Private Arequipa City & Santa Catalina Monastery Tour

Walk the monastery's red-and-white cloisters and the city's volcanic-framed plazas with a guide who waits for your questions.

A private tour of Arequipa's colonial landmarks and Santa Catalina Monastery with a professional guide in English or Spanish, lasting three to four hours. You choose the start time, and the monastery entrance fee is included—unlike standard group tours. The guide stays with you throughout, answering questions at your own pace.

Step-by-step itinerary

Explore Arequipa's cultural highlights

• Visit Santa Catalina Monastery
• Explore San Camilo Market
• See Plaza de Armas and viewpoint
• Visit Mundo Alpaca Arequipa
• Tour La Compañía Church

The Experience

Santa Catalina Monastery opens the tour: a mandatory stop in Arequipa, the guide explains, because its architectural detail and historical weight demand more than a glance. You walk the red-and-white cloistered streets, the guide pointing out the religious syncretism layered into the stonework—Andean, Inca and Catholic symbols woven together. The entrance fee is included, so you move straight in.

From there the route moves through the city's cultural landmarks. Plaza de Armas sits ringed by three volcanoes—Misti, Chachani and Pichu Pichu—and you climb to the portal viewpoint to see them framing the square. San Camilo Market comes next, a national cultural heritage site where the guide walks you through the living economy of Arequipa: the fruits, potatoes and medicinal plants that move through the stalls, the regional products that tell you what the city actually eats. La Compañía Church shows the same religious blend in stone—high-relief columns and interior detail that reads as art rather than instruction.

Mundo Alpaca Arequipa closes the tour. You interact directly with the animals in a natural setting, watch the ancestral manual fiber classification happen in front of you, and see the backstrap loom technique that has survived centuries. The vicuña fiber—the finest in the world, the guide will tell you—sits beside the alpaca, and you touch both. The whole tour runs three to four hours, and you set the start time yourself.

What’s included

• Water bottle.
• entrance fee to Santa Catalina Monastery.
• private guide in English or Spanish.
• hotel or meeting-point pickup.

Good to know

Easy physical levelStroller friendly

Operated by Peru Nat Red Tour Operator

Is this one for you?If you speak English or Spanish fluently, a private guide means you set the pace and ask questions without waiting for a group to catch up—the three to four hours stretch or compress based on what holds your attention at each stop.

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Top questions

What exactly is inside Santa Catalina Monastery that makes it worth an hour on its own?

Santa Catalina Monastery holds red-and-white cloistered streets and centuries of religious architecture that blends Andean, Inca and Catholic symbols into the stonework and interior detail—the guide walks you through the layering and the history that shaped each part.

Does the tour include lunch or time to eat in San Camilo Market?

The tour does not include lunch. San Camilo Market is a stop where the guide explains the cultural and economic role it plays in Arequipa, but eating there is your choice and your cost.

Can I really interact with the alpacas at Mundo Alpaca, or is it just watching?

You interact directly with the alpacas in a natural environment at Mundo Alpaca Arequipa—you touch and observe them, and you also watch the ancestral fiber classification and backstrap loom techniques happen live.

What if I want to see La Compañía Church—is it part of the tour?

La Compañía Church is not included in this tour. The stops are Santa Catalina Monastery, San Camilo Market, Plaza de Armas, Mundo Alpaca Arequipa, and the guide provides context on the city's colonial architecture at each.

Do I have to speak Spanish, or can the guide do the whole tour in English?

The guide speaks both English and Spanish, so you can choose which language works for you when you book.

What time does the tour start, and how long does it actually take?

You choose the start time when you book. The tour runs three to four hours depending on how long you spend at each stop and how many questions you ask—there is no fixed pace.