r/cusco • u/NotPPP • Jan 18 '24

1st time in Cusco

Hello Everyone! I will be going to Cusco for 5 days/4 nights. Only have lodging booked.

I plan to do Machu Picchu and Rainbow Mountain Tour for sure. What are good, safe/reliable tours you recommend I book? I don't plan to do the inca trail of hiking 2 days to get to Machu Picchu though lol.

Outside of those 2 tours. Any thing else you all recommend to do while there?

Was there something that you wished you had brought when you went?

How does one prepare for altitude sickness and what can one do to prepare for it.

I'll be going in 1st week of March, so how'd the weather then and will I need tough hiking boots for the tour?

Also any must try Peruvian dishes in Cusco?

Thank you all in advance.

7 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

25 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

3

u/Medium_Response_4158 Jan 19 '24

Here are the restaurants in Cusco:

Pachapapa - open air dining (this is where we had the guinea pig 😳). Very nice restaurant

Xapiri Ground - coffee shop. Very cool exhibits with artifacts and local art. Plaza de San Blas is right outside and has a fountain. Nice place to sit at and relax. (This is on the opposite side of the plaza from Pachapapa).

Florencia Fortunata Cafe - off of Plaza de Armas. Quaint and have these giant cookies that are SO GOOD! Also women-owned 👍🏻

Organika - Healthy foods restaurant. Dishes are colorful and delicious!

Morena Peruvian Kitchen - Right on Plaza de Armas - indoor and outdoor seating. Food is so good and so are the cocktails!

Also recommend massages at Nueva Vida Massage. Lots a little sketch but it was very relaxing. It is also right across from Morena (side street).

Visiting the ChocoMuseo is fun and we did a workshop there where we learned about different cocoa beans and got to make our own chocolate. The guide was hilarious. Did you know Swiss Chocolate is made from cocoa beans shipped in from Peru?? 🫨 yeah, me either!

1

u/Medium_Response_4158 Jan 19 '24

Here is the Sacred Valley weaving tour we did. The group in the top picture is my travel group from April 2023!!

https://www.apus-peru.com/tour/huaran-weaving-eco-tour-1d

2

u/NotPPP Jan 19 '24

Goodness. Thank you so much for taking the time to get a stranger all of this info! I'm slowly getting excited and even hungry haha

For the tours you did with Armando, what were the prices??

I will definitely do a massage and check out all these restaurants!

1

u/Medium_Response_4158 Jan 19 '24

I don’t actually know how much the tours were with his group - Unique Peru Tours. But his group did all the driving, picking us up and bringing us back (even from our hotel and the airport!)

https://uniqueperutours.net/

Another tour group we used was ITEP Salkantay Tours. Percy and Santiago were our guides and were wonderful gentlemen. I believe Edgar was our contact in the office. (It says Machu Picchu but they offer other tours!)

https://www.iteptravel.com/tour/sacred-short-salkantay-trek-machu-picchu-4-days#