Santa Catalina Monastery

Santa Catalina Monastery is the single sight that most visitors to Arequipa put at the top of the list, and it earns the place. Founded in the sixteenth century and sealed off from the city for almost four hundred years, it is less a building than a small town: a walled citadel of roughly twenty thousand square metres in the middle of the historic centre, laid out as streets, squares, cloisters, kitchens, a laundry and a chapel, all built from pale sillar volcanic stone and painted in deep blue, burnt orange and whitewash. Walk through the single entrance on Calle Santa Catalina and the noise of the traffic stops almost at once, replaced by the sound of water in a stone channel and the creak of old wooden doors.

The convent was founded in 1579 by a wealthy widow, and for centuries it took in the daughters of the Spanish colonial elite, who arrived with servants, furniture and a dowry and lived in private apartments rather than bare cells. The lanes inside are named after Spanish cities, so you stroll along Calle Toledo, Calle Sevilla and Calle Granada, each lined with small houses that have their own kitchens and patios. Life here was closer to a gated village than to the austere image most people have of a convent, and the guides are good at explaining the contrasts between the ordinary sisters, the wealthy ones and the servants who lived on the edge of the complex.

The convent opened its doors to the public in the 1970s after a long period of strict enclosure, and a small community of nuns still lives in a separate, private part of the site.The highlights reward a slow pace. The Orange Cloister, with its old trees and painted arcades, is the most photographed corner, and the communal laundry has a row of huge terracotta jars cut in half and fed by a channel of running water.

Passages of deep blue lead to the Plaza Zocodover, a square with a central fountain, and the art gallery holds colonial paintings of the Cusco school.

Plan on about two hours inside if you go with a guide, longer if you like photography or reading the small interpretive signs. Cafes inside sell coffee and cake, and the courtyards are a pleasant place to sit if the altitude, at about 2,300 metres, catches you out on your first day.Because the monastery is such a popular stop, the sensible way to enjoy it is to avoid the middle of the day when tour groups cluster.

Early morning is the quietest, while late afternoon light turns the sillar warm and gives the blue walls their best colour. Opening hours include some evening sessions on set days when the site is lit by candles and lanterns, a different and very atmospheric way to see it, so check the schedule when you book.

The tour linked here combines the monastery with a guided look at the surrounding historic centre, which suits first-timers who want context as well as entry, and it is easy to continue on foot to the Plaza de Armas afterwards.A last practical point: the monastery is one of the city busiest paid sights, so treat it as a morning anchor rather than a quick stop. Pair it with a coffee in one of the interior cafes, and leave time to sit in a courtyard and simply listen. The quiet is the point of the place.