Cusco
The city of Cusco served as the capital of the historic Inca Empire and today remains one of the most significant and beloved destinations in all of South America. And all for good reason.
Cusco, or Qosqo in the local Quechua language, is a place where prehistoric and modern worlds collide, a visually stunning UNESCO World Heritage Site where ancient Inca walls topped with the Baroque churches and the elaborate manor houses of 16th century Spaniards today house culinary hotspots and trendy minimalist cocktail bars. It’s a picturesque city where international travelers mingle casually with the modern descendants of the Inca; where Quechua-speaking villagers dressed in traditional Andean textiles are just as common among the cobbled streets as multilingual foreigners wearing fashionable designer sunglasses and modern trekking clothes. Here bustling street markets fill with a wealth of produce from the high mountains and thick jungles outside the city while visitors acclimate in preparation for their own deeper adventures into the region’s stories past and varied landscapes.
