Day 7 – Cusco, Arequipa

This was going to be a travel-only day with no sight-seeing or anything significant to experience. We hopped on to the 8:30am train from Aguas Calientes station reaching Ollantaytambo at around 11:30am. It usually takes about an hour drive from Ollantaytambo to Cusco.

[Aguas Calientes train station]

[Inside the Peru Rail train]

[Picturesque Cusco Valley]

[Picturesque Cusco Valley]

Having booked the 3:30pm flight to Arequipa, we took a taxi from Ollantaytambo station to the city. There are many mini-buses or collectivos from Ollantaytambo station to Cusco charging PEN 8 per person. They wait for the collectivos to be full before zipping off to Cusco, and they will drop you to the nearest major street or alleyway, but mostly near the Plaza de Armas in Cusco, from where you can either walk to your hotel or take a taxi.

The other option is to get a private taxi costing anything between PEN 40 to PEN 80. Make sure to bargain! Since we were three of us, we took our own taxi and brought down the price to PEN 40 (but we ended up paying PEN 50 because of the change of plans to get us to airport).

It was raining in the entire region so instead of spending an hour in Cusco, we decided to go to the airport directly and have lunch there.

[Outside Cusco Airport]

After landing in Arequipa airport and walking out, the first thing you will see is the majestic Misti volcanic mountain with its seasonally snow-capped, symmetrical cone, standing at 5,822 metres.

[Majestic Misti volcanic mountain outside Arequipa airport

Out hotel had sent a driver to pick us up from the airport, which is included in the price of the hotel. About a 20-minute ride brought us to the city center where the beautiful Casona Terrace hotel was located.

After check-in, we headed out to find tours to Colca Canyon. But since were in in Arequipa for one day only, all tours offered started at 2:30am ending at 7pm. Having hiked to Machu Picchu and it being the second-last day in Peru, we decided to lay low and make a culinary day in Arequipa rather than a full day hike across Colca Canyon.

Dinner was at Hatunpa – specializing in Peruvian cuisine with seven different types of potatoes as the base of the dish, this is their concept and their dishes:

[Restaurant motto]

[Lomo Strogonoff – alpaca strips with peppers, mushrooms, pickles and white sauce. ]

[Cauche de Queso – cheese, onion, milk and Peruvian herb]

[Ratatouille – aubergine, onion, pepper, carrot, zucchini & white sauce.]

A hearty meal and a walk along the Plaza de Armas made us content enough to call it day.

[Plaza de Armas, Arequipa]

[Plaza de Armas, Arequipa]

Note: All values in USD, unless otherwise mentioned, are approximate and based on the exchange rate of USD 1 = PEN 3.30 at the time of publishing. Each cost is for one adult.