City Tour And Santa Catalina Monastery

Your journey begins with the pickup from your hotel located in the historic center of Arequipa to start an incredible excursion around one of the most beautiful and touristic cities of Peru. This will be an interesting tour and the order of the visits could change anytime.

We are going to visit the Plaza de Armas, one of the most beautiful in the country and also neighbor of the imposing Cathedral of Arequipa, built in the seventeenth century and completely rebuilt after several earthquakes. We will see the Cathedral and the Church Compañía de Jesús (1590), considered a classic example of the local baroque architecture that keeps inside a sample exceptional paintings and murals.

Later, we will visit the Monastery of Santa Catalina, an authentic medieval cloister built in 1579 that is still in use to this day. This mysterious convent was built with ashlar, the main material of local architecture, and it has an extension of 20 thousand square meters.

The first person who lived here was Maria de Guzman, a woman who decided to moved there during the construction of the convent after her husband, Diego Hernandez de Mendoza, passed away.  Currently, there are still cloister nuns living in this fantastic small citadel.

The tour continues with the visit of the wonderful viewpoints of Yanahuara and Carmen Alto districts to have a panoramic view of the countryside, and the volcanoes surrounding the city: Misti, Chachani and Pichu Pichu, without a doubt a fantastic image.

You will explore the district of Cayma visiting the Plaza Mayor and the Church San Miguel Arcángel de Cayma located in front of the square. Inside the church, you will find an anonymous collection of paintings that show the miracles of the Virgin.

After this great experience visiting Arequipa and Santa Catalina, we are going to drop you off at your hotel.