The Historic Center of Cusco (translation of the "attraction's name) is beautiful, interesting and worth a visit.

To the town of Cusco, I give a mixed review. It's much bigger than I expected and the poverty is clear. Yes, there are lots of stray dogs, but there is so much poweful history there.

The altitude makes this place so difficult to visit for many of us. Coca tea is a scam in my opinion. Take Diamox and eat plain food.

Surrounded by mountains and with some of its neighborhoods on the slopes of these mountains, the historic center of Cusco is a place of singular beauty.

Cusco has been called the "Rome of the New World," and spending time strolling its streets really brings home how accurate that nickname is. Despite the Spanish Catholic superstructure of arcades and churches (all of them quite charming), the foundations and bones of the city are clearly Inca in a way you will not see at this scale anywhere else in the world. Many of the great colonial casones were built on Inca foundations of slanting, massive stones fitted together in their peculiar and unmistakable planar jigsaw fashion, and those foundations are still everywhere to be seen as you walk the streets, especially the steep alley-like Inca-era ones such as calle Loreto.

It's true that there are many annoying hawkers and touts, including the ubiquitous massage-pushers and art dealers, but you will just have to ignore them.

Don't miss the Plaza de Armas, views of the surrounding hills twinkling with light at nighttime, the foundations of all the Inca palaces repurposed into colonial edifices, or the viewpoint of town from the Mirador de Plaza San Cristobal.