Cusco Museums: Which to Visit and Which the Tourist Ticket Covers

The must-see museums in Cusco are the Museo Inka and the Museo Machu Picchu at Casa Concha, both run by Cusco’s university, followed by the Museo de Arte Precolombino, the Museo de Arte Religioso and the four museums on the Tourist Ticket: the Qorikancha Site Museum, the Regional Historical Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Museum of Popular Art. All of them are a few blocks from the Plaza de Armas. The Cusco Tourist Ticket (Boleto Turístico) covers only those four, plus the Pachacútec Monument and the Centro Qosqo de Arte Nativo; the rest charge their own admission.

Cusco’s museums aren’t just a rainy-day plan: they explain what you’ll see at Sacsayhuamán, in the Sacred Valley and at Machu Picchu. Here’s what each one holds, who runs it, whether it’s on the Tourist Ticket and how to fit it into your trip.

Important: the Museo Inka, the Museo Machu Picchu, the Museo de Arte Precolombino and the Museo de Arte Religioso are not part of the Cusco Tourist Ticket. Neither are the Qorikancha temple and the Cathedral. Bring cash in soles to pay at the door.

Which Cusco museums are on the Tourist Ticket

The Tourist Ticket is run by the Comité de Servicios Integrados Turísticos Culturales del Cusco (Cosituc). According to its official list, Circuit II, “City and South Valley,” includes eight places: four museums in the center, the Pachacútec Monument, the Centro Qosqo de Arte Nativo and the archaeological parks of Tipón and Pikillacta. Circuits I and III include no museums.

This table sums up the main museums:

Museum	What to see	Run by	On the Tourist Ticket?
Museo Inka (Casa del Almirante)	Pre-Inca cultures, Inca history, farming techniques, ceramics, textiles and the setting of an Inca tomb	Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco (UNSAAC)	No, separate admission
Museo Machu Picchu (Casa Concha)	Pottery, stone and metal objects excavated at Machu Picchu in 1911 and 1912 and returned by Yale University	UNSAAC	No, separate admission
Qorikancha Site Museum	Pottery, stone and metal objects, trepanned skulls and scale models of the Temple of the Sun	Admission handled by Cosituc	Yes, Circuit II
Regional Historical Museum (Casa Garcilaso)	Archaeological objects, colonial painting and Republican-era pieces in the house of Inca Garcilaso de la Vega	Ministry of Culture (DDC Cusco)	Yes, Circuit II
Museum of Contemporary Art	Painting and sculpture by Peruvian and foreign artists of the 20th and 21st centuries	Provincial Municipality of Cusco	Yes, Circuit II
Museum of Popular Art	Religious imagery, dancers’ masks, miniatures from Paucartambo and photos of old Cusco	Instituto Americano de Arte del Cusco	Yes, Circuit II
Pachacútec Monument	A nine-level tower with rooms on the Incas and a viewpoint beneath the Inca’s bronze statue	Admission handled by Cosituc	Yes, Circuit II
Museo de Arte Religioso (Archbishop’s Palace)	More than 200 works of the Cusco School, including the Corpus Christi series	Catholic Church, in the Archbishop’s Palace	No, separate admission
Museo de Arte Precolombino	Ten rooms of pottery, wood, gold and silver from ancient Peru, on loan from the Museo Larco	Fundación BBVA	No, separate admission
Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco	A museum of Andean weaving and weavers working live	Weavers’ nonprofit association	No, free admission
Manuel Chávez Ballón Site Museum	Pieces found at Machu Picchu and its surroundings, next to Puente Ruinas	Ministry of Culture	No, separate admission

For all the prices, validity periods and which ticket suits your plan, read our full guide to the Cusco Tourist Ticket.

Museo Inka and Museo Machu Picchu: the two university museums

If you only have time for two museums, choose these: they explain Inca culture best. Both belong to UNSAAC and sell their own tickets.

Museo Inka

It occupies the Casa del Almirante, a colonial mansion at Cuesta del Almirante 103, a few steps from the Plaza de Armas. According to the museum’s website, its permanent galleries cover pre-Inca cultures, the Andean environment, Inca history, subsistence techniques and the activities of Tahuantinsuyo. It ends with the Mallki Wasi room, which recreates the setting of an Inca tomb and the cult of the ancestors. PromPerú also highlights its pottery, metalwork, textiles and mummies.

• Hours: according to its website, Monday to Friday from 9:15 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturdays from 8:45 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. from April to December. Closed on Sundays and public holidays.
• Admission: S/ 20 for foreigners, S/ 10 for Peruvians, S/ 10 for foreign students and S/ 5 for Peruvian students. Cash only, at the ticket office.
• Time needed: an hour and a half to two hours.

Other sources list different hours, so check before you go. For background, read our guide to Inca history and culture.

Museo Machu Picchu at Casa Concha

This is the museum that holds the pieces excavated at Machu Picchu by Hiram Bingham’s expeditions in 1911 and 1912. They spent nearly a century at Yale University in the United States. After an accord reached in 2010, Yale sent a first shipment in March 2011 and the remaining collections in December 2011 and November 2012. The UNSAAC-Yale center opened at Casa Concha in October 2011.

According to Andina, Yale returned more than 46,000 pieces in three deliveries, and the Ministry of Culture declared 4,849 of them Cultural Heritage of the Nation; UNSAAC holds them in custody. Only part of the collection is on display: in 2023 the agency mentioned about 360 pieces, mostly Inca pottery, and, on the second floor, pieces found in excavations at Casa Concha itself.

• Where it is: at Calle Santa Catalina Ancha 320, two blocks from the Plaza de Armas.
• Admission: separate, paid at the door. We haven’t found an up-to-date official price list, so check the price and hours before you go.
• Time needed: about an hour.

Tip: visit Casa Concha before you go up to the citadel. Seeing the pottery and tools used there will help you picture daily life in the buildings of Machu Picchu.

The Tourist Ticket museums, one by one

These six Circuit II places are in the center or very close to it. You can see them with the full ticket, S/ 130 for foreigners and S/ 70 for Peruvians and residents, valid for 10 days, or with the Circuit II partial ticket, S/ 70 and S/ 40. The partial ticket is valid for 2 days for foreigners and one day for Peruvians.

Qorikancha Site Museum

It sits beneath the Qorikancha gardens, with its entrance on Avenida El Sol. Cosituc describes it as a space devoted to the pieces found during research at the complex: pottery, textiles, tools and other remains from the pre-Inca, Inca and colonial periods. According to Andina, it has five rooms, with trepanned skulls, mummies and models of the temple at its height.

Don’t confuse it with the temple and convent of Santo Domingo, up above, which charges its own admission. Seeing the temple first and then walking down to the museum is the most logical way to tour the Qorikancha.

Regional Historical Museum (Casa Garcilaso)

It is housed in the birthplace of the mestizo chronicler Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, author of the Royal Commentaries of the Incas, at the corner of Calle Garcilaso and Calle Heladeros, next to Plaza Regocijo. It began as the Viceregal Museum in 1946 and became the Regional Historical Museum in 1967. Today it is run by the Decentralized Directorate of Culture of Cusco, part of the Ministry of Culture.

Its rooms span the prehispanic to the Republican era, with archaeological objects, colonial painting and documents. According to its website, it’s open every day from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., except January 1 and December 25. It also takes part in Museos Abiertos, the Ministry of Culture program that, under Law 30599, offers free admission on the first Sunday of every month.

Museum of Contemporary Art

It’s in the Municipality building on Plaza Regocijo, one block from the Plaza de Armas. It was founded in 1995 on the initiative of then-mayor Daniel Estrada Pérez, with a donation of 100 works of Peruvian and international art. It has two rooms, with works by artists such as Hilario Mendívil, Edilberto Mérida and Antonio Olave, and it hosts temporary exhibitions.

Museum of Popular Art

It was created by the Instituto Americano de Arte del Cusco. It’s in the basement of Avenida El Sol 103, the same Galerías Turísticas building where Cosituc has its sales counter. It brings together religious imagery, pottery, dancers’ masks and miniatures of the Paucartambo dances, with pieces by masters such as Santiago Rojas, Hilario Mendívil and Edilberto Mérida, plus a display of photos of old Cusco.

Pachacútec Monument and Centro Qosqo de Arte Nativo

They aren’t classic museums, but they’re on the same circuit. The Pachacútec Monument, at the roundabout of the same name, is a cylindrical nine-level tower, built in 1991, that supports an 11.50 m bronze statue of the Inca. Inside are rooms with historical information and, at the top, a viewpoint over the city. The Centro Qosqo de Arte Nativo, at Avenida El Sol 604, puts on a daily dance show, and admission includes a small museum of traditional costumes and musical instruments.

Note: according to Cosituc, the ticket isn’t sold at the Regional Historical Museum, the Centro Qosqo, the Museum of Popular Art or the Museum of Contemporary Art. Buy it at the counter on Avenida El Sol 103 or at one of the archaeological sites on the program.

Museums with separate admission in the center

These museums charge admission at the door and are less than ten minutes’ walk from the Plaza de Armas.

Museo de Arte Religioso (Archbishop’s Palace)

It occupies the Archbishop’s Palace, built on the foundations of the palace of the Inca Roca, at the corner of Calle Hatun Rumiyoc and Calle Herrajes. One of its outer walls holds the famous Twelve-Angled Stone. According to PromPerú, it keeps more than 200 works of the Cusco School, including the Corpus Christi series and Diego Quispe Tito’s zodiac series. It’s the best museum in the city for understanding Cusco’s colonial painting. It has its own admission: check the hours and price before you go.

From here, Hatun Rumiyoc climbs up to the San Blas neighborhood and its artisans’ workshops: combine the two visits.

Museo de Arte Precolombino

It’s in a mansion on Plazoleta de las Nazarenas 231, known as Casa Cabrera. It’s run by Fundación BBVA, and its pieces come from the Museo Larco in Lima. Its ten rooms cover some 3,000 years of Andean history, with works in pottery, wood, shell, silver and gold. According to its official website, it’s open every day, holidays included, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., so you can visit it after dinner.

Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco

The Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco is a nonprofit founded in 1996 by Andean weavers and their supporters, led by Nilda Callañaupa. It works with ten weaving communities in the region. Its headquarters, next to the Qorikancha on Avenida El Sol, has a small museum that explains the Andean weaving process and a space where weavers work in full view of visitors.

According to its website, admission to the museum is free, and it’s open Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; it’s closed on Sundays. It has another center in Chinchero, in the Sacred Valley.

Other museums in the center

• Museo de Santa Catalina: in the Dominican nuns’ monastery, built in 1601 over the old Acllahuasi. Since 1971 it has shown cloistered life, with Cusco School painting, furniture and vestments.
• Natural History Museum: on the Plaza de Armas. It shows geological and paleontological samples and specimens of the region’s wildlife; according to PromPerú, the highlight is a huge mastodon tusk.

Manuel Chávez Ballón Site Museum, near Machu Picchu

It isn’t in Cusco but at the foot of the Inca citadel, by the old Puente Ruinas bridge, at km 112 of the railway, about a 30-minute walk from Aguas Calientes. It’s run by the Ministry of Culture and displays pieces found at Machu Picchu and its surroundings: pottery, stone, metal and human remains. Behind it is a botanical garden.

It isn’t part of the Tourist Ticket or of the citadel’s circuits: it has its own admission, although it takes part in Museos Abiertos, with free entry on the first Sunday of every month. Check the hours before you go. It fits in well if you walk down from the citadel, because the trail ends at Puente Ruinas. More ideas in our guide to Aguas Calientes.

Tourist Ticket or individual tickets? What the museums cost

If you’re only interested in the museums and won’t be visiting Sacsayhuamán or the Sacred Valley, the Circuit II partial ticket is enough. If you’re doing the City Tour and the Sacred Valley, the full ticket already includes them.

Your museum plan	What you need	Cost for a foreign adult
Only the Ticket museums (Qorikancha, Regional Historical, Contemporary, Popular, Pachacútec and Qosqo)	Circuit II partial ticket, valid for 2 days	S/ 70
Ticket museums, City Tour and Sacred Valley	Full ticket, valid for 10 days	S/ 130
Museo Inka	Separate ticket, cash	S/ 20, according to its website
Museo Machu Picchu, Arte Religioso and Arte Precolombino	Separate ticket at each one	Check the price at the door
Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco	Nothing	Free

Fares checked on November 3, 2026. Confirm them on the official channel before you buy.

Peruvians and residents pay S/ 70 for the full ticket and S/ 40 for the partial one. Foreign students up to age 25 with a student card pay S/ 70 for the full ticket, and children up to age 9 don’t pay for the Tourist Ticket.

Museums for rainy days

From November to March it often rains in the afternoon in Cusco, as our guide to Cusco weather explains. The strategy is simple: outdoor excursions in the morning and museums in the afternoon, when the rain starts.

• Short rainy afternoon: the Museum of Popular Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art, a few minutes’ walk from each other; you can see both in an hour and a half.
• Long rainy afternoon: the Museo Inka and the Museo de Arte Religioso, both around the Cathedral.
• Rainy evening: the Museo de Arte Precolombino, open until 10 p.m., or the dances at the Centro Qosqo de Arte Nativo.
• Rainy Sunday: the Museo Inka is closed on Sundays. Choose the Regional Historical Museum, which opens every day, or the Precolombino.

Cusco museums with kids

With kids, choose a few short museums with something to do or look at:

• Pachacútec Monument: kids love climbing the tower and stepping out onto the viewpoint, and the visit is short.
• Center for Traditional Textiles: watching the weavers work live sparks their curiosity, and admission is free.
• Centro Qosqo de Arte Nativo: music, colorful costumes and dancers, seated and indoors. Note: here children pay from age 6, because they take up a seat.
• Museo Machu Picchu: ideal before you go to the citadel, so they recognize afterward what they saw.

The Museo Inka and the Qorikancha Site Museum display mummies, which may upset younger children. During your first days at altitude, alternate short visits with rest, as our guide to Machu Picchu with kids recommends. In Aguas Calientes, the Manuel Chávez Ballón Museum makes for a quiet family afternoon.

How to fit the museums into your itinerary

You don’t need a whole day: group them by area, because almost all of them are within ten minutes’ walk of each other.

1. Cathedral and San Blas route (morning): Museo Inka, Museo de Arte Religioso and the Twelve-Angled Stone, then up to San Blas. About three hours.
2. Plaza Regocijo route (two hours): the Regional Historical Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art, on the same square.
3. Avenida El Sol route (afternoon): the Qorikancha temple and its site museum, the Center for Traditional Textiles, the Museum of Popular Art and, at dusk, the dances at the Centro Qosqo de Arte Nativo.
4. Casa Concha and Precolombino: both are a few blocks from the Plaza de Armas; the Precolombino can wait for an evening.

In our 3-, 5- and 7-day Cusco itinerary, the day devoted to the city is the best time for two or three museums in the morning, before the afternoon City Tour. If you have 7 days, the free afternoon after the South Valley is perfect for the Museo Inka or Casa Concha. More ideas for your days in the city in things to do in Cusco.

Tip: buy the Tourist Ticket on the day of your first visit, because its validity starts on the day of purchase.

Summary: which Cusco museums to visit for your situation

• You have half a day: the Museo Inka and the Museo Machu Picchu at Casa Concha, with separate tickets.
• You already have the full Tourist Ticket: add the Qorikancha Site Museum, the Regional Historical Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Museum of Popular Art, which cost you nothing extra.
• You’re into colonial art: the Museo de Arte Religioso, the Cathedral’s painting collection and the Museo de Santa Catalina.
• You’re into crafts and textiles: the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco, which is free, and the Museum of Popular Art.
• It’s raining or already dark: the Museo de Arte Precolombino, open until 10 p.m.
• You’re traveling with kids: the Pachacútec Monument, the live weavers and the dances at the Centro Qosqo.

Before you go, confirm hours and prices at each museum: they change often, and not all of them publish them online.