Vikram and I found ourselves unexpectedly in Arequipa for over two weeks. And while this was unplanned (and probably a bit too long for most people to need in Arequipa), we found plenty to do in this lovely Peruvian city. Here are our highlights and recommendations.

Orient Yourself to the Plaza de Armas

The Plaza de Armas lies in the heart of Arequipa, and most tourist sites lie within close walking distance. The Plaza itself is beautiful, centered around a large fountain, full of palm trees, and surrounded by Spanish colonial architecture.

On the north end of the plaza, you will find the Cathedral of Arequipa, an immense building constructed with white volcanic stone.

On the other side, meet up with Free Tour Downtown Arequipa for a walking tour of the city. No reservations required, and they have tours every day at 10 am and 3 pm.

Take a Cooking Class

Arequipa is an excellent introduction to Peruvian cuisine. To get familiar with the food, we took a cooking class with Peruvian Cooking Experience. The small classes (no more than three people) allow for a lot of individual instruction and pleasant conversation with the teachers.

On our menu: rocoto relleno, pastel de papas, and soltero de queso.

Rocoto relleno are stuffed spicy peppers. The filling includes chunks of beef, carrots, onions, and raisins. The peppers pack a ton of flavor, and we welcomed the high spicy levels after two months of almost no spicy food.

Pastel de papas consists of layers of thinly sliced potatoes, salty cheese, and a mixture of evaporated milk with egg yolk and various spices. We topped it off with a merengue crown.

Soltero de queso is a chunky salad of corn (that looks abnormally large compared to U.S. corn), tomatoes, broad beans, red onion, carrot, and cheese. We dressed our salad with lime juice, vinegar, oil, parsley, salt, and pepper.

Cost is 70 soles per person.

Sample Traditional Peruvian Cuisine …

After putting your own cooking skills to the test, try the work of professionals!

La Nueva Palomina is a popular picanteria, or traditional lunch spot in Arequipa. We shared an appetizer of large Peruvian corn with cheese and a huge sampler plate of traditional dishes. However, while there seemed to be locals there, it did seem bit more geared to tourists and was priced accordingly. Our meal for two cost around 60 soles.

Another picanteria that has a more local, authentic feeling with more affordable prices is La Capitana. Our meal for two cost around 30 soles.

Want a snack while roaming the streets? Check out the churros man near San Francisco plaza. A bag of six churros cost 2 soles.

… And Some Nontraditional Cuisine

For nontraditional food option, check out El Buda Profundo—a vegan sushi restaurant.

We had delicious gyoza dumplings and yummy sushi with fried tofu, avocado, and mango that sated some of our Asian food cravings. This place will fill your tummies without emptying your wallets too much! Our meal for two cost around 50 soles.

Check Out San Camilo Market

This is Arequipa’s central market, about four blocks away from the Plaza de Armas. Definitely take some time to just wander and explore this huge place, bustling with local life and activity.

Everything is organized into sections: chicken, fish, cheese, fruits, potatoes, and so on. Not only are the sights overwhelming—tons of color in the fruit section, more types of potatoes than you could imagine, and chicken’s feet dangling from above—but the smells are, too. Imagine the strong scent of a hard cheese combined with raw beef and fish, plus a hint of sweet fruit, and you can get (or smell?) the picture.

Tons of small restaurants populate the second level of the market, where you can get a filling lunch for just 6 soles, or less than $2 USD. Also check out the fresh juice aisle, and if you’re daring like Vikram get the “special juice” of fruits, beers, raw eggs, and honey.

You may be sensing that a theme of this post so far largely centers around food, which is not entirely untrue but the San Camilo Market does offer tons of non-food options: fabrics, traditional medicinal remedies, wooden spoons and plates, baby clothes, dog clothes, you name it.

Visit the Santa Catalina Monastery

This monastery feels like a small town within a one-square block area of Arequipa’s historical center. Founded in the 16th century, it was a great honor to send a daughter here, though today only 20 nuns reside at the monastery.

Now, most of the monastery is open to the public and is open to explore what the site used to look like centuries ago. You can see some mock-ups of where nuns used to live and cook. There are many picturesque plazas and quaint streets to explore—you can easily spend more than an hour just wandering.

Tickets cost 40 soles per person. You can also hire a guide for 20 soles, which we did but didn’t find that it added that much.

Visit the Recoleta Monastery

While not as picture-perfect as Santa Catalina, this monastery for Jesuit priests still offers pretty plazas and more interesting museum exhibits—from Incan relics and mummies to Amazonian animals. Also check out the extensive library of colonial period texts and maps.

Tickets cost 10 soles per person.

Visit the Mundo Alpaca

This small museum features llamas and alpacas that you can pet and feed, as well as exhibits on how Peruvians use these animals’ wool to make clothing.

Free admission.

Visit the Museum of Andean Sanctuaries

At this museum, learn about the discovery of human mummies buried on the tops of nearby volcanoes. All of these sacrifices were of children, and Incan leaders sacrificed them to appease the gods in light of natural disasters.

Tickets cost 20 soles per person.

Kick Back at Chaqchao Cafe

We adopted Chaqchao as our almost-daily watering hole for good coffee and craft beer (and both of these things are hard to come by in South America). Just located two blocks north of the Plaza de Armas, it’s a good place to either start your day or have a pitstop while touring the sites. 

This cafe is actually an organic chocolate shop but also has a pleasant rooftop deck to enjoy their drinks. I developed a bad daily-latte habit during our lengthy stay in Arequipa.

Cross the Fierro Bridge at the “Golden Hour”

A bit off the beaten tourist track about 30 minutes south of the Plaza de Armas, our walk across this Eiffel-designed bridge ended up giving us the best view of the city and the surrounding volcanoes. Go right before sunset to get the best lighting!

Travel Notes

• Most tourists stay around the Plaza de Armas—you can find many hostels right within a block or two of the plaza. There are also options within a wider radius of the center that are in quieter and more residential areas, though still walking distance to the plaza.
• Arequipa is a fairly safe city, at least around the main tourist haunts. The Plaza de Armas always had a ton of police milling around.