Walking Tour Arequipa Including Santa Catalina Monastery
Description
Join this 3.5-hour walking tour of the beautiful city of Arequipa with our company that provide you a professional english or spanish speaker tour guide. A City within the City! Visit the largest Monastery in the world!!! 20 thousand square meters, four neighborhoods, which emulate the Arequipa urban distribution of the first years of the Colony.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Pick you up Arequipa is located in the southwestern part of the country and is the second biggest city of Peru, with a population of almost one million. It is also the capital of the department of Arequipa, 663.8 miles (1,068km) from Lima. The city sits at an altitude of 2,325 meters above sea level in a mountainous desert in the western Andes, at the foot of El Misti Volcano. Its colonial buildings were erected in ashlar (pearl coloured volcanic rock) which was used with abundance throughout the city, giving it the nickname of ‘The White City’. The historic center was named a World Heritage site by UNESCO in December 2000 due to its architecture and historical integrity. “The historic center of Arequipa is an example of ornamental architecture, representing a masterpiece of the European creative coalition and native characteristics.” Generally considered the second most beautiful city in Peru after Cusco, Arequipa has attractions for all, many of whom come to visit the Colca Canyon.
We will pass by this beautifull church
Visit to apreciate the architecture
We will pass by main square of Arequipa
If the Cathedral is open we can enter inside, otherwise we can see it from the outside.
We are going to visit the Barrio San Lazaro
We are going to visit Museum with alpacas and llamas, textile exhibits, and a wool store.
We will pass through the Plaza San Francisco and also the ¨Fundo El Fierro¨where there are local artisans.
A City within the City! It is the largest Monastery in the world!!! 20 thousand square meters, four neighborhoods, which emulate the Arequipa urban distribution of the first years of the Colony.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
We pick up from all hoteles that are in the Arequipa centre area - downtown
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- A minimum of 2 people per booking is required
- Sun protect
- Don't wearing short clothes
Reviews(8)
Experience in the historic center of Arequipa. Rich in information about the culture, architecture and history of the city, the Arequipenos and Peru. An illuminating trip thanks to our really prepared, kind and punctual guide. Excellent knowledge of English. Recommended for those who want to take a tour of the main points of interest of the city (including the Mundo Alpaca with its cute animals!). The tour takes place entirely on foot at a pleasant pace, without running (it is not tiring!). Highly recommended.
Our family took the Walking Tour of Arequipa in June during our visit to Peru and had mixed feelings about the experience. The city itself is beautiful, and we enjoyed seeing the main sites and learning about the history and architecture. That part of the tour was informative and interesting for the adults. However, the tour felt much more geared toward adults. Even though we were the only group on the tour, our guide made no effort to engage our girls. He was a bit difficult to understand at times, which made it hard for the girls to stay interested. Note that this tour is also bilingual when needed, with the guide speaking in Spanish and then repeating everything in English. While this might be helpful for mixed-language groups, we’ve found that format makes it harder for girls to follow along and stay engaged. Another thing to be aware of is the actual length of the tour. It’s listed as 3.5 hours, but it ended up being quite a bit longer. The walking tour finishes at the Monastery of Santa Catalina, where you’re handed off to a separate guide for a full tour inside. While it made the overall experience longer than expected, the Monastery was by far the highlight of the day. Our Monastery guide there was fantastic and made a real effort to include and connect with the girls! Overall, I enjoyed the historical content and seeing the sights around Arequipa, but the tour would have been much better with a more engaging and kid-friendly approach. Families with children might want to look for a different option.
Dear traveler, Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We're glad to hear you enjoyed the beauty of Arequipa and especially the visit to the Santa Catalina Monastery. We're sorry to hear that the tour wasn’t as engaging for your daughters. Your comments are truly appreciated and will help us improve, particularly in making our tours more family-friendly. We hope to welcome you again in the future. Warm regards
A walking tour is reliving the history of a part of Arequipa, its architecture, colonial past and its people
Aracelide was a terrific guide for my walking tour of Arequipa. She was extremely knowledgeable about the city, its history and culture. The visit to the Santa Catalina Monastery is the highlight of the tour.
We had a great time with the beautiful views of the city and the beautiful cathedral only had a bit of a hard time with altitude sickness and I was not offered help or the opportunity to return to the hotel one point in less.
There were only my wife and l in the group for our tour. Our guide, Ivan, was very knowledgeable and spoke English very well. He could answer our questions and provided an in depth explanation which we appreciated. If you book this walk, ask for Ivan.
Our friend and guide Katia gave our CU students at San Pablo University an extensive walking tour. i needed to tell Katia repeatedly that the student needed to be home by 6 pm.
<p>This tour to begin with was a 100 FREE tour, which was even offered to us by our Hotel.<br/> The guide took us to the meeting point where she had her very large sign saying FREE and was touting for more business before we left.<br/> In her introduction she advised was FREE and if wanted to tip then that was up to us.<br/> As for the tour itself an awful lot of walking, not recommended for anyone older or not fit, the information itself was quite limited, the finale to the tour was a long walk up a steep hill to a view point that was pretty poor to say the least.<br/> Best marks 3 out of 10..sorry<br/> We will of course be taking this up directly with Viator, it may not be their fault, we may have simply been palmed off between tour reps but still a pretty poor tour.</p>
