Arequipa Walking Tour with Santa Catalina Monastery - No Entrance Fees

You will start the walking tour in the neighborhood of San Lazaro, located just 5 blocks from the Plaza de Armas of Arequipa. This colonial hood has small streets and houses made of sillar, a volcanic stone used for constructions.
San Lazaro is an old district and you will admire its beauty through its lovely streets, small squares and white walls. This are had been occupied by pre Inca and Inca cultures and, during the Spanish conquer and city’s foundation, the first houses were built here.
This district belongs to the Historic Center of Arequipa, so it is considered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The tour continues to Barrio del Solar situated near the River Chili where you will walk along beautiful streets with traditional and colonial buildings. You are going to explore different areas known as Tambos, lodging centers where merchants came to rest during the colonial era.
The first Tambo to visit will be Tambo El Matadero, a building from the seventeenth century that was used to sacrifice animals. Currently, there are about 30 families living in this place.
The walking tour in Arequipa continues to Tambo La Cabezona, a colonial group of houses with a communal entrance dated from the sixteenth century and the place where one of the first mills in the city worked.
Enjoy a panoramic tour to Plaza de Armas, the main meeting point of locals and where the Cathedral of Arequipa is located. This beautiful square is surrounded by lovely portals and there is a bronze fountain in the middle.
After a short walk we are going to reach the Santa Catalina Monastery. This place was founded in 1579 and it has 20 thousand square meters distributed in cloisters, patios, squares, streets, bell tower and church.
During the viceroyalty, Doña Maria de Guzman was a rich woman and she decided to donate all her properties and start a live as a cloister nun. Most of the women came from wealthy families and, currently, there still are cloister nuns living at Santa Catalina Convent.
This is a beautiful place with a lot of history and you will have time to take nice photos. Walk around the streets made of ashlar and some parts with natural colored red walls. You will visit many areas such as the Patio del Silencio, a place where the nuns met to pray and read the Bible in silence.
Get impressed with this jewel of the city of Arequipa, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site.