Arequipa

From World travel guide

Arequipa is a fairly large, but still beautiful, city located just below the edge of the Peruvian Altiplano.

Contents 1 Understand 2 Get in 2.1 By plane 2.2 By bus 2.3 By train 3 Get around 4 See 5 Do 6 Buy 7 Drink 8 Sleep 9 Stay safe 10 Get out 11 External links

Understand

It's nicknamed the 'white city', because many of the buildings in the area are built using sillar, a rock coming from some of the many volcanoes that surround the city including the towering El Misti.

Get in

By plane

By far the easiest way to get in to / out of Arequipa is by plane. Lan flys twice daily from around $70.

By bus

Several buses a day do the long trips to Cuzco, Puno, Nazca, Lima and Tacna (near the border with Chile).

By train

Daily (cold) trains travel up to Juliaca and Puno.

Get around

See

• Visit some of the many markets in the centre of Arequipa
• Visit the catholic colonial-era Convento de Santa Catalina
• A visit to the Colca Canyon is recommended. It's at least three uncomfortable hours' drive from Arequipa. Once thought to be the deepest canyon in the world and twice as deep as the Grand Canyon nearby Cotohuasi Canyon is actually deeper at 11,488 ft (3501m). Here you can do a spot of walking, or else go up to the "Cruz del Condor", where you can normally see the magnificent sight of many condors soaring around you.

Do

Buy

You should definitely eat Rocotto relleño con pastel de papa in the Lucila in Sachaca.

Drink

Sleep

Stay safe

All the usual advice given for Peru applies really. Arequipa feels like a very safe city, and like in most of the other major Peruvian cities there was always a fairly large police presence. That said, don't unnecessarily flaunt your valuables or your money.

Get out

External links

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