How do I get around Cusco?

The centro histórico measures roughly 12 blocks by 8 blocks, and you can walk from Plaza de Armas to San Pedro Market in 7 minutes on flat ground. The problem is elevation. At 3,400 meters, your body runs on about 60% of its usual oxygen. Steep cobblestone streets that climb toward Saqsaywaman will stop you every 50 meters on day one. Wear shoes with grip. The colonial-era stones are polished smooth by 500 years of foot traffic and turn slippery after rain. Morning temperatures in August currently sit around 5°C with frost on the ground, so the stones feel like cold glass underfoot before 8 AM. Take the first day slowly. Walk downhill wherever possible. Save the uphill climbs for day three, once your red blood cell count has started catching up.

Taxis here have no meters. Agree on the fare before you close the door. A ride within the centro histórico should cost 5-7 soles, under $2 USD at the current rate of 3.38 PEN to the dollar. To Alejandro Velasco Astete airport, expect 15-20 soles. The better move is InDriver. Download it before you land. It runs a bid system where you name your price and drivers accept or counter. In practice, fares come in 20-30% below what street taxis quote, and you avoid the negotiation routine entirely. Uber technically operates but driver coverage is thin. You might request a car and wait 15 minutes for one that never arrives. InDriver usually connects within 3-5 minutes. After 10 PM, street taxis near the bars on Calle Procuradores quote 3-4 times the daytime rate. The app stays consistent.

Combis, the white minivans that run fixed city routes for 1-1.50 soles, have a cobrador who leans out the sliding door and shouts destinations. Skip them unless your Spanish is strong. Routes aren't mapped anywhere useful, the vans pack tight enough that your bag presses against strangers, and pickpocketing is a real risk in the crush. For the Sacred Valley, colectivos leave from Calle Pavitos near Estadio Garcilaso every 15-20 minutes. A seat to Pisac costs 8-10 soles, Ollantaytambo about 15. The Pisac run takes roughly an hour through switchback mountain roads. Mind you, colectivos don't depart on a schedule. They leave when every seat is filled, so your wait might be 5 minutes or 25.

For the archaeological sites above the city, Saqsaywaman sits 2 km uphill from Plaza de Armas. A taxi up costs 8-10 soles, and most drivers will offer a round-trip with wait time for 25-30 soles. That's a fair deal. Puka Pukara and Tambomachay lie another 5-7 km along the same road, too far to walk comfortably at altitude. The smartest approach is a taxi to Tambomachay, then walk back downhill through Puka Pukara to Saqsaywaman, losing about 200 meters of elevation over 7 km on paved road. You'll hear wind across the hillside and little else. The views back toward the city's terracotta roofline are clearest before noon, when woodsmoke from cooking fires hasn't yet settled into the valley. That downhill route takes 2-3 hours at altitude pace, so bring water and a layer. Mornings are biting cold until the sun clears the eastern ridge around 9 AM.