Historic Center of Arequipa

Evening falls and the magic begins: the cathedral is illuminated in one of Peru’s most beautiful city squares. 

But that is not all. More than 500 grand colonial-era houses in the historic center takes visitors back to another time, to the earliest beginnings of the fusion between European and Andean traditions, as expressed in Arequipa’s vaulted roofs and arches of white stone, made from the local volcanic rock known as “sillar”. 

The historic center of Arequipa also offers a thousand culinary adventures in its famous traditional restaurants, or “picanterías”, where stone mortars and clay pots are used to prepare the finest stuffed peppers, shrimp chowder or the unforgettable chili pepper sauce and potato dish known as “ocopa”.