Sacsayhuamán: The Inca Walls Above Cusco and How to Visit

You come up the last stone stairs from San Cristóbal with your lungs working hard, and the grass opens in front of you, flat and green, too big for a hillside. Then you turn left. The wall runs away from you in three steps, zigzagging like a saw blade, and the first stone at your shoulder is taller than you are. You put your palm on it. The joint with the next block is so tight that the edge of a credit card will not go in.

Short answer: Sacsayhuamán is the Inca complex on the hill above Cusco, at about 3,700 m (12,140 ft), a 30-minute uphill walk from the Plaza de Armas. Its three zigzag walls run about 400 m (1,310 ft) and hold blocks estimated at over 100 tonnes. You enter with the Boleto Turístico del Cusco, and two hours is enough.

Most people see Sacsayhuamán for forty minutes on a city tour and wish they had stayed longer. Here is what you are looking at, what it cost the people who built it, how the ticket works and how to plan a visit that leaves time to sit on the grass.

Sacsayhuamán at a glance

Sacsayhuamán is an Inca site of walls, terraces and plazas on the northern edge of Cusco, part of the City of Cuzco World Heritage Site listed by UNESCO in 1983. Spanish chroniclers credit its construction to Pachacuti and the two rulers after him, Topa Inca Yupanqui and Huayna Capac, in the 15th century.

Sacsayhuamán key facts

Item	Detail
Location	Hill on the northern edge of Cusco, about 30 minutes on foot from the Plaza de Armas
Altitude	About 3,700 m (12,140 ft)
Built	15th century, under Pachacuti, Topa Inca Yupanqui and Huayna Capac (Spanish chroniclers)
Main walls	3 zigzag terraces, about 400 m (1,310 ft) long and 6 m (20 ft) high
Largest stone	Estimated at 128 to almost 200 tonnes
UNESCO	Part of the City of Cuzco World Heritage Site, 1983
Ticket	Boleto Turístico: S/130 full (10 days) or S/70 partial, as of October 2026
Time needed	About 2 hours

The purpose of Sacsayhuamán

Sacsayhuamán was a ceremonial and military complex that guarded the northern side of the Inca capital. The Spanish called it a fortress because of its walls, and the name stuck. Archaeologists see more than defense in it: plazas for ceremonies, storehouses, water channels and towers on the summit above the walls.

The site did not start with the Incas. In March 2008 archaeologists found remains on its edges that they date to the Killke period, the culture that lived in the Cusco valley before the Inca state.

The walls and the stones

The three main terrace walls run about 400 m (1,310 ft) and rise about 6 m (20 ft), built in a zigzag that gives each section a corner. Walk the base of the first wall slowly. The largest limestone block is estimated at anywhere from 128 to almost 200 tonnes, according to the estimates summarized by Wikipedia, and it sits in the wall with no mortar.

What people get wrong is looking only at the size. Look at the joints. Each stone was shaped to its neighbors, with many sides and angles, so the wall locks together. That is why it has survived centuries of earthquakes that knocked down the colonial buildings in town below. Some of the stone came from the Rumicolca quarry, about 35 km (22 miles) away, which tells you how much labor sits in front of you.

Why the walls are lower than they were

After the conquest, the Spanish used Sacsayhuamán as a quarry. Many of the smaller, upper stones went down the hill to build the churches and houses of colonial Cusco. What you see today is mostly the lower courses, the stones too big to move.

The siege of 1536

Sacsayhuamán was the stage of the biggest Inca uprising against the Spanish. On May 6, 1536, Manco Inca laid siege to Cusco, where Hernando Pizarro held the city with about 190 Spaniards, 80 of them on horseback, and several thousand Indigenous allies. Inca forces used the walls above the city as their base.

The Spanish attacked the complex to break the siege. Juan Pizarro, brother of Francisco and Hernando, was struck in the head by a stone during the assault and died days later. The siege lasted until early 1537. Manco Inca then withdrew to Vilcabamba, where the Inca state held out for decades.

What to see inside the site

The visit follows a loop: the esplanade, the zigzag walls, the summit and the rocks on the north side. Allow about two hours to walk all of it at an easy pace.

The esplanade and the zigzag walls

The big grass esplanade in front of the walls is where Inti Raymi is staged every June 24 and where the Warachikuy festival is held on the third Sunday of September. Walk the full length of the walls here, and stop at the main gateways cut through each terrace.

The summit and Muyuqmarka

Climb behind the walls to the summit. Here you see the circular foundations of a tower known as Muyuqmarka and the outlines of buildings that once stood above the terraces. The view south across the red roofs of Cusco is the view of the city our guides like most, and you get it without a bus.

The Rodadero and the carved rocks

Across the esplanade, facing the walls, rises a smooth rock hill known as the Rodadero, polished by glaciers into natural slides. Local kids slide down it, and so do some adults. Around it are carved rocks, steps and seats cut into the stone. Ask your guide to show you the Chincana, a narrow passage through the rock.

Tickets: the Boleto Turístico

Sacsayhuamán has no separate entrance ticket. You enter with the Boleto Turístico del Cusco, sold by COSITUC. Foreign adults pay S/130 for the full ticket, valid 10 days at 16 sites, or S/70 for the partial ticket of the circuit that covers Sacsayhuamán, Qenqo, Puca Pucara and Tambomachay (COSITUC price list, checked October 2026).

Buy the full ticket if you will also visit the Sacred Valley, because Pisac, Ollantaytambo, Chinchero and Moray are on it too. Buy the partial ticket if Cusco is your only stop. Tours usually include the ticket, so check before you pay at the gate.

How to visit Sacsayhuamán

You can walk up from the center, take a taxi to the gate or join a half-day city tour. Each works. The walk is the one that sticks with you, and the tour gives you the history.

Walking up from the Plaza de Armas

The walk takes about 30 minutes uphill from the Plaza de Armas, by the stairs of San Cristóbal church or the lanes above San Blas. You climb about 300 m (980 ft) above the plaza, so do not do it on your first afternoon in Cusco, which sits at 3,399 m (11,152 ft). Read our guide to Cusco altitude before you go.

On a city tour

Our Cusco city tour starts at the Qorikancha sun temple, then drives up to Sacsayhuamán, Qenqo, Puca Pucara and Tambomachay with a guide, entries included, for US$87 per person. It is the easiest way to see all four sites in an afternoon without paying four taxis.

Timing your visit

Go early in the morning or after 3 p.m. Midday light is flat on the stones, and tour groups bunch up between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. In the rainy months, December to March, the grass on the esplanade turns to mud after a storm, so bring shoes you do not mind getting dirty. Around June 24 the esplanade is closed for Inti Raymi rehearsals and the festival itself, as our Inti Raymi guide explains.

For the rest of the city, read our list of things to do in Cusco and the guide to how many days in Cusco.