City tour of Arequipa’s historic center and Santa Catalina Convent

With its jewels of colonial baroque architecture, Arequipa’s Plaza de Armas is one of the most beautiful main squares in Peru.

 

But that is not all Arequipa has to offer. The more than 500 perfectly conserved mansion houses in the historic center recall a bygone age, when the fusion of European and Andean traditions had only recently been expressed in the form of vaulted roofs and archways carved from white volcanic stone. One of the city’s major attractions is the convent consecrated to Saint Catherine of Siena; a miniature citadel of narrow streets and bright colors, built more than 400 years ago. 

 

And in addition to such sights, a tour through the heart of the White City offers a thousand gastronomic adventures in traditional restaurants known as “picanterías”, where the finest regional cuisine is prepared in stone mortars and clay pots. 

Arequipa’s main square, or “Plaza de Armas”