Arequipa
Peru
A white volcanic-stone city under three volcanoes, and the deepest canyon most people have never heard of
Photo by Megan Kotlus on Unsplash
Photos by ryan doyle, Mayur Arvind, Hongbin and Hongbin on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Peru
April to November — the rains fall from January to March
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 35mm in Feb
Where it is
16.41°S, 71.54°W Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Spend a slow morning inside Santa Catalina
- Be at Cruz del Cóndor by nine, when the condors rise on the thermals
- Eat rocoto relleno in an old picantería
- Use the city to acclimatise before Cusco or Titicaca
- Walk the plaza at dusk when the white stone goes gold
Arequipa travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Peru
Good valueChange dollars at a casa de cambio around the Plaza de Armas rather than at a bank — the rate is better and the queue is shorter. Carry small notes; nobody at a market stall can break a hundred.
ATMs & cards
BCP, Interbank and BBVA machines around the plaza. Most charge a fee of S/ 15 to 20 on top of your bank’s — Interbank is usually the cheapest. Decline the conversion. Draw before going to the Colca, where machines are scarce.
Avoid these
- the machines away from the plaza, which charge more
Use these instead
- Interbank
- BCP
- BBVA
Peruvian machines add S/ 15 to 20 of their own; Interbank is usually the cheapest. Draw before going to the Colca.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Peru
SafeThe centre is comfortable and busy into the evening. Ordinary city precautions apply, and unofficial taxis are the thing to avoid — use a ranked one or an app. Altitude is the real issue: the city is at 2,335m and the Colca viewpoints are above 4,900m, which is high enough that a fit person can feel unwell. Give yourself two days here before going higher.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (7 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- unmarked taxis — use an app or a hotel-called car, which is the standing advice across Peru
- the streets below the plaza after dark — quiet, poorly lit and a walk worth making by taxi instead
- the Colca on the first day — Chivay is 3,650m and the pass above it is 4,900m; altitude sickness here sends people to hospital
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Peru visa rules
No visa neededup to 90 days
Days granted are at the officer’s discretion and often fewer than 90. Machu Picchu entry is separately ticketed and capped daily — that is the booking that actually needs planning.
Other passports
Visa required in advance
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Peru
Good but costlyRequired to enter
- Yellow fever certificate, but only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is present
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Hepatitis A
- Typhoid
- Tetanus up to date
- Yellow fever if you are going to the Amazon
- Rabies for rural or long stays
Getting treated
Private clinics in Lima are good and reasonably priced; outside the capital and the main tourist towns, facilities thin out quickly. Insurance with evacuation cover is worth having if you are heading into the Andes or the Amazon.
Altitude sickness is the most common problem for visitors heading to Cusco (3,400m) — ascend slowly and do not fly straight to a trek. Do not drink the tap water.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
OutstandingArequipa claims the best food in Peru and will argue about it. Rocoto relleno is a stuffed pepper hot enough to matter, adobo is a Sunday pork stew, and chupe de camarones is a river-prawn chowder. Eat in a picantería — the old ones have been there a century.
Getting around
Workable- UberWorks here
- DiDiWorks here
- CabifyWorks here
- inDriveWorks here
- BoltNot here
- Against a taxi
- Much cheaper than a street taxi, and much safer than one hailed outside an airport — which is the standing advice countrywide.
Time zone and your working day
America/Lima — 1 hour behind you
7 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 10:00–17:00 your time, 09:00–16:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 10:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 10:00–18:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Peru
What these numbers mean
Home broadband — Fast. Several people on calls at once, large uploads, 4K. Broadband here runs at 2.3× the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Fair. Maps, calls and streaming; tethering a laptop works for an hour, not a day. Mobile runs at 78% of the global median of 109 Mbps.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Peru, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Spanish (Latin American)
- HelloHolaOH-la
- PleasePor favorpor fa-VOR
- Thank youGraciasGRA-syas
- Yes / NoSí / Nosee / no
4 more phrases
- Excuse meDisculpedees-KOOL-peh
- How much is it?¿Cuánto cuesta?KWAN-to KWES-ta
- The bill, pleaseLa cuenta, por favorla KWEN-ta
- Cheers!¡Salud!sa-LOOD
The c and z are said as an s here, not the Spanish "th" — gracias is GRA-syas.
Religion
Catholic
Catholicism fused with Andean belief — the Inti Raymi festival and mountain apu spirits sit alongside the church calendar without contradiction.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Greet with a handshake, or a cheek kiss once you know someone
- Try the food seriously — Peruvians are proud of it and interest is warmly returned
- Ask before photographing people in traditional dress, and expect to pay a small amount
- Take altitude slowly if you continue to Cusco; coca tea genuinely helps
Don't
- Do not eat ceviche in the evening; the fish is that morning’s catch and locals eat it at lunch
- Do not drink the tap water
- Do not hail street taxis; use an app
- Do not call the country’s cuisine Mexican-adjacent, which will not go well
Where to stay in Arequipa
No Holistay rentals in Arequipa yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Arequipa on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Rodríguez Ballón AQP
20 minfrom the airport· 8 km as the crow flies
20 min to the centre.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
