Cusco: former capital of the once mighty Inca Empire; a place of elegant Spanish colonial architecture built atop sturdy pre-Columbian foundations; gateway to Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley. And, it just so happens, a really great place for a bar crawl.
Yep, apart from all that other stuff, Cusco is a fun city for a drink or two. The historic center of Cusco is bursting with locals and foreigners—the latter representing every vacationing mindset from shoestring backpackers to high-rolling luxury tourists—and many of them end up in the bars (surprise, surprise), especially on the weekend.
Unfortunately, altitude and alcohol aren’t a great combination—and Cusco sits 11,200 feet above sea level. At this elevation, altitude sickness becomes a genuine concern, so you need to acclimatize. Don’t venture out on an epic bar crawl on your first night in town. Take it easy for at least 24 hours after you arrive in Cusco, giving your body some time to adapt.
Love and rohypnol are two other potential perils in Cusco’s bars and clubs. Before you fall in love with a local after five pisco sours, be aware of the brichera (female) and brichero (male). These amorous but amoral figures target foreign tourists with the aim of capturing their hearts before draining their bank accounts. As for rohypnol, it’s one of the preferred weapons of the pepera, the name given to the skilled drink spiker who targets wealthy-looking tourists to drug and then rob.
Suitably forewarned, it’s time for a bar crawl …
Tony Dunnell is a freelance writer living and traveling in Peru since 2009.
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La Cusqueñita
La Cusqueñita is a restaurant rather than a bar, but it's a fine place to start drinking in Cusco. Pull up a chair, order a large glass of chicha de jora and a plate of pork chicharrónes, and enjoy one of the colorful traditional dances that take place from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Chicha de jora is the classic corn beer of the Peruvian highlands. If you head to some of the more isolated rural communities in the Cusco region, you can still find chicha made in the most traditional manner, in which the corn is first chewed and spat out before beginning the fermentation process. You'll find no such methods at La Cusqueñita, which serves some of the best (and most risk-free) chicha de jora in town. If you don't mind damaging your hardcore drinking reputation, order a pink-hued chicha de jora frutillada, which is regular chicha blended with local strawberries—not so great for the bad boy image, but really rather tasty.
There are two La Cusqueñita restaurants in Cusco, one out near the Zenith Brewery (more on that in a second) and one more centrally located on Av. Tullumayo.
Photo by Tony Dunnell
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Zenith Brewery
If it's after 5 p.m. on a Friday or Saturday, jump in a taxi for the short ride to the Zenith Brewery. Here you'll find a small taproom run by Australian expat Zac Lanham and his Peruvian wife Milka Sotomayor. Zenith is one of the new craft breweries that have been popping up across Peru in the last five years. Its beers—which include a pale ale, a brown ale and a porter with quinoa—are top class.
You'll find Zenith beers on tap in a few bars in Cusco, but there's nothing better than having a pint at the source and chatting with the brewer. The tasting room normally has at least two or three styles of beer on draft, with an occasional seasonal special or guest beer.
Photo by Cerveza Zenith
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Cholos Taproom and Beer Garden
Now that you've got the taste for Peruvian beer, head back to the historic center of Cusco and settle down at Cholos, a cozy bar and beer garden tucked away behind a quiet courtyard. With a bunch of different ale options on tap and plenty of bottles from Cusco and the rest of Peru, Cholos is required crawling for any drinker with a penchant for craft beers.
Draft beers at Cholos often include a handful of regional ales from local breweries in Cusco and the Sacred Valley, such as Zenith and Cerveceria del Valle Sagrado (Sacred Valley Brewing Company). With the bottled beers you can go further afield, including Barbarian, Magdalena and Nuevo Mundo from Lima; and Sierra Andina from Huaraz. If you're a cider drinker, keep an eye out for the soon-to-be-renamed Crazy Llama cider, made by an English expat in Arequipa. It's just about the only cider made in Peru.
Photo by Cholos Tap Room and Beer Garden
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Paddy's Irish Pub
Paddy's Irish Pub is the self-proclaimed "highest Irish-owned pub in the world"—and considering Cusco's altitude, that could very well be true. Opened in 1996 and overlooking the historic Plaza de Armas, it's the go-to pub for tourists. It's a gringo bar, for sure, but it has enough charm and quirky décor to keep most travelers happy, even those who came to Peru to hang out with actual Peruvians.
Along with Guinness (bottled, not draft—they had issues with the kegs, apparently), you'll also find a few non-Peruvian classics on the menu: shepherd's pie, curry, nachos and a full Irish (English?) breakfast. Paddy's is also the place to go for live Premier League football, international rugby matches and American football (get there early for big games or you won't find a seat).
Photo by Tony Dunnell
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Norton Rat's Tavern
Just a few steps away from Paddy's Pub and also overlooking Plaza de Armas is Norton Rat's Tavern. In contrast to Paddy's Irish pub aesthetic, Norton Rat's is more like a U.S. biker bar (with slightly cheaper prices, too). It's an open space with plenty of tables, a long central bar, a pool table, dart boards, motorcycle memorabilia and flags covering just about every inch of the ceiling.
Day or night, Norton Rat's is a great place to drink a bottle of Cusqueña or a pint of Zenith on one of the balconies overlooking the square. It's also a good spot to meet other foreign tourists, expats and a fair amount of locals, especially on the weekend.
Photo by Tony Dunnell
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Té Macho II Video Pub
We doubt many people recommend Te Macho II Video Pub to tourists in Cusco. But they should, and we do. It might be a little strange, but this second-floor bar, located on the same colonial courtyard as the super-cheap but altogether excellent Hostal Royal Frankenstein, is a fine addition to any Cusco bar crawl, especially five bars in.
Dimly lit apart from a few neon lights and decorated with goblins, goblin-like caricatures of The Rolling Stones and what look like leprechauns, Te Macho is a local hangout where young Peruvians sit around listening to music while drinking jugs of warm alcoholic tea known as té macho. "Macho tea" may sound like an oxymoron, but not in Cusco where locals like to drink this mix of black tea, cinnamon, cloves, sugar, lime juice and pisco brandy.
To recap: alcoholic tea, goblins, colonial courtyard, young Peruvians and The Rolling Stones just upstairs from the Frankenstein Hostel. How could we not recommend it?
Photo by Tony Dunnell
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La Chupiteria Shot Bar
By now you should be feeling nicely lubricated, so it's probably time for some shots. La Chupiteria Shot Bar is a small place with a big atmosphere: the kind of bar in which normally reserved backpackers find themselves dancing on tabletops dressed in nothing but a few skimpy items of colorful Andean knitwear.
A tempting—perhaps terrifying—selection of shots at La Chupiteria helps fuel this revelry, along with the friendly bar staff and its alcohol-related gimmickry. Want to do a bunch of shots together? Shout for the shotski—a ski with four shot-bearing holes allowing (well, forcing) four people to down shots in unison. Need enough booze for the whole table? Order a cocktail-filled teapot.
The funky lights and friendly faces inside La Chupiteria might be getting a bit blurry by now, so maybe it's a sensible place to end the bar crawl. After all, you have to get up at 4 a.m. to hike to Machu Picchu.
Photo by Tony Dunnell