kitchen we had just exquisite exquisite food here  like the presentation was absolutely stunning you   come to the restaurant and the lighting is just so  beautiful the decorations they give this like sort   of cozy elegant vibe and then you have views  of plaza de armas right from your table and   one of the awesome things about morena peruvian  kitchen as well as all the restaurants honestly in   and around sort of the plaza of the armas area  is that you have a really good array of peruvian   dishes to try like really classic peruvian dishes  and if you want to you could get some more sort of   western style dishes if that's more to your liking  if you're also adventurous enough you could try   some of the cuy which is guinea pig it's a  delicacy especially in the andean region of peru   so trying in cusco would be a really cool place to  do it something that we did while we were in cusco   that we actually really enjoyed and thought was  going to be super super gimmicky was the panoramic   bus tour so everywhere you go in cusco people  are offering you this bus tour like it's constant   people are asking you if you want this tour um we  eventually said yes to one of them our advice is   to say yes yeah honestly it was way better than we  thought i thought it was going to be kind of lame   to be honest more like a tourist trap because you  see like all these people on top of the buses and   you know it's the really traditional tourist look  taking photos and stuff like that yeah turns out   it was actually super fun it was really fun you  started off right in the center of the plaza armas   they give you like a quick rundown of the area and  the city's history and things like that and then   they take you over a couple blocks down where you  actually get on the bus and do a lap or two around   the area showing you the more important buildings  outside of the plaza one of the first stops we   went to outside of the historic center cusco up  at the hill is saqsaywaman so that is also a very   important site for the incas we didn't spend any  particular time walking around we were able to see   it from the bus saqsaywaman is actually a really  neat place to spend like a morning or an afternoon   if you've got the time in cusco it's incan ruins  again so you can go through and learn lots more   about incan history it just didn't fit in our  schedule but it is definitely a great way to spend   some time in cusco if you've got a chance so after  saqsaywaman the bus takes you up the hill further   to a couple other sites one of which includes a  place where we met a local who was able to run   a traditional incan ritual overall just like a  really interesting immersion into the culture   one that we did not expect from like your typical  touristic bus tour and then after that we went   over to another site called cristo blanco which  is like a statue of jesus christ right at the top   of the hill that overlooks down to like the cusco  valley and that was also like an awesome place to   just take some photos and enjoy the scenery of the  area something to know about cusco is especially   i mean we were there in the winter time in  cuscos winter time and it is very cold once   the sun disappears so pack lots of warm clothes  but if you don't pack enough you could always   buy some extra like warm clothing um throughout  the city because there are tons of shops that sell   sweaters hats mitts and gloves and leg warmers  everything you could ask for you can buy in either   plaza de armas or just generally around sort of  the cusco historic center one of the most common   souvenir pieces that we saw while walking around  cusco is the very classic south american sweater   of like you know you can tell us the peruvian  kind of textile like fashion with some llamas on   it there's honestly no better way to tell all your  friends and family and co-workers back home that   you just got back from your trip in south america  than getting one of these sweaters i have one in and around the plaza de armas and sort of just  the general area within the historic center of   cusco there are tons of shops where you can also  buy 100 percent alpaca wool products of course   alpaca wool is really really popular in peru it is  a very cool thing to buy but if you're interested   in getting alpaca wool before you actually arrive  to peru our suggestion would be to go and check   out appalachian gear company we recently got  a couple of their sweaters and holy smokes   game changers game changers we absolutely  love them we wore them non-stopp in peru   it was really chilly so once we had them we  just wore them constantly especially in cusco   if you've seen some of our other videos  you know how we feel about merino wool   we think it's a little bit overrated  this alpaca wool is an alternative so far   we're liking it yeah we're super impressed so far  so anyways you can get that from appalachian gear   company or of course right in peru you're  going to find lots of options there as well   okay the lighting is changing a little  bit uh this is the disadvantage of not   having our own studio and using an airbnb  wherever we are in the world is where we're   coming to you from you just never know what  you're gonna get so if we're squinting a lot   we're sorry it's been overcast all day  we start to film it's like here's the sun   there's also san pedro market which is a great  place to get souvenirs but what we also love at   san pedro market is that you can get super local  like lunches or food options so we went there at   one point and just got lunch of the day you get  this awesome what they call it an almuerzo this   is a very hard spanish word for me to say there's  multiple dishes you get like soup and then you get   a main dish then you usually get a drink with that  of some kind anyways super filling super yummy   super local so if you want a cool local experience  go to san pedro market you can do some shopping   they've got all the classic shopping for tourists  but then you can also go and have an awesome meal   if you're interested in learning more about incan  culture and incan history definitely go and check   out qorikancha it's like one of their main temples  there in cusco we had a chance to walk around and   explore the ruins explore the garden which  is beautiful even climb up to like the bell   tower and look around we do highly recommend that  you try and get a guide just at the front there   um you'll learn a lot more than we did just sort  of walking around and checking things out looking   like we knew what we were doing there's so many  things to do in cusco during the day but if you're   looking for more things to do at night we highly  recommend going to this place called republica   del pisco we just had an amazing time hitting  kind of the cusco night scene and then ending   off at republica del pisco because they had  like awesome karaoke and like live music and   dancing it was uh a blast so much fun we joked  that it was like next level karaoke because it's   not actually karaoke okay there's like a live band  and they're playing but they just let anybody come   up and sing if they want to so it's not like you  have the words up you have to know the song okay   but it is seriously next level like randoms from  the audience just go up and they just sing with   the whole band playing behind them such a cool  experience if you get a chance and you're feeling   up to it despite the elevation we highly recommend  you give it a shot so all of these different   things you could probably fit into one to two days  within the city of cusco and once you've done that   you've acclimatized to cusco we would suggest an  awesome day activity which is to do the rainbow   mountains so it's just a quick one day tour from  cusco city they pick you up in cusco drop you off   in cusco and it is exactly what it sounds like you  go to a place called the rainbow mountains which   are these beautiful colorful mountains that kind  of look like hills but you're at like 5000 meters   and you can hardly breathe um but it's a really  fun day trip it's just a couple hours out there   they feed you along the way you spend a few hours  looking around the incredible beautiful rainbow   mountains before coming home so it is a bit of  a long day all you're gonna have time for when   you get back is bed and sleeping because you're  going to be very tired or republica del pisco   another easy day trip from cusco would be humantay  lake so this is something you could set up   with some of the tour agencies around the plaza  and from there they'll pick you up and they'll   take you over to humantay lake where you'll then  be hiking at elevation so this is not an easy hike   let me tell you it's a little bit challenging  because you're so high up your reward is   the beautiful humantay lake which is just crystal  clear so so turquoise blue and surrounded by these   super high andes mountains it's a stunning area  it's a stunning landscape so if you're looking   for just like a quick retreat to get into the  mountains and see the andes this is a great option   we actually went and saw humantay lake as part of  our salkantay trek so to get to machu picchu there   are a handful of different routes that you can  use to get there you can of course take the train   which is the sort of more classic very fast way  to get to machu picchu you can take the inca trail   which is the very classic way to hike up to machu  picchu or you can do the salkantay trekk that's   what we did it is a four day hike up through the  andes all the way to of course the very iconic   machu picchu what you all came to cusco to see and  the first day of that trek you get to see humantay   lake the next few days after that are honestly  some of the best hiking we've ever done in our   life of course you can do the classic inca trail  but for us we just like that feeling of immersion   in nature and really just something a little bit  more hiking-esque for us yeah something that made   us feel i think a little bit more isolated there  were still lots of people on the salkantay trek   um but we felt a little bit more sort of immersed  into the andes sort of proper um and just tucked   away from a lot of things so we love the salkantay  trek so if you get a chance we've got a video   about it we'll link it if you want to check it  out if you choose to take the train to machu   picchu which actually brings you to the town at  the base of machu picchu called aquas calientes   that is also an excellent option we took the train  back to cusco from machu picchu because of course   we hiked up the train ride takes you through the  sacred valley and it is it is truly beautiful   the hard part for us was staying awake because  we were so exhausted after five days of hiking   but honestly the views were so good we actually  didn't fall asleep i was very impressed   the last thing on our list about what to do in  cusco and the cusco region is of course machu   picchu let's be honest that's why you went to  cusco it is definitely worth the hype we were   blown away by machu picchu we just loved our  time there i swear we could have just spent   days and days hanging around and just kind  of getting to know the general area we could   spend hours and hours talking about machu picchu  and all the tips that we have from machu picchu   but we feel like that deserves its own video  so we actually have made another video about   machu picchu and if you're going there we highly  recommend checking out that video to get a couple   more insights and again tips before your visit  there because it is a little bit different than   how it ran pre-pandemic in 2019 and before before  we give you our final thoughts on cusco we want   to take a second to thank our patrons who  help us to bring you guys new videos every   single week from all around the world if you're  interested in checking out our patreon we will   link it above one of our goals with patreon is  to build a travel community because honestly   having a travel community has changed our  adventures so much especially at our time   in cusco we connected with a few people that were  already in our circle of friends through social   media and through youtube and it just like it just  made the whole experience way better yeah it was   really cool we got to meet a few people in cusco  that we met through youtube and just like get to   know the community a little better talk about  travel and all the cool ways that people are   integrating travel into their life and we loved  it cusco is an awesome place we highly recommend   checking it out spend a couple extra days there  if you can either before or after your trip to   machu picchu you will definitely not regret it  and with that we'll leave you guys there thanks   so much for watching we'll see you in the next  one and if so you have come to the right place   we're nicole and mico shoot nice excellent way  to see a lot of the area and a lot of sort of if you want to check out our patreon  we'll link the link link the link above   i think there's a lot of beauty  there that we have yet to see and that's it so you are interested in going to peru  or perhaps no just a second take two

Channel: Nicole and Mico

Views: 28,096

Keywords: cusco travel vlog, what to do in cuzco, trying almuerzo in peru, rainbow mountains peru, peru drone footage, best food in peru, cusco plaza de armas, best day trip from cusco, humantay lake, 3 days in cusco, salkantay trekking, inca rail train, what to eat in cusco peru, bus tour in cusco, best things to do in cuzco, saqsaywaman cusco peru, qorikancha cusco, where to travel in south america, best places to travel in south america, husband and wife travel vlog, peru vlog

Id: VmW5dn5weZo

Length: 13min 25sec (805 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 07 2022