Cusco Cathedral

Cusco Cathedral tickets: which one to buy

The cathedral is covered by the religious circuit ticket, which also includes San Blas church, the church of San Cristobal and the archbishop's palace museum; buying the cathedral alone is possible and only slightly cheaper, so the circuit is the better value if you are staying more than a day. It is not part of the Boleto Turistico, the general Cusco pass, which confuses many visitors. Audio guides are rented inside. Walking tours of the centre include the cathedral and cost several times the ticket, adding the Qorikancha and the San Pedro market;

a guide helps here, because the paintings are full of Andean detail that a foreign visitor will miss. Photography is completely forbidden inside and enforced. Entry is free during mass in the early morning, when the tourist route is closed. The cathedral faces the Plaza de Armas and is impossible to miss. The religious circuit ticket is valid for ten days, which suits visitors who leave for the Sacred Valley and come back.

Visiting Cusco Cathedral: what to see

The Spanish demolished the Inca palace of Viracocha on this site and used blocks from the fortress of Sacsayhuaman to build the cathedral between 1559 and 1654. It is a huge Renaissance and baroque building with three naves, flanked by two older churches that are entered from inside: the Triunfo, raised where the Spanish claimed a miraculous victory in 1536, and the Sagrada Familia. The cedar choir stalls are among the finest colonial carvings in America.

Cusco school paintings cover the walls, and one of them, a Last Supper by Marcos Zapata, shows Christ and the apostles about to eat a roasted guinea pig, with chicha in the cups; it is the single most photographed image in Peru that visitors are not allowed to photograph. A black crucifix known as the Senor de los Temblores is carried through the city each Holy Monday and is credited with stopping the earthquake of 1650. A silver monstrance over a metre tall and set with hundreds of stones is displayed in the sacristy, along with portraits of every bishop of Cusco.

Cusco Cathedral opening hours and the best time to go

Open daily from mid-morning to evening, with a break around midday in some seasons and closure to visitors during mass. Cusco sits at 3,400 metres, so give yourself a day to acclimatise before walking the hills; the cathedral is on the flat side of the square. The dry season from May to September is the peak; the rains from December to March make the plaza grey but the town quieter.

Inti Raymi on 24 June and Holy Week both fill the square and change access. The interior is cold at any time of year. Dress modestly. No photography at all. Allow an hour, ninety minutes with the two side churches, which most visitors walk past without realising they are included. Evening is the moment to see the facade, when the floodlights come on and the plaza fills with local families rather than tour groups.