Best Machu Picchu & Uyuni Salt Flats Tours | Peru & Bolivia Travel

Just 11 kilometers from the Plaza de Armas, the historic district of San Jerónimo celebrates its patron saint every late September: 5 days of processions, 26+ dance troupes, a food fair, and a 16th-century church built on an Inca huaca. In 2016, it was declared Cultural Heritage of the Nation. Most tourists don't know it exists; many young locals don't either. This year it starts on Monday, September 28, with the main day on Wednesday 30.

Third Sunday of September. 9 a.m. The pututos sound and 1,500 students from the National School of Sciences of Cusco set off in procession from their school to the Sacsayhuamán esplanade. They are going to compete — for real — in speed, strength, and endurance tests that replicate those the Tahuantinsuyo used to determine who was ready for adulthood. It is not a choreography. It is the Warachicuy, and in 2025 it was declared a Cultural Interest.

Every September 14, thousands of people walk 48 kilometers from the city of Cusco to the sanctuary of the Señor de Huanca, in the district of San Salvador, province of Calca, at 3,100 m.a.s.l. It is neither a tourist trekking trip nor an organized tour: it is a genuine pilgrimage that sets off at night from San Jerónimo and arrives at dawn on the main day. Here we explain the route, what it physical demands, and why this tradition continues to draw devotees from all over Peru and neighboring countries.