Visiting Cusco with kids is fun! This city is one of the most popular cities in Peru among tourists because there is plenty to do here in the region. You can still find many remains in the region of the Incas, but there are also other activities you can do in this city with the family. You can also take several fun day trips from Cusco with the family. In this blog we list the best children’s activities in Cusco.
Best travel time Cusco with kids
You can visit Cusco with kids all year round. The least rain falls between May and September, but temperatures are a bit lower than in other months. In the other months, there is more chance of rain, but temperatures are a bit higher.
The temperature in Cusco is at a maximum of around 20 degrees, but especially in the months of May through August, the temperature can also drop to 0 degrees. Therefore, make sure to bring warm clothes for the kids as well.
By the way, keep in mind that Cusco is located at almost 3,400 meters, which is obviously quite an altitude. Especially if you are traveling with kids, it is important that you take it easy the first few days of your visit to the city. Of course, you don’t want anyone in the family to suffer from altitude sickness. Because of this, it is best to choose to stay a little longer in the city so that you can also be flexible in your program.
If the kids do get bothered by the altitude, it is important to monitor it closely and if it lasts longer, to move to a lower altitude. Lima, for example, is almost at sea level.
Transportation to and in Cusco
From the capital Lima, you can easily fly to Cusco. From several other major cities in Peru, you can also travel to Cusco by bus, but you will spend many hours traveling by bus. Most families with kids do not rent a car in Cusco, as the roads are not super good.
If you want to visit the region of Cusco with kids, you can book an organized tour or a cab, for example. For example, you have cab app Uber that you can use. You then buy a local simcard in Cusco, which makes it very easy to order a cab over the phone. You also know the cost of the ride and which driver will take your family. We always find this a very nice way to travel with our daughter.
Especially with kids, this may not be the ideal way to travel through Peru. In Cusco itself, you can walk around the city just fine. Download the app Maps.me in advance, for example, because then you can download the map of Cusco and you do not need internet in the city to orient yourself in the city. We actually always use this app abroad and so we actually always know our way around the city.
Children’s activities Cusco
#1 Center of Cusco
The old center of Cusco is fun to visit with the family. You have lots of narrow streets here and you can really get an idea of how the Incas used to live here. The most famous square in the city is Plaza de Armas. You have beautiful churches and cathedrals on this square. You can sit on a bench here and watch the liveliness of the city.
We did find the shoe polishers here in the center very irritating at times. They bring it like they can polish your shoes for very little, but if you have this done they always want more money. So do not accept the offers of these sellers. You also have many cafes and restaurants around the square where you can go for a snack and a drink.
From Plaza de Armas, walk the family to Mercado Central de San Pedro in about 10 minutes. This is a nice local market that is fun to visit for a while. You will see butchers with whole cuts of meat, vegetable stalls and also stalls where they sell souvenirs. For souvenirs, you can also visit the colorful San Blas neighborhood. This district has numerous alleys and corridors and also many stores.
Especially for the first day, this is a great way to tour the city with the family. If you have been in Cusco longer, you can also walk to the San Cristobal church. From Plaza de Armas you can walk there in about 15 minutes (uphill) and from this viewpoint you have a beautiful view over Cusco.
By the way, you have several discount cards that you can purchase for Cusco for different attractions. Check beforehand what you and your family all want to visit and what the cost of admission is and then see if you can find discount cards that are a lot cheaper. You can definitely save money that way.
#2 Inca ruins around the city
As we mentioned in the introduction, Cusco was an important city in the times of the Incas and both in and around the city you will find plenty of remnants of this. For example, in the center of the city about 10 minutes walk from Plaza de Armas you have Coricancha. This was the temple of the sun and one of the most important places in the Inca era.
When the Spaniards came, they partly flattened this temple and built the Santo Domingo Church on this site. Nevertheless, ruins of this temple can still be found. This structure looks impressive from the outside and if you want to see the whole complex you have to pay a small entrance fee. By the way, kids up to 9 years old have free entrance to the temple.
Another place where you can still visit ruins of the Incas is at Sacsayhuamán. You can hike to this ruin from Plaza de Armas and then walk all the way up, but with young kids it’s just as easy to have a cab drop you off on the mountain. We also found these ruins with huge stones very impressive. To think that they built this in ancient times is truly a masterpiece!
#3 Sacred Valley
Also outside of Cusco, you have several ruins from the Inca era that you can visit. One of the most famous ruins here from the region are the ones in the Sacred Valley. This sacred valley is about 1.5 hours drive from Cusco and it is best to visit it by cab or with an organized tour. If you are with a whole family then the cab can definitely be cheaper than going with an organized tour.
You have here the ruins of Maras which consist of thousands of salt terraces. These terraces allowed the Incas to extract salt in this way so many years ago. These salt terraces look impressive and you can take beautiful pictures of these salt flats here. You can very easily combine this sight with a visit to Moray.
Moray is only 8 kilometers away from Maras and here you have mysterious circular terraces and they actually still don’t know exactly what these were for in the Inca era. An example of an organized tour to this valley can be found here.
#4 Rainbow Mountain
You can’t just visit Inca ruins in the Cusco area with kids. There is also beautiful nature that you can visit. For example, visiting Rainbow Mountain with the family is kind of special. This mountain is almost 5000 meters high though, so it is not recommended to visit this attraction first with kids if you have only just arrived in Cusco.
Rainbow Mountain is about a 3-hour drive from Cusco and has as many as 7 different colors. You see pictures of this mountain here on the Internet very often and since then this sight is also hugely popular among tourists. The organized tours that go to this mountain already leave at 4 in the morning and if you go with an organized tour, you have to get up very early, examples of such an organized tour can be found here.
Because these groups leave so early, they are also back in Cusco around noon. This makes the mountain very crowded with groups at the same time. If you visit the mountain in the afternoon it is a lot quieter. You can easily arrange a cab to go here with the family. Then, of course, you also have more freedom than with a tour. Try to negotiate a bit about the price.
Keep in mind, of course, that you are at altitude, so wear warm clothes for this excursion in Cusco with kids. You have to be a little lucky with the weather here, because if the weather is bad the colors of the mountain come out a lot less than in sunny weather.
#5 Machu Picchu
Surely one of the highlights of Peru and perhaps all of South America is a visit to Machu Picchu. This sight was declared one of the new seven wonders of the world years ago and since then Machu Picchu has become even more popular. From Cusco, they offer organized day trips to this sight, but that is actually far too long a day.
You are easily about 4 hours on the road from Cusco to get to Machu Picchu. Therefore, it is better to spend a night in the town of Aguas Calientes which is near Machu Picchu. The best time to see this ancient Inca city is when just the sun is beginning to rise. And that means getting there very early. You can’t do that from Cusco, so it’s better to spend a night or two in Aquas Calientes with kids.
For example, you could travel by train to Aguas Calientes the day before and spend the night there. The next morning visit Machu Picchu and then in the afternoon travel back by train to Cusco. You could then possibly choose to leave the suitcases in a hotel in Cusco and travel to Machu Picchu with only some hand luggage.
Because in recent years Machu Picchu has been weighed down by mass tourism, the government did set up a lot of rules to keep everything on track. For example, nowadays you have to reserve a time slot and you can’t just walk everywhere. For example, if you want to climb Mount Huayna Picchu you have to book far in advance. If you want to know more about visiting Machu Picchu, read the blog Machu Picchu with kids.
Family-friendly restaurant Cusco
Cusco is a tourist city and you have plenty of family-friendly restaurants to visit here. We can imagine that kids are not waiting for Peruvian cuisine every day, which is why we describe below some family-friendly restaurants in Cusco that also offer other cuisines.
Fast food chains: you can go to several fast food chains in Cusco with kids in the city. For example, near Plaza de Armas there is a Mc Donalds and we also saw the Burger King in the city. We always like it when we are in an unfamiliar city abroad with our daughter, that we can go to these kinds of chains for a quick bite.
Chia Vegan Kitchen: if you are a family who loves vegetarian food, then this restaurant in Cusco is a good option. You can go to this restaurant for breakfast, lunch and dinner and you have lots of vegan options on the menu here. From sushi to burgers and from a curry to a delicious dessert.
Il Olivo Trattoria Ristorante: this is a tremendously good Italian restaurant in Cusco with a very good price-quality ratio. You can eat different Italian dishes like pizzas and pastas here with kids.
Family-friendly hotel Cusco
You can stay in Cusco with kids just fine. You have plenty of nice family-friendly accommodations in Cusco that you can book. We have listed only the best rated accommodations in Cusco. These accommodations have been reviewed by families with kids who have stayed here and each accommodation has at least 100 reviews. Click on the blue link for more information.
Budget accommodation: Hostal Cusco de mis Sueños
Middle Class Accommodation: Kori Gems Inn
Luxury accommodation: El Balcón
For the entire list of family-friendly accommodations in Lima, take a look here.
