Cusco is best seen on foot
The walking routes below are the best way to see the city. Cusco is built on a steep hillside and getting around in the historic center of the city usually involves stairs at some point. However, I do have several wheelchair accessible routes below. I highly recommend Wheel the World’s Peru trips for those traveling in a wheelchair.
Walking Route: Easy Does It
This is the simplest walk that anybody can do, even if you’re new to high altitude. Mostly flat and all wheelchair accessible.
Walking Route: Avenida del Sol
Head downhill from the Plaza de Armas to the Qorikancha and then back up through picturesque Inca alleys. Some uneven cobblestones but still wheelchair accessible.
Walking Route: San Blas
This route takes you uphill to the artisans’ neighborhood of San Blas. There are too many stairs for this route to be wheelchair accessible.
Walking Route: San Pedro
Keep going past the Santa Clara arch to the famous Mercado San Pedro. Look up to see the market’s roof, designed by Gustave Eiffel. This one is wheelchair accessible!
Walking Route: All the Stairs
This is the longest walk on my routes and it involves a lot of stairs, which makes it not wheelchair accessible. Take your camera and be prepared for amazing views of the city!
San Blas Without Stairs
These three routes are ways to see the artisan’s neighborhood on the hillside without the stairs. Note that the first route is uphill, then downhill. Routes 2 and 3 are out and back on the same street. All three of these routes take you past artisan’s workshops, cute cafes and Cusco’s best concept stores.
Take a taxi to Choquechaka and the alleyway 7 Culebras. It’s uphill on 7 Culebras, flat across the Plazoleta Nazarenas then downhill to the Plaza de Armas.
Take a taxi to the Plazoleta San Blas. Check out the plaza, then go uphill along Calle Carmen Alto and back to the Plazoleta.
Take a taxi to the Mercado San Blas, then go along Calle Tandapata until you hit the stairs where the road jogs right/up. Go back the same way.
