Home South America Peru Next Stop in Peru: Cuzco

Next Stop in Peru: Cuzco

December 26, 2019

We’re travelers. We’ve traveled a lot, relatively speaking. And when Nduku planned this trip, we knew that we had to finally go to South America. And when we settled on Peru, it was a no brainer that we would visit Machu Picchu. The trick was squeezing in the time considering it’s on the other side of the country. Our journey to Machu Picchu started with a trip and overnight stay in Cuzco.

One last look at Lima before we head out to Cuzco.

Najwa all set and ready to go for another flight, this time to Cuzco.

The city was the historic capital of the Inca Empire from the 13th century until the 16th-century Spanish conquest. In 1983, Cusco was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO with the title “City of Cuzco”. It has become a major tourist destination, hosting nearly 2 million visitors a year. The Constitution of Peru (1993) designates it as the Historical Capital of Peru.

Since 1976, the preferred local spelling of the city has been Cusco, to reflect current pronunciation in Spanish and Quechua; since 1990, local authorities adopted Qosqo as the spelling, to be more closely aligned with the Quechua language.

Cuzco sits in a valley with development climbing some of the hillsides. The walk down to the center of the city was pretty steep, relatively speaking.