San Blas Cusco Self-Guided Audio Walk: Artisans' Quarter, Inca Terraces and City Viewpoint
1 hour and 15 minutes
About this experience
Ask anyone in Cusco where the artisans live and they point up the hill to San Blas. Its galleries and family workshops feel ancient, but they are the newest layer on a hill of Inca terraces and water. Start in the Plaza de las Nazarenas, the old quarter of the schools, and climb the Cuesta de San Blas to the adobe church its own parishioners built in the 1560s, home to a famous carved cedar pulpit. See the Mendívil workshop of long-necked saints, catch your breath at the San Blas viewpoint over the city's tile roofs, then follow lanes laid on Inca terraces, where neighbors once shared the water by turns, down to a doorway of carved mermaids. Eight stops, about 1.3 km and 75 minutes, in English and Spanish, at your own pace. Two steep climbs at altitude, one a long stone stairway, with stone steps throughout. Church entry is not included.
- Experience type
- Day tour or activity
- Duration
- 1 hour and 15 minutes
- Audio guide
- Spanish, English
- Guide
- Spanish, English
- Categories
- Walking tour · Cultural and theme tours · City tours
What's included
Self-guided audio tour in English and Spanish: 8 stops, 1.3 km, 75 minutes Stops at San Blas parish church, Mendívil workshop, San Blas viewpoint and lanes built on Inca terraces GPS map and walking directions in your phone browser, no app needed Lifetime access: start any day, at any hour, and replay it
What's not included
A live guide: you set the pace and the pauses A fixed start time: begin whenever you arrive Museum and monument tickets, all optional extras Tip or gratuity Food and drinks Entry or admission fee
Please note
To start the tour, enter the ticket code from your confirmation on the Roamer redemption page linked there. Do this before you set off, while you still have signal. The tour then opens in your phone browser, with no app to download. Bring a charged phone and earphones. Mobile data helps; if you have none, open the tour on wifi before you set off. Best time: Morning, in daylight: the climb is cooler, the workshops are opening, and the upper lanes and the viewpoint park are quiet after dark. May to September is usually the dry season, with the clearest views from the viewpoint; from November to March, afternoon showers are common. Getting to the start: the Plaza de las Nazarenas is a few minutes' walk uphill from the Plaza de Armas, from the corner of the square beyond the cathedral. The streets around it are narrow and steep, so arrive on foot. Cusco sits at about 3,400 metres, where every breath carries roughly a third less oxygen than at sea level. Take both climbs slowly, drink water and rest on the plaza benches. The Church of San Blas charges its own entry. No official price, hours or ticket name could be confirmed online on 6 October 2026: ask at the door. The Museo de Arte Precolombino on the Plaza de las Nazarenas is open every day, holidays included, from 8:00 to 22:00 (official site, checked 6 October 2026). Entry for foreign visitors was S/ 20 when checked in September 2026. To buy from a master's family, look for the Mendívil family workshop on the Plazoleta de San Blas; other family workshops are nearby. Hours vary. The great Inca wall of Hatunrumiyoc and its Twelve-Angled Stone, which you pass on the way to stop 2, are covered on our Historic Center walk. Wear shoes with grip: the walk is stone steps and stepped lanes most of the way. Altitude sickness is a real risk at 3,400 metres. If you have a severe headache, nausea or dizziness, stop, go back down to the lower city and rest. The walk is not step-free: stone stairs and stepped lanes throughout, including the Cuesta's stepped sidewalk, the long Pasñapakana stairway up to the viewpoint, the Siete Angelitos steps and Atoqsaycuchi. Worn stones turn slippery after rain. Calle Palacio, the Cuesta de San Blas, Carmen Bajo, Tandapata and Choquechaca carry cars beside narrow sidewalks. Cross at the traffic lights at the foot of the Cuesta, keep to the side, and take care crossing Choquechaca near the end of the walk. From May 2026 the city was renewing the stepped water feature, paving and gardens of the Plazoleta de San Blas, with areas fenced off; no completion had been reported when checked on 6 October 2026, so parts of the plaza may still be fenced. The lanes above the plaza (Pasñapakana, Kiskapata, Tandapata, Siete Angelitos and Atoqsaycuchi) are quiet and empty after dark, and the viewpoint park may be locked. Walk them in daylight. Keep phones and bags close on the crowded streets and plazas. Public transportation nearby
Itinerary
- 1Day 0
Plaza de las Nazarenas: The Quarter of the Schools
Plaza de las Nazarenas, Cusco
A small garden plaza in what Cusco once called the quarter of the schools. It stayed a place of teaching for centuries, with a seminary, a college and a university.
- 2Day 0
Cuesta de San Blas: A Parish of Working People
541 Cuesta de San Blas, Cusco
The steep stepped street climbs into the old native parish. A shoemaker and a street of weavers are on record here centuries before the galleries came.
- 3Day 0
Church of San Blas: Built by Its Parishioners
Plazoleta de San Blas, Cusco
The parish church its own people built in the 1560s. Stone now props its adobe walls, and a famous carved cedar pulpit waits inside.
- 4Day 0
Mendívil Workshop: The Saints with Long Necks
Plazoleta de San Blas, Cusco
The family workshop where San Blas's long-necked saints are made. Its masters and their neighbors gave the hill its twentieth-century fame.
- 5Day 0
Mirador de San Blas: A Park on Inca Terraces
291 Kiskapata, Cusco
A public park on terraces that follow the Inca lines. Below it, the red tile roofs of Cusco spread out across the valley.
- 6Day 0
Tandapata: The Street That Shared Its Water
Tandapata, Cusco
A lane laid along an Inca terrace above the city. Its name recalls neighbors taking the channel's water in turns.
- 7Day 0
Atoqsaycuchi: The Lane of the Tired Foxes
594 Atocusaycuchi, Cusco
A stepped lane drops steeply from the terraces into the old city. Its name tells of a carved stone of tired foxes.
- 8Day 0
Siete Culebras: The Snakes That Were Mermaids
Siete Culebras, Cusco
A narrow stone lane leads back to the Plaza de las Nazarenas. At its end, carved mermaids gave the corner its name of serpents.
Meeting point
Plaza de las Nazarenas, Cusco Plaza de las Nazarenas, Cuzco, Cusco, PE
Pick up
Pickup is not provided.
Cancellation policy · San Blas Cusco Self-Guided Audio Walk: Artisans' Quarter, Inca Terraces and City Viewpoint
Standard Viator policy
- Cancellation 0–24 hours before departure: 100% cancellation fee.
- Cancellation 24–24000 hours before departure: 0% cancellation fee.
Good to know
Operated by Roamer and sold by AGORA. Your voucher and booking reference arrive by email straight after payment.