Exploring Cusco through the lens

The Best Places to take Photos in Cusco: A complete Guide.

1. Plaza de Armas of Cusco

• History and Architecture:

Cusco was founded in March 23th in 1534 by the spanish conquestadors, however it celebrates its aniversary in June 24th (day of the farmers). Cusco is quite old as its main square.
Recent excavations revealed the construction of channels and sewer system to drain the water absorving humidity due the existence of deltas, streams, springs, ponds and mud prior to the Inca settlement. In doing so Cusco downtown became more dry and when the Inca people-pretty much around the end of the XIII century-settled in downtown, they made a lot of effort through enginiery to drain more water and the construction of aqueducts for this purpose.The Inca people developed a lot of technology to built terraces, aqueducts, irrigations systems, granaries, magnificent temples and palaces (residential areas with amazing stonework) for the elite people while the farmers or common people ocuppied the surroundings of the city.

These days the legacy of the Inka people has survived to the time and anyone can see them just by walking around the city, eating, drinking or dancing in several private properties around downtown. Cusco became the capital of the Inca Empire with Pachachutec the Inca King who achieved succesfully to fight and expel the Wari-Chanca invasion.

Pachacutec built his own residential spot located in one side of the main square of Cusco-the section that is called today Portal de Panes in one of the sides of Plaza de Armas-. With the spanish influences many Inca palaces served as solid foundations to built second stories of the new spanish residencial areas. The other sections and sides of these squares were intended to built the main Catedral church in 1550. In the main plaza another church that belongs to the Jesuits order also is located.

• The best hours for photograph:

  Well as every photographer know the golden light at Sunset is the best time (between 5:00 and 5:30 pm) during the winter season which happens from June until late July, as the motion of the earth rotates, the axis and the light changes, in doing so it will be slightly different in the Summer season from December to March (5:30 pm until 18:20 pm). ¡Remember! that Perú and Cusco is close to the ecuator (13º South from the line) and there is no a dramatic season change as it happens in the very North or South hemispheres.

  

  For capturing astronomical alignments: I suggest early in the morning near the winter solstices. During the winter solstice or close to this events, the shadows produced by the Sun are too long and the effects on the pictures output more dramatic features to your photos; however for just regular portrait pictures it should be at Sunset for a smooth golden light.

  Additionally you might try pictures at night I am sure you will capture a lot of magical sceneries specially if the full is rising through the east perhaps through the Jesuits church or near the roofs close to Triunfo street. You must know that the moon rises every month through different spots and just every 29.5 years appears in the same spots. So if you are looking to take a picture of the moon coming from a speciphic angle, you will have to wait for a long 29.5 years which it does not make sense when you are traveling. Perhaps to make sure of these events you want to take a look at different apps available on you cellphone to make certainty.

• Tips for Photography:

  Write a short plan of the pictures you are trying to capture. ¿Are you looking for Portrait pictures?¿Urban pictures? ¿Astronomical events?. So once you have your main idea you can draw a map in a piece of paper or in your app to follow a route where you are trying to take those photos. If you decide to take pictures during the winter solstice, make sure you carry a jacket, gloves and a hut because early in the morning before or during the rising of the Sun or later after the Sunset Cusco is cold about 2 degrees celcius outdoor, it might descend until 0 degrees but never enough cold to become frozen like other latitudes around the world.*About the lens you should use: I guess it depends on the type of photography but let me remind you: Eyefish (4mm-14mm) for abstract and creative pictures, wide angle (14mm-35mm) for landscape and architecture, etc.

2. Sacsayhuamán

• Panoramic View:

  

  A great panoramic view can be taken from the hill called suchuna and you can not take a tripod since this is prohibited officially by the goverment, so will able to take pictures perhaps adjusting you camera to faster shutter or exposure time to avoid trepidation.

• Strategic lookoutpoints for photos: 

  Notice that the aphelion event is quite interesting because at this season where the earth get the long distance from the Sun, the presence of clouds are zero, it means that you have a great chance to capture the snowcapped mountain clear of any type of cloud and the aforementioned composition. I took a wonderful picture in the late afternoon near the aphelion (July 4th) during the fullmoon from the second platform watching the direction of Cusco eastward, just looking for the direction of White Christ and the snow capped mountain called Ausangate, so I could take a picture of four elements in my composition: The amazing stonework of Sacsaywaman, the white christ, the fullmoon and the snow capped mountain.

2. Qoricancha (Temple of the Sun).

• A combination of Inca and Colonial arquitecure:

  
  Qorikancha was one of the most important temples of the Inca people, the term refers to sheets of gold that covered the upper sections of the enclose wall that surroinded. Today Qorikancha and the church of Santo Domingo are miexed together, a good example of andean spirituality and catholic religion amalgamation. From outside the church is remarkable with a rounded-dark Inka temple seen clearly from the Avenida El Sol and the streets close by. Indoors is impressive as well because one can see several temples for different deities such as Venus, The lightning bold-thunder , Rainbow as well for the Stars. The temple of the moon is not clearly recognisible because several re-sketchups made the Dominican order, an effort to built the Monastery of Santo Domingo. The courtyard iself keeps pretty much its original space since Inca time.

• Top Most Instagrammable Places:

  The courtyard for sure has a beautiful background with arches the tower of the church as well as flowers surrounding an octoganal fountain at the center of this place.
  You can try photos getting the gardens of the Sun watching the El Sol avenue, look at the garden outdoors and you will see some terraces with some staircases descending, so this is the other spot where can try interesting views. Another perspective you can get from outside near the school of "Las Mercedes", ¡its up to you!.

• Schedules and Fees:

  Qorikancha is open from 9 am until 17:30 pm from Monday to Saturday and on Sundays is open in the afternoon from 14:00 pm. Make sure the christian calendar makes some exceptions during some hollidays around the year, so you might ask your travel agent or tour guide if there is no exceptions for this schedule.

3. Colonial Aqueduct of Sapantiana

• Acueduct History:

Sapantiana is becoming famous recently since the 2021 because the goverment with the Ministry of Culture has repaired some sections of the retaining walls that protect a stream that runs water from springs at the Park of Sacsaywaman and the mountains around. The water descends into the city through an old aqueduct whose old colonial bridge made of stone displays an iconic scenery surrounded by nature and following staircases where the water goes through like a little cascade. During the Inca period, Sapantiana used to be one of the 328 sacred spots around Cusco where priest and priestesses made rituals related to water because this is one of the four elements worshipped by ancient cutltures and civilizations. We can not forget of course its functional purpose, human consumption, the water pouring into the Choquechaka river flow by the middle of the city to encounter down the city at the end of El Sol avenue with the Saphy river that was channeled by the king Pachacutec in order to give Cusco a simetrical design, a layout of two dimensions with a powerful meaning, the shape of a Puma-Mountain Lion-See old maps of Cusco with this figure-.

• How to get there:

  
  From the main plaza of Cusco city you should look for Triunfo or Cordoba de Tucuman  street, you can get Choquechaca street. Once you are there, you just need to ascend the street until to get an outcrop of limestone which became a very spiritual spot during Inca time, actually it formed one of the 328 wacas (shrines) which were basically aqueducts, spring, caves and sacred chambers located around an imaginery group of lines that radiated like the spokes of a wheel from a center located in Plaza de Armas of Cusco-.

• Tips for Photography:

  I guess you should skip to take a tripod with you for your confort, unless you desire to capture a serious photo. Basically there two places to take the iconic picture: The first one is walking through the canal of water directly into the staircases runnig water, this picture can allow you to capture the bridge and the staircases and for this iconic photography you will need a person to help you to take a picture of youself to take of your camera and avoiding to falldown over the water. Better if you wear confortable running shoes that avoid you to slip. The second picture should be taken from above near the outcrop, in order to do that you will need to ascend a little more by the other side where perhaps you will see a swing for children. The third place can be taken from the bar above of the latter which is attached to a little hostal. The best time for photos (in the winter season) is between 15:00 until 16:00 pm because the site is surrounded by hills that cover the Sunlight and creates big shades. However in the summer season you migh begin later like 16:00 pm. ¿How about the very morning?. See in the following link the golden light vs morning photography at Sapantiana aqueduct.

5. Barrio de San Blas:

• Colourful Streets:

  

  Most photographers who visit the region of Cusco capture pictures through jungle trips, visiting Sacred Valley or doing City tours which are not too popular that's why if you want an expertise to guide you through the cultural information as well as photography itself you will need to contact specialized tour operators on line. If you do your tours on your own I can suggest one more place called the neighborhood of San Blas which is one the ancient neighborhoods of Cusco during the Inca period. The oustanding architecture of this place is the Colonial Spanish style, actually many visitors who know Toledo in Spain, they find out a lot of similarities with this colourful neighborrhood. If you want to capture pictures of the building and roofs of Cusco, you might want to get the higher lookout point of San Blas which allows you to enjoy the view of all Cusco downtown and the Sunset.

  Walking through the neighborhood of Cusco is quite colorful specially if you walk by San Blas because you will encounter a lot of gallery where artisans and artists make a lot of painting, tatoos, puzzles canvasses as well as othe types of handycraft. You just need to take pictures of the small plaza of SanBlas which is attached to the church, in one side of this construction you will notice a water fountain running water like a cascade connected to two staricases in both sides, and at the center of the square another colonial fountain made of stone. You will encounter a lot of similarity with old towns places like Toledo in Spain with the blue arabian balconies as well as doorways.

• Best Spots to take pictures:

  
  
  As mentioned earlier with might wish to take pictures with the fountains and the church in one side of your background pictures. You will also want to see Cusco from above and capture images of the orange top roofs of downtown that perhaps remainds you Rome, so in order to do that you should ascend to the lookout point where you will notice from time to time green diorite rock sticking out from the ground, that's a good indicator that you are approaching to this place. The easier way would be looking for the streets Pasñapakana and kiskapata (in your google maps) to find out easily this spot.

• Events and Festivals:

  Two major Events and Festivals takes place in the neighborhood of San Blas every year, the first one begins in January 20th with a lot of fireworks and finishes in February 5th. The second one occurs during the Corpus Christy which happens at the end of May or at the beginig of June, everything depends on the full moon since the Christian calendar and catholic religion is based on moon calendar. In both festival the presence of patron San Blas taken in procesions outdoors by the streets of nearby are acompanies by musicians, dancers-wearing wear iconic and sarcastic masks and dresses-follow old traditions and customs.

6. Humantay Lagoon

• How to get there:

  
  The main entrance to lagoon Humantay is by taking the highway that lead toward Lima the capital of Perú, but after passing the site of Limatambo and descending the serpent highway-full of bends and little villages-you get closer to Mollepata where have to leave the highway in order to follow a road ascending imposing mountains until arriving at Soraypampa-It takes approximately 3 hours to get there-which is the end of the road and the begining spot for hiking the trail upward the famous turquoise lagoon of Humantay with snowcapped mountainss behind and displaying an amazing view that deserves a photo. The trail takes no more than two hours, eventhough it might turn to be a little less, it will depend on your rythm.

• Best Time to Visit:

  From the end of Abril until November is mostly blue sky with more clouds from September, but perhaps you are looking for landscapes with flowers blooming more that in other seasons, so the end of April after the rainy season everything turned out to be green and colorful rather than slightly yellow as the dry season will approach; however due the existence of a lot of snowcapped mountains nearby the presence of humidity make this place most of the year quite green. ¡Remember! that close to aphelion tends to be more blue sky and clear of clouds but at the same time it turns a little cold in Cusco because the reasons mentioned earlier.

• Tips for Photography at the Lagoon:

  Make an effort to carry with you a basic light tripod that avoid you to cause trepidation when you are taking a serious photo. Make sure also that you are wearing the proper hiking boots and perhaps a windbreaker as well as a light rain jacket specially if you are visiting this place close to the rainy season. At times the weather in Cusco región is umpredictable, eventhough the probabilities are in your favor, just in case make sure that you are prepare for any dramatic change of the weather. Furhtermore perhaps if you want to protect your knees when coming back descending the mountain you might wish to use walking sticks to absorved at least between 15% until 20% of your weigth against gravity.

7. Rainbow Mountain (Vinicunca)

• Preparation For The Walk:

  First of all the visitors interested in this tour should be aclimatized at least three days in Cusco-located at 11000 feet or similar altitudes-since the hike to Vinicunca will be through mountains higher than Cusco reaching elevations above 4000 feet-. Secondly you should wear special clothes for hiking through cold temperatures at time by means through the snow, everything depends on the weather and the season you are visiting this region. Make sure you are drinking plenty of water -at least withing 7-9 glasses every day-and you are eliminating the liquids from your body, otherwise you are retaining water in your systems and that's dangerous if you continue with these conditions. Some people are prescribed

  
  DIAMOX before to arrive at higher altitudes but becareful about side-effects. The best way to acclimatized in higher elevations is the natural way drinking water and some infusions such as Coca tea or Muña te (Andean Meant). Try to sleep as much as you can, because it helps a lot with the process of acclimatization. Finally you should make sure that you are not suffering of hypertension, it might be dangerous if you combine this affection with the consumption of salt, chocolate, coffee, etc. Finally you might wish to use walking sticks, so consult your tour guide or tour operator if you need them in reltionships to your physical strenghts and conditions.

• Schedules and Best Time for Pictures:

  Since Vinicunca takes about three hours to get there and the starting point for the hiking, most of the travel operators pick up the tourists quite early in the morning (around 4 or 5am in the morning) and there is an extra time for having breakfast before the starting point and another two hours to get the iconic rainbow mountain spot, so you might get there around 10 am in the morning. I do not yet of visitors setting a tent closeby to take pictures early in the morning or late in the afternoon because the place lacks of lodges and confort, ¡so this is how it is!. However you might change this tour for that one called Palcoyoc which takes only thirty minutes to get the main point to take similar lanscapes with a lot of outstanding rock formations and interesting geological features on the background scenery.

• Recommended Gear:

  See Salkantay above to repeat to carry with you similar gear.8. Ollantaytambo

• Archaelogical Site and Panoramic Views:

  The most outstanding panoramic views can be seen from the temple of the ten windows, the temple of the Sun and you might try to capture the scenery from the granaries in the mountain called Pinkuylluna. The latter takes no more than 30 minutes to get there ascending a steep mountain but less challenging than the mountain Huaynapicchu.

• Narrow Streets and Photographic Details:

  If you like street, urban photography and old sites this is the right place for you to captures pictures since the town of Ollaytambo offers you narrow streets with ancient aqueducts that still running water as it would be happening in the XVI century. Ollantaytambo is the entrance to Machupicchu and connect by means of different valley through the Amazonian cloud forests. Ollantaytambo displays the ancient original Inca design and urban planification.

• Tips for the Tour:

  Ollantaytambo is located at the Sacred Valley and it will not take more than 1:45 minutes from Cusco by car. If you visit Ollantaytambo in the afernoon you might need an extra layer beside your T-shirt or a windbreaker because it tends to be quite windy. You might want to add some sun glasses, eventhough its purpose should be more functional for eyes protection rather than for protecting you from the sun light.

9. Sal Mines of Maras

Unique features of the Salt Mines: Something that is unique at Maras is the way the ancient societies and culture of Cusco used this spot for extracting a pinkish healthy salt quite high in Iron, Magnesium, Potasium, and for sure Sodium Clorine. Once you get there you will see more than 4000 pans over a sort of platforms or terraces. In fact every pan with about 10 centimeter depth serves to collect the water abundant in disolved salt which comes from two sources, two springs that comes from the underground.

Those deposits of salt were formed back in time in geological times during the Cretacic period (120 millions years ago) when the sea made a rift by means of Venezuela until Perú and Bolivia through the Amazonian region. Furthermore we know by means of sciences that our planet withnessed a lot of geological events that had the tectonic plates from the paciphic ocean collided against the continent causing the elevation of the mountains, therefore the regression of sea water into its original place. So when you see these salt pans and you consume the product it means you are consuming paleo-salt from geological times, ¡That's the special! about the salt mines.

• Schedules to Visit:

  I suggest for photos only the dry season, becuse it needs the Sun light and above the hit for the evaporation to take place, that's the key for the Salt production, since the rainy season there are some many clouds and therefore few evaporation and a lot of humidity this process of production is not efficient. So the best photos you can get in the seasons with blue sky and few clouds.

• Tips to Capture the Best Photo:

  
  I guess is better to take a picture having someone standing or working on the Salt pans because it will give you the sense of size, simetry and proportion of every Salt pan. In the late afternoon you will be able to capture the famous golden light but in this case with a sense of sadness in the composition; however if you take early in the very morning, you might have too much shade. I guess around 9 am is ¡ok! until 10 am, because by noon there will be too much light and your photos might tend to be burned.

10. Moray

• Historical Importance:

  Moray became famous after the 80's, actually there are some pictures displaying the communities living close by organizing "full fights" at the bottom of the biggest concentrical group of Terraces. Since cultural heritages of ancient societies and ethnicitess won over a lot of importance in the last 30 years by country goverments around the world, so Moray was restored and activities like the aforementioned full fights were forbidden to protect from erosión and subsidence. The idea of this place used as an anphitheater came with the european influence, but these days-above all after the studies such as John Earls-we know that Moray had another purpose related to Agriculture and the adaptation of plants as it would be a"green house".

  

• Recomended Photographic Spots:

  The best pictures are taken obviusly from above for that reason you might wish to go around the whole complex pretty much keeping the higher level, that's why you should take the second route on the left that takes no more than 40 minutes keeping in mind the stops and time you will need to capture your desire photos. If you want to use drons you should be careful since you will need special permission by the goverment that usually takes so much time and a lot of burocracy. As for the lens telephoto or wide angle would be perfect unless you are looking for a portrait photo, in that case you will need someone to help you shooting the picture or holding your portable reflectors or blurrs for the Sun light.

• Best Time of the Year for Visit:

  Unlike the Salt mines, Moray can be visited the whole year. The whole dusty road that leads to this attraction, recently has been paved by the goverment. If you decided to visit Moray during the rainy season, so you will encounter an amazing colourful landscape on the ground that will have an appereance like a tapestry seen from above, that's because the farmers take advantage of this season every year to plant several crops such as wheet, barley, corn, potatoes, quinua and broad and faba beens.

11. Additional information to keep in mind for photographers visiting Cusco:

Visint in Cusco a cultural city is fun and give you chance to take amazing sceneries like Paramount pictures did when they were filming the movie of science fiction "Transformers the raising of the beasts" in 2021 and 2020. The favorite places they selected for the movie were:

• Cusco down town:

  Displaying these narrow and iconic streets near the main plaza of Cusco: San Pedro, Union street, Santa Clara, the main plaza of Cusco, Santo Domingo (near Qorikancha, the Inka temple of Sun) and so on. You might want to visit the neighborhood of San Blas as well as Sapantiana to capture iconic pictures of Cusco (See down below details)..

• The plateu of Maras near the Sacred Valley.

  These sceneries are quite oustanding because you can take a look of the eastern mountain range of the Andes above all Urubamba with Pumawanca, Chicon or Ollantaytambo with Verónica a beautiful snow capped mountain showing her imposing and majesty from the plateu.

• Abra de Malaga

  This is the pass of Verónica-the aforementioned snowcapped mountain-. The ascending through a meander-highway that ascend to the pass at approximateley 14000 feet. The movie team couldn't capture easily the sceneries because the pass at times displays fog and Mist specially if you get day near the rainy season-Officiallly from Janurary to the end of March; however the rules about weather near the cloud forest is umpredictable.This is also a favorite place for bird watchers because many species are friendly to appear constrasting small arqueological sites that served as granaries before the XVI century.

• Sacsaywaman

  Another amazing Inka temple displays a magnificent stonework with epic and overexagerated limestone rock-the biggest stones weight withing 80 until 90 tons

• Machupicchu

  
  The Inka site that displays amazing sceneries, although everybody knows the this scenery served to capture few sceneries that you can see pretty much at the end of the movie. I might say that more of the 50% of the movie was digital effects.

• Iquitos:

  This region is not located in Cusco but further North in the Amazon, one of the favorite places for visitors who love nature and want to see the most remarkable species of the Jungle.

If you are interested to book a tour-with expertised and licensed tour operators that facilitates your photos through the aforementioned spots-, so you can click here to look at its website and offers.