Archaeological City Tour In Cusco

This tour was an exceptional, highly informative half-day excursion of Cusco starting at Qoricancha (Santo Domingo Temple), and nearby archeological sites such as Sacsayhuaman, Q'enqo, and Tambomachay. We took a private tour for our family of four. Herbert, our guide was very knowledgeable and shared deep hitorical context about the Inca and colonial history. He was very friendly and always attentive to our needs.

Absolutely the WORST tour company we have ever taken in 50 years of traveling, Viagens Machu Picchu. Their pick up point was not clear at all, they ignored all my calls and messages regarding the pickup point. They did not make any efforts to find us within Cusco main square where all the other tour company representatives met with their tourists. The only saving grace was from the company that hires and sells these tours. I give Viator a 5 Star rating. Viator was very responsible; they requested all my information regarding the very poor service and late cancellation request and after Viator looked into our case, they decided to reimburse us for the cost of the tour. Do not take a Viagens Machu Picchu tour. The representative, Mr. Viagens was also very rude and lied about getting back to us; he never did!!

LONG STORY SHORT: if you’re looking for an English-only tour with certified tour guides book with a different company. LONG STORY LONG: We booked a tour with this company specifically because they offered an english only tour. They even confirmed in our ticketing that there were separate buses for each of the three languages they offered. The tour started off extremely disorganized and with no communication. Our first stop was at the cathedral which wasn't listed on the itinerary on TripAdvisor but the additional expense (S/40) was on the receipt emailed to us after we purchased. Then after seeing the cathedral, we waited for 30 minutes for “more people to arrive” with no explanation. Without offering any explanation or communicating at all they combined our tour with the spanish language tour. As we arrived at the next stop at Qorikancha, the guide started to explain everything only in Spanish. I let him know that there were people in our group who did not speak Spanish and he gave a two sentence summary in English leaving out most of the details. I asked him if another guide was meeting us at the entrance so that we could have an English language only tour and he said that he would “try his best” to explain everything in English and Spanish. After explaining that that was not acceptable as we specifically bought our tickets with this company ($23 while most other companies offer the tour for $15) because it was english only he finally agreed to call “the agency”. I asked him the name of the agency (to confirm it matched the one we bought here) and he said “i don’t know i forgot”. Which was really sketchy. He then said that the company wanted him to go inside and continue the tour with the other guests while we wait outside until they could find a solution to the problem. We waited for over an hour. The company never attempted to reach out to us. We were basically told multiple times that the “solution” was to continue with a bilingual tour (which….given our experience was not sufficient and also not what we paid for or what was advertised). Screenshots attached showing what was offered and the very dismissive response from the company. Eventually we were told that we only had to wait 10 more minutes for the coordinator from the company to come and explain to us what was going on. When she arrived she first tried to get us to change to another day. At this point it was past 3pm and all of our other days are already planned out. Then she was like ugh okay and took us to meet our new tour guide for the english speaking tour that we originally booked. So ultimately we wasted almost 3 hours, missed one of the stops. However the new tour guide, Leo, was absolutely INCREDIBLE. He was extremely knowledgeable and was able to answer all of our questions about history, plants and animals that we encountered. After a chaotic beginning, the tour ended up being amazing. I still think the company should give us at least a partial refund for wasting 2 hours, not taking accountability and causing us to miss one of the stops. If you are looking for a good english tour i would not recommend booking with this company. We had to be extremely persistent about getting the english speaking tour that we booked because they were definitely trying to pressure us into doing a combined tour that they were ill-equipped to handle.

Great overview of colonial and Inca sites. The tour guide was very enthusiastic and agrred to skip shopping at the end which noone wanted to do.

Very smooth and organised. I was a solo traveller and Luis helped find me and guide me to the rest of the group before the tour began. Alex was informative, efficient and easy to understand. Transport was smooth. No issues at all with this booking!

This tour was a half-day (approx 5.5 hours), and it covered a lot of different historical spots in Cusco. Clara was the guide, and she was spunky, very knowledgeable, and attentive. She made it a great experience for everyone!

Unfortunately the guides didn't turn up, and didn't answer their phone when I called. So this was a total flop! I should be getting a refund

Ask for Clara as your guide. She is amazing funny and full of energy. She explained almost everything. Only thing is there should be more time in saysaquaman since it’s a huge site

Clara was an amazing guide. Explained almost all the history . Just a suggestion. Maybe more time on saysaquaman since it is a huge historical site.

Incredibly knowledgeable and energetic tour guide who knew all the was to know about all the locations in a couple of languages. I was probably looking for less learning/facts but, glad I did the tour.

This tour was very interesting and informative. We enjoyed learning a lot about Incan history and culture. Franco was an excellent tour guide and took good care of us. Wilson drove us to the different sites and was always timely to pick us up. Both were friendly and helpful. The only reason I didn't give this experience 5 stars is due to the fact that we signed up for/paid for a tour in English, and we ended up on a bilingual tour somehow - English and Portuguese. It was difficult because everything took twice as long to explain. Franco did an amazing job switching between languages, (it was quite impressive) but I didn't like that the company didn't inform us of this change. If I had known, I would have booked a different tour.

We really enjoyed this tour- a wonderful way to get to know Cusco and see some surrounding Incan ruins. Our guide Franklin was fabulous- very informative and friendly and a great photographer.

Clara was a great guide and very enthusiastic and informative. Really nice sites visited and lasted a lot longer than expected. The start was very confused as we couldn't find anyone then when we did they only spoke Spanish but once in the cathedral Clara came and it was fine after that.

The tour description was different to the tour stops . The guide was very knowledgeable and friendly.

Very nice 5-hour tour of the important sites in and around Cusco. Adriel was an amazing passionate guide and gave us much more than we expected. Also the price was cheap (please note however it does not include entrance fees to sites) Highly recommended.

The tour guide was very knowledgeable and passionate about Inca history and culture. His energy was infectious. He gave adequate time for pictures and explanations of the historic sites. I felt safe and included as a solo female traveler.

I am glad I took the tour although it should have been 4-5 hours, not 6. Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable about the history and sights but it tended to be repetitive.

Nice tour it’s a lot history.. a lot of walking 😉 but all worth it .. I love cusco so cozy a beautiful. Winter now so cover yourself people

We saw the places we wanted to see. The guide offered basic information on the culture of the inca ruins. We didn’t feel like we learned a lot of new information. On the other hand, the visit of the cathedral was more informative.

This was a great way to familiarize ourselves with the historic area of Lima. Our guide was wonderful, knowledgeable, and full of energy; she really made it a fun experience.

Franco was extremely knowledgeable and very passionate. The stops were interesting. The only downside is the total cost of tickets.

My wife and I booked this tour for our first day in Cuzco to allow us to acclimate the altitude - we definitely recommend taking a more relaxing first day when visiting if you’re not used to the altitude. The tour started at the Cathedral at the main square - which is pretty chaotic with vendors - and there was no one with signage indicating they are the tour group. We were wandering trying to find the tour guides and it was luck we finally ran into them. we did the afternoon tour which was supposed to be 4 hours but it ended up being 5.5 hours and the back half felt very rushed since we spent 2 hours at the first two (of six) stops. The tour ended at a tourist trap alpaca clothing store (prices were in USD and not PEN) which we didn't appreciate. Our tour guide, Clara, was very knowledgeable.

Amazing history. Guide was phenomenal and informative. His passion for his city and the Inca culture made it a day to remember

A guide hasn’t turned up… all our attempts to reach the travel company were unsuccessful… such a joke…

Franklin was a great guide with a lot of knowledge about both local culture and catholic religion. I learned a great deal today

Our guide Franklin Amadeo was very friendly and knowledgeable. He adjusted the tour to match our interests. The highlight was the visit to the local food market and getting simple local snacks. Highly recommend Franklin and this tour.

Franklin Amadeo was absolutely amazing. Did not try to pass stories as facts, but rather have different, balanced perspective

We did a full day tour of Cusco with Franklin. He is a very knowledgeable guy with a lot of facts and interesting observations about the local culture history and understanding of other places. I would definitely recommend him

The narrative of Fernando, outstanding tour guide. The cathedral and visit if the mountains.The value of the tour is good

When you say you’re going to pickup & deliver back to the hotel, it would be great if that happened. Also, no water provided? Silvia was very knowledgeable & that was helpful. The sites were awesome. Be prepared to do a lot of walking.

Franklin was absolutely amazing ! He was very knowledgeable and explained the history behind every monumment. He was very patient and kind. This tour is highly recommended !

The guide never showed up to pick me up, after confirmation of time to pick me at the hotel! I contacted the local tour agency via a what’sapp number that was provided and all I got it, he is on vacation, call the main office. I called the main office and it’s closed on sunday!! What a terrible waste of time and disappointment! I requested refund from Viator and hope they process it soon.

We absolutely LOVED this tour. The group was small, unlike others groups that had 10 to 15 people. It was nice to have a small group. David is a stupendous guide. There are no words. The tour also provides an ear piece so you can hear the guide better in certain spots in the tour. I can't believe all tours don't offer this. It was particularly helpful inside the cathedrals which were full of people with multiple guides that could be overheard. It was also a very complete tour. We kept find tours with only certain sites and not others and this one offered all the sites we wanted.

The tour guide was bilingual . He had good command over English, knowledgable and professional.I can easily recommend it to others.

We were picked up on time at our hotel and taken to the cathedral. It was very confusing because our English speaking guide was not there , and we waited 15 4or 20 minutes for her to arrive. We spent about 25 minutes visiting the vast cathedral as our guide pointed out the highlights. We next walked a few blocks over to Qorikancha to view ancient Incan stuctures. Next, a bus took us to Sacsayhuaman, Q'enqo, Puka Pukara and Tambomachay. There was a lot of walking involved and the entance fees to the sites cost about $50 (200 Soles), but in the end, it was worth it,

My partner and I had a problem at the meeting time since we made separate reservations and were assigned to different groups; the staff assigned us a new group and unfortunately this changed our route of places to visit. However, the tour was very good, the guide knew quite a lot about all the places we went to and gave us enough time to take photographs and appreciate the places. The walking trips were not very demanding and the bus we traveled in was very comfortable and had large windows that allowed for a view of the places we passed through.

Fernando guided us through the Inca sites in Cusco. He was an excellent guide who answered all questions well and clearly addressed the special features of the sites everywhere.

Very interesting tour of the historic Inca sites in Cusco. Fernando is an excellent guide who did not leave any question unanswered. Highly recommended.

The tour was entertaining, varied, and very informative. The guide had good knowledge and interacted very well with the group.

Fernando is a great guide explaining everything to us about the city, Gilberto ensured that the transport was always on time

Excellent company, helpful and punctual. Guide Fred is super attentive and very knowledgeable. I highly recommend.

We closed a 10-day package with Machu Picchu Travel and, according to the agency, the city tour in Cusco was a courtesy included in the route. The tour lasted about 2h30 walking through Plaza Regocijo, Plaza San Francisco and Mercado de San Pedro, with historical and cultural information presented by the guide. When we arrived at St. Peter's Market, I expected the guide to talk about local food and give time to explore the environment, but we ended up passing only by the chocolate store presented by him. After this tour, we participated in other tours (Qoricancha, Sacsayhuaman, Qenqo etc.), and the guides ended up repeating many of the same information already presented on the city tour of Cusco. I felt a lack of explanations on important points, such as the Stone of the 12 Angles, as well as a presentation of the typical and different fruits found at the St. Peter’s Market. Of all the tours in the package, this was the one I liked least. I believe that a free morning to explore the city on your own would have been much more profitable.

Fernando is wonderful, we were in a very good Van!! I highly recommend. He explained everything about the places visited!

Great experience! With the guide fred explained a lot about the place very clearly to us! He took us to feed the Lamas

The guide Alberto was very attentive, polite and helpful. We recommend it to anyone who wants accurate and reliable information and guidance about the rich Inca culture.

Excellent treatment we were given throughout the tour 10/10 I loved everything and everything we saw there the guide was very helpful throughout the tour

I would like to record my pleasant surprise with the tour, rich in information, history and culture, we were guided by Freddy, an excellent acquaintance of the region, I indicate to make the tour with him, very nice person

An incredible experience, an unforgettable tour and a guide (freire) made all the difference, knows a lot of history, is kind and attentive. I indicate a lot this agency

I loved the city tour. Guia Alberto has enough knowledge to provide an afternoon with a lot of Inca culture. Caring driver Russell