Travel with You, Me, Away

Arequipa travel guide: Santa Catalina Monastery, sillar old town and altitude staging

Built from bright white volcanic sillar stone at 2,335 metres beneath the snow-dusted cone of El Misti (5,822 metres), Arequipa combines monumental baroque facades with over 300 days of desert-Andean sunshine a year. Its moderate elevation makes the White City the smartest two-day acclimatisation stop in southern Peru before ascending to Colca Canyon, Cusco or Lake Titicaca.

Reviewed

Explore the map

Destinations on the map

The map shows selected approximate city locations. Individual hotels and restaurants are not mapped.

Dot: one place · Number: multiple places

On the mapApproximate locationArequipaApproximate city locationView itinerary

Map data: Natural Earth · Place data: GeoNames, CC BY 4.0, modified

Map markers are for orientation.

1 place

All places
  1. Arequipa (Approximate city location)

Location coordinates: Arequipa.

Arrival and getting around in Arequipa

Rodríguez Ballón International Airport (AQP) lies 8 kilometres north-west of the Plaza de Armas across the Chili river; official airport taxis booked at the arrival counter inside the terminal take 20 to 25 minutes to the historic centre. Long-distance buses from Lima, Nazca, Cusco and Puno use the Terrapuerto / Terminal Terrestre about 15 minutes south of the centre by registered taxi.

  • Smart altitude step: at 2,335 metres, most travellers feel only mild breathlessness on stairs, making Arequipa ideal for adjusting before 3,400-metre Cusco or the 4,910-metre Patapampa pass on the road to Colca.
  • Walking the centre: the UNESCO-listed sillar grid around Plaza de Armas, Santa Catalina and San Lázaro is compact, largely flat and very easy to cover on foot.
  • Colca Canyon tip: avoid booking a 03:00 day tour to Colca on your very first morning after flying up from sea-level Lima; spend two nights in Arequipa first.

Sources: Municipalidad Provincial de Arequipa: Turismo, Monasterio de Santa Catalina: La visita

Where to stay in Arequipa

You can stay right inside the sillar grid near the main square, tuck into the quiet pedestrian lanes of San Lázaro, or cross the river to leafy Yanahuara.

  • Centro Histórico (around Plaza de Armas and Calle Santa Catalina): colonial courtyard hotels with rooftop breakfast terraces looking straight at El Misti and steps from the main cloisters.
  • San Lázaro and Yanahuara: San Lázaro offers quiet, car-free white-stone alleys just five minutes north of Santa Catalina, while Yanahuara across the Grau Bridge provides a calmer village square and traditional picanterías.
  • Watch out for: rooms facing main traffic arteries near Goyeneche or the bus terminal side can be noisy early in the morning; pick interior courtyards or pedestrian San Lázaro.

Sources: Monasterio de Santa Catalina: La visita, Monasterio de Santa Catalina: Horarios y precios

Two-day route for Arequipa

Pace two days around morning volcano visibility and late-afternoon golden light on the white sillar arches.

  • Day 1: walk the arcaded Plaza de Armas and visit Arequipa Cathedral in the clear morning light, admire the carved sillar facade and painted San Ignacio chapel of the Church of La Compañía (and its adjacent cloisters), and spend two to three afternoon hours inside the walled blue-and-terracotta citadel of Santa Catalina Monastery.
  • Day 2: wander the narrow white alleys and tiny bridges of San Lázaro in the morning, visit the Inca ice-maiden Juanita at Museo Santuarios Andinos, and walk across the Chili river to Yanahuara Viewpoint for late-afternoon volcano views framed through inscribed sillar arches.
  • Evening bonus: visit Santa Catalina Monastery on a Tuesday or Thursday evening when the cloister streets stay open until nightfall under warm lantern light.

Sources: Municipalidad Provincial de Arequipa: Turismo, Monasterio de Santa Catalina: La visita, Monasterio de Santa Catalina: Horarios y precios, Monasterio de Santa Catalina: Sesiones fotográficas

Seasonal timing and practical rhythm

Set between the coastal desert and the high Andes, Arequipa enjoys a dry, sunny climate with daytime highs around 22 to 24 °C all year and crisp nights dropping to 7 to 10 °C.

  • April to November brings virtually cloudless blue skies day after day, offering uninterrupted morning views of Misti, Chachani and Pichu Pichu.
  • January to March is the brief summer rainy window when clouds and afternoon showers can obscure the volcano peaks; visit Yanahuara Viewpoint and cathedral rooftops before 10:00 in those months.

Sources