• Plaza de Armas
• Bars&Restaurants
• Monastery
• Cathedral
• Tourist Office
• Tour Operators
• Artisan Vendors

• Note about Safety
• Taxi&Commissions
• Pick up Service
• By Taxi
• By Foot
• By Bus from Terminal
• By Bus from Airport

At four blocks from the Plaza de Armas, 1 block from the Monastery and 250 meters from the main bar and restaurant and club strip on Av. San Francisco La Posada del Cacique is perfectly located for you to conveniently enjoy the charm and beauty of 'La Ciudad Blanca' Arequipa. All the Tour operators, the cathedral, a few other churches, the tourist office as well as most Artisan Crafts vendors are within easy walking distance.

Arequipa generally is a safe city, especially in the touristy center. There are a few things to be careful about though. Outside of the touristy center things are less safe, especially at night. Pickpocketing and Bag slashing can occur in crowded places like markets and buses.

Special care has to be taken with Taxi's at night. There have been rare kidnappings and robberies of tourists with fake taxis. The general consensus is that it is gangs from Lima that come to Arequipa as the robberies generally happen in bursts.

It's safest to have the bar/restaurant you are at call you a taxi after nightfall. You'll pay 50 centavos or a sol more. Or if you insist on flaging down your own taxi, try to get one that has a fluorescent sign on top that is NOT an advertisement for something else, but for the taxi company itself.

Arequipa tourism is ruled by commissions. Every taxi driver that brings a tourist to a hostel or hotel receives a substantial commission ranging from 5 to 12 Soles per tourist. (And yes that means if he brings 4 tourist he will get up to 48 Soles of commission, compared to the 3-4 Soles he will get from the taxi fare.)

As a result most taxi drivers are more interested to bring you to the Hostel that pays them the highest commission (whether that one is safe or not isn't much of a concern to some of the taxi drivers, though not all) than to the Hostel you want to go to. As such they will tell you any number of crazy stories about how dangerous the Hostel you want to go to is, or how it has been closed, or is dirty or full.

None of that is true in the case of La Posada del Cacique. They are just trying to maximise their commission as our commission is good but not the highest.

If you don't want to partake in this whole commission business, either tell us ahead of time when you are arriving at the terminal from where with what bus company and we will come and pick you up. Or tell the taxi driver to either drop you off at the Plaza de Armas and walk the 4 blocks to the Hostel. Or shorter and easier, tell him to drive down Avenida Ayacucho and turn left on Avenida Santa Catalina. After 50-100m tell him to drop you off and walk back the 50-100m. La Posada del Cacique will be right there, 40 meters up Av. Puente Grau on the other side of the street.

If you tell us a day ahead of time when you will be arriving from where and with what company and what class of bus, we can pick you up at the Bus Terminal. You'll only have to pay the taxi from the Terminal to the Hostel which will be 3 to 3.5 Soles. We will pay for our fare from the Hostal to the Terminal to pick you up.

A taxi from the terminal to the Hostel shouldn't cost you more than 3.50 soles. You might be able to haggle a taxi driver down to drive you to the Plaza de Armas for 2.50 Soles and walk the four blocks from there up Av. Santa Catalina to La Posada del Cacique (See By Foot Section).

A taxi from the Airport shouldn't cost you more than 12 Soles.

To get to La Posada del Cacique tell your driver to go to Avenida Puente Grau 219. The best way to get to that address is for the taxi driver to drive down Avenida Ayacucho which turns into Av. Puente Grau. The Hostel is on the right side, 40 meters before the intersection with Av. Santa Catalina.

If your spanish is good enough, telling your taxi driver to take that route is a good idea. It will help him to find the Hostel faster and your apparent knowledge about the route might minimize his insistance to take you to another Hostel that pays him higher commissions (See Commissions Section).

By far the easiest, but not always fastest way to get to La Posada del Cacique is to ask for directions to Plaza de Armas. The main square of center Arequipa. From there walk down Avenida Santa Catalina for four blocks passing the monastery on the way. Until you come to the intersection with Avenida Puente Grau.

Once at the intersection, La Posada del Cacique will be 40 meters up Avenida Puente Grau on the other side of the road. Right to the right of a Locutorio&Internet Cafe.

Buses from the terminal are crowded, small, a bit notorious for thieves and bag slashers. So it might be a better idea to just swing the 3 to 3.5 Soles to get to the Hostel fast and easy by taxi.

This is not a very safe nor practical thing to do the way buses are organized in Arequipa and the Airport. Better just get yourself a taxi and pay the fare that shouldn't be more than 12 Soles.