Cusco Photo Day Tour
Description
The Cusco photo day tour is the only one that will take you to the touristic and untouristic places of the Incan Capital. Visit unknown incan streets, traditional markets, catacombs underneith a monastary and typical local places unexplored by mass tourism. Get photography tips from your photography guide, no matter if you use a phone or camera and enjoy the real Cusco from a different perspective.
Tour Options
Itinerary
We start the morning at 09h30. We meet in the main square, Plaza de Armas outside Mcdonalds. We move up to Santa Ana and have a quick breakfast in UMA Café at 10:00. After breakfast, we move up the street for a magnificent unique perspective from the Arch of Santa Ana. This ancient arch has a vantage point to photograph the city and barely anyone knows you can actually go to the top! We move down into San Pedro market around 10h30. Also known as the Central Market (Mercado Central), the San Pedro Market is one of the most traditional and classic places to photograph in Cusco. Built by the famous Gustave Eiffel in 1925, this location concentrates the local Quechua residents and is usually busier and more attractive in the morning. Entering this market is a different experience. You’ll find everything from fresh fruit and veggies, natural medicines, people having a meal next to cow heads for sale, lots of crafts and an entire world of Quechua influences and amazing colors. At 12:00 we move to Plaza San Francisco and visit San Francisco de Assis Church, convent, and catacombs. The San Francisco Church is one of the oldest and most forgotten wonders of the city. We will visit this convent/church and explore its history and architecture. We will explore the underground catacombs, the church, choir area with amazing carved cedar chairs and one of the highlights - the Bell Tower, where you can enjoy an impressive view of the city. We will also visit the outdoor patio, designed with superb detail in the Spanish colonial style. At 1 pm there is a mandatory stop in the main square (Plaza de Armas). There’s no escaping the main plaza. It concentrates so much history about the Incan empire! Explore this area with a more photographic approach but get to also learn a little bit about the history of Cusco. Then we move up to San Blas neighborhood and have our lunch stop in San Blas Market. Lunch is quick and simple but delicious. A healthy local sandwich of your choice and fresh fruit juice. San Blas market is known for an alternative vibe, healthy food options, and few tourists. Around 14:00 we move out of the market and explore the San Blas Neighborhood. The oldest and most beautiful neighborhood in Cusco. Known as the location where all artists live in the city. This area has some hidden gem locations that make for amazing street photography and not a lot of people know about them. We will take you there along some mandatory stops like the “Mirador de San Blas” where you can have an amazing overview of the city. At around 15h00 we have the option either visit a local, traditional Chicheria, serving the drink chicha made from fermented corn, this is a very local spot and a perfect way to get to experience some of the true local culture, if this doesn’t take your fancy we have the option to visit a local bar with the best view in Cusco, here we can relax and drink a pisco sour while overlooking the entire city, you’ve earned it! Also very important about this tour : Cusco's dynamic changes daily! So some locations in it's streets are not open every day! We leave this as a surprise as it is not garanteed. But we always pass by the places and if open we go inside to show you some hidden gems of Cusco! Fingers Crossed!
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- Children must be accompanied by an adult
- May be operated by a multi-lingual guide
Reviews(29)
This is a great tour to take if you want to hone your photography skills and get to see different sides of Cusco. Noe is a great guide and a great photographer who will show you some great spots around Cusco, and at the same time give you pointers and tips. He is also easy to converse with and flexible with the plan based on how the day is going or your wishes.
Thank you so much for your wonderful review! We're thrilled you enjoyed discovering a different side of Cusco with Noe. He'll be delighted to hear your kind words. We always strive to create flexible experiences that combine local culture, photography, and personalized guidance. We hope to welcome you back to Peru again soon!
We loved our experience in Cusco! Dan customized 4 days for us so we got to experience what we were interested in with a private guide and driver. Noe was an excellent guide. So kind and knowledgeable and his English was excellent.
Thank you so much for your kind words — it truly means a lot! It was a real pleasure organizing these days for you, and I’m so happy to hear that you had such a great experience in Cusco. Noe will be especially glad to read this — I’ll make sure to pass along your message to him. Designing a trip around what you truly want to experience is exactly what we aim for, so it’s wonderful to know it made a difference. Hope to welcome you again in Peru someday! Warm regards, Dan
Flavio was exceptional! He made our photo tour of Cusco one we will remember forever! Ask for Flavio! Great experience. He took us through the city to experience the true essence of Cusco.
Thank you so much for your kind words! We’re thrilled to hear that Flavio made your photo tour of Cusco unforgettable. He’s truly passionate about sharing the authentic spirit of the city, and it means a lot to know you experienced that with him. We’ll be sure to pass along your praise — and we hope to see you again for another photographic adventure! Warm regards,
Excellent 12 day trip.Dan our tour guide met out every need, and too extremely good care of each individual of the group.
Hi Michael ! Thank you for your kind words ! Dan
The views from Dan’s unique viewpoints were fantastic, we were the only ones going these places. Also the visit to the indigenous community in 4200m altitude, being the only tourists, was quite an experience.
Hi Lars, Thank you for your kind review. Hope to see you soon again
Great experience, not only do they have a great knowledge of Cusco and will take you to see some great and intresting areas but they also have an extensive knowledge about cameras and photography great for experienced individuals or someone who just bought a camera and is getting into photography.
Thank you for your kind words.
I have just done a Photo Trek with Andean for the second time, it is always a delight for the eyes and the mind, the guides are fantastic, I recommend 100%. Thanks again I hope to come back a third time.
Hello Jeremy, Merci beaucoup pour ton message. C'est très apprécié. A tout bientôt, Dan
I have written hundreds of reviews and believe in the power of feedback; I hope my review is helpful. We met up with our guide, Noe, in the lobby of our hotel. Noe was excellent from A to Z. He took us to some less touristy spots as well as some of the normal spots and helped us capture memorable pics. Noe is a local and helped us understand some of the history, culture and even foods the locals eat. This was our first full day in Cusco and it was a great way to orient us to the city. We even asked Noe to take us to a non-touristy, locals-only restaurant for lunch and that was very memorable and gave us an insight into everyday life for locals. I highly recommend this tour especially for those who want to make sure they come away with some great pics and memories. Bravo, Noe. ¡Gracias!
Hi Steven, Thank you for your kind review. I'll make sure Noe reads it. Take care, Dan
I recently did this tour with Dan. Overall excellent experience and would highly recommend it. I was picked up from my hotel on time, went to the outskirts of the city, near the Christ statue, and then slowly walked down into the city. Dan knew all the best areas for picture taking, and provided excellent advise for camera angles, settings, perspectives. I used a DSLR camera as well as iphone.
Hi Alan, Thank you very much for your nice review. I'm happy you've enjoyed the day with us. Take care, Dan
I started off with a day tour with friends around Lima with Dan and had a lot of opportunities for awesome photos of wonderful vistas of Lima, and got some great photo tips :) Then I spent 4 days with Noe on photo tours based out of Cusco. We started with the Alternate Rainbow Mountain, which was amazing! Then we continued with getting outside the city and seeing some amazing landscapes and learning more about landscape photography. My favorite day was when we went to visit a local family up in the mountains and learned about portrait photography. Bernardino cooked us a wonderful lunch and his family was so welcoming! My favorite moment was when we all piled into the van and drove up to a scenic spot overlooking a lake, and we all just sat there and enjoyed each other’s company :) Bernardino’s son even let me try to play his recorder lol Noe is a great photographer and guide and was so patient with my friend and I, and by the end of the 4 days he had both of us shooting in manual..that’s quite a feat! I highly recommend Andean Photo Expeditions and would love to go back and take some more tours with them, especially to the Amazon!
Hi Leslie, Thank you for your beautiful and detailed review. We are very happy that you've learnt a lot in our company. We hope to see you soon, Noe and Dan.
