Overview

On a fertile oasis in the desert of southern Peru, Arequipa - the White City - squats at the foot of craggy volcanoes and shimmers in the constant sunlight. The pearl coloured mansions and churches, shady arches, spires and unreconstructed grid of gabled colonial houses have a middle-eastern flavour. The small shops and cafés and flowery plazas make it a great place to relax, and to get accustomed to the altitude (2,335m) if heading into the Andes.

From here a lonely road heads 83km up through a wind-sculpted wilderness to plunge into the cavernous Colca Canyon, in the shelter of which pre-Inca communities built astounding amphitheatres of agricultural terracing which survive to this day.

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Holidays Arequipa and Colca Canyon

From expertly designed Private Journeys to trail-blazing Group Tours, browse our range of carefully crafted holidays.

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Machu Picchu

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Peru / Lake Titicaca / Bolivia

Condor: Peru in depth

20 days from £3,818pp

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Lake Titicaca

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Peru / Lake Titicaca

Pelicano: Essential Peru

14 days from £4,042pp

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Peru / Lake Titicaca

Signature Peru: Classic highlights of Peru

14 days from £3,780pp

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Things to do

Look into things to do in Arequipa and the Colca Canyon in southern Peru. Book your tour of Peru with Journey Latin America now.

Where to go when - our guide to Arequipa and Colca Canyon

Colca Canyon

The weather in Arequipa and Colca Canyon is wide and varied

Arequipa enjoys pleasant weather for most of the year, with some 360 days of sunshine. Temperatures are pleasant, warm enough to wear a shirt during the day and perhaps a light jumper at night. The higher altitudes of the Colca Canyon region make for much colder nights, particularly in the driest months of June to September. Rain is most likely between November and March. The condors are considered to be at their most active from late March to June.

View our Arequipa and Colca Canyon weather guide

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Meet our team

Real Latin american experts

  • Charlotte
    Charlotte Daubeney - Travel Expert

    Charlotte's fascination with Latin America began with a family holiday to Belize. She went on to study Spanish in school and at university before spending a year living in Santiago, Chile.

  • Millie
    Millie Davies - Travel Expert

    Having caught the travel bug as a child, Millie has travelled all over Latin America before making her home in Buenos Aires for 3 years.

  • Carrie
    Carrie Gallagher - Travel Expert

    A former JLA tour leader, Carrie brings a wealth of on-the-ground experience to our London-based Tailor-made and Group Tours department.

  • Hannah
    Hannah Waterhouse - Travel Expert

    Hannah had an early introduction to Latin America when her family moved to Ecuador and she returned to study in Buenos Aires for a year before backpacking across the continent.

  • Juliet
    Juliet Ellwood - Travel Expert

    After graduating with a degree in Anthropology and History and having been fascinated by Latin America since childhood by the book featuring photos of Nazca, Juliet first visited the region in 2003. Since then, Juliet has visited the majority of countries in Latin America but has particularly extensive experience with Peru, a country she loves for many reasons but not least, its incredible archaeological richness and delicious food!

  • Sophie
    Sophie Barber - Travel Expert

    Sophie lived in Chile before joining us and has travelled extensively across Latin America, from Mexico to the furthest tip of Patagonia and beyond to Antarctica.

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