Cusco- The Inka Museum & Qorikancha

Cusco Day 3- The Museums  

Following our EPIC riding tour in the morning, we still had an afternoon to play in Cusco and plenty still to see. What better way to polish our time off than with a trip to the Inka Museum and Qorikancha ruins.



First up was lunch at Ceviche in the Plaza de Armas. I’d never had Ceviche before but I am a fan of seafood and this restaurant brought the sea themes. The staff were the best and friendliest at any restaurant we visited. I got a delicious mint lemonade and roasted red pepper pasta (trying to remain frugal and not fully committed to trying Ceviche yet) While I didn’t try any of their seafood, the group did and said it was great, and the restaurant was beautiful!

After lunch we headed to the Inka Museum which I’d read was a little let downish but if you appreciate history and pottery, I think you will enjoy it. We breezed through most of it- reading what captions they did have in English. I loved learning about the different regions the Incas lived in, the types of food they ate in each location, and interesting pottery they made. 

The best part however was definitely the mummies. After visiting the Sacred Valley the day before and seeing some of the alcoves mummies were worshiped in, and learning about how cared for the mummies were, it was fascinating to see some! (even if they are in a dimly lit room behind a protective wall you have to peer through windows into) Like the cathedrals, the museum was a no photo zone so all I got was the one photo at the entrance! At only $3 it’s a quick (at your pace) interesting stop.

The museum is an easy walk from the Plaza de Armas. (no taxi needed) 

Inca Museum General Information:  

Hours:

Mon-Fri 8AM-6PM

Saturday: 9AM-4PM

Closed Sunday

Cost: 10s ($3)

The Koricancha as seen from the solar garden (by the street)

After, we headed to the Temple of the Sun- the Koricancha – which was my favorite building in Cusco. It’s a nice walk from the Plaza de Armas or Inca Museum so no taxi needed. The cathedral next to it is free to visit, but as the Koricancha is a type of museum, it also cost $3 to visit. Luckily most of the building was photographable because it was SO cool. 

About the Qorikancha

Originally, this building was dedicated to the highest of Inca dieties: the Inti or Sun and was built with the highest level of stone masonry the Incas used- interlocking boulders, free of any imperfections, and fitted together using the lego style with no mortar. They also built the layout in a way to resemble what they were worshipping with the temple with sunrays moving out from a central point. The temple housed mummies and so much gold, the name of the building still reflects it, Qori = worked gold and kancha = enclosed or building. While none of the gold remains and barely any of the walls, the foundations still stand the test of time. 

The Spanish built the Convent of Santo Domingo directly on top of it encompassing the walls of the temple and building a cathedral adjacent to it. It was pretty insane to walk into what looks like a convent on the outside and see the inner courtyard to match, then look to the side and see Inca walls and ceremonial rooms. You can walk around the rooms, or go out on the stone balconies to look down at the Solar garden (another amazing viewpoint for the building) Some of the convent rooms house more artifacts and pottery, and some of the stone walls still show the etched designs from the Inca times. 

An example of the "lego" stone pieces that were used for building the Temple of the Sun. 

The inner courtyard of the convent

Another view of all inner courtyard for this massive convent 

The Temple of the sun on the inside of the convent

Looking out one of the balconies at the solar garden

The inner courtyard from the 2nd floor

Continuing upstairs is neat as this is one of the few cathedrals from  where you can gain access to the choir balcony (though again no photos are allowed as it is part of the museum) Once I explored the convent and ruins, I visited the cathedral and met up with my friends outside so we could walk back. 

Awesome views of the Cusco hillside from the 2nd floor of the Convent

Qorikancha General Information:

Museum Hours:

Monday-Saturday 8:30AM – 5:30 PM

Sunday: 12:00 PM-5:00 PM

Adult Price: 15s ($4.5)

Child Price: 5s ($1.50)

Church of Santo Domingo Hours

Monday- Saturday: 7AM-7:30 PM

Sunday: 7AM-11AM and 6PM to 8:30PM 

Cost: Free

Mass: 7AM, 6:30PM, 7:30PM (Sunday only) no tourists allowed at these times 

It was about a 20 minute walk back to our apartment where we had just enough time to shower and change into warm clothes. (Seriously gets so cold in Cusco at night) At 6 we had a meet and greet/ debriefing with our trekking company to meet our tour guide and fell hikers. The office for Salkantay Trekking was a little confusing as it is on the 2nd floor of a market space. Once there, tons of guides came over to check if we were on their team. Finally we found our guide and were taken to a smaller room to sign our waivers and find out more info on the trek. The guide gave us a map and told us details on how long each section of trekking would take, where we’d get our meals, start times for each day, extras, etc. The best part of the evening was our guide’s side hustle- renting out his own trekking poles for 20s cheaper than the company rents them. (Carlos you will never live that down) We were all pretty happy to save some money, so we decided to just rent from him

A little bit of a walk back to our apartment but a cool one nonetheless. 

More beautiful lighting from sunset on our terrace in the airbnb. 

All in all, it took around 1.5 hours before we were released to go find our dinner, pack the things we wanted for our trek in our provided duffles, and head to bed. Carlos (guide) recommended a restaurant nearby called Pachappa which was very busy and for good reason. It had a beautiful outdoor eating area with lamps and space heaters and cozy tables inside. We didn’t have a reservation, so we took what table they gave us. I got lemongass lemonade here which was really good and some steak (also good) Service was slow though so we didn’t even get back to our apartment until almost 10. We packed in a fury preparing for our early start (3:30 wake up) the next day. 

Awesome time in Cusco (particularly riding) But the journey was just getting started

Cusco Day 3 Costs:

Breakfast at Cusco Plaza Hostel Buffet  $10

Horseback riding tour $65

Tour tip $4.5

Inka Museum $3

Lunch at Ceviche $15

Museum $4.50

Dinner at Pachapapa  $17.30

Airbnb $45 - $11.25 pp Day 3 Total: $132.16