Guide to Arequipa, Peru, Arequipa, Peru

Arequipa was a pleasant surprise. We arrived, having organised an apartment to rent for a month, knowing only that it was Peru’s second city and that it had a temperate climate due to its elevation.

Leaving after that month was a little sad, as we’d grown rather fond of this little city and its pleasant atmosphere.

Certainly you don’t need a whole month to experience Arequipa, and most people just pass through for two or three days, but it’s a nice place just to hang out and relax (or work in our case!) and enjoy the food, architecture and amenities of the city. Below we’ve compiled some of our top recommendations for a visit there.

Arequipa is not full of big name sights; after all it’s only a city of 850,000 people. But what it does have to offer is certainly very pleasant, and much of it for free.

Like any Peruvian town or city, the heart is the Plaza de Armas and Arequipa’s is spacious, elegant and busy. The square looks on to the Cathedral, Peru’s widest, and is surrounded on the three other sides by colonnaded balconies. Pigeons may be the biggest nuisance here, otherwise, it’s a nice place to sit (if you can snag a bench for yourself) and people watch. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).