Inti Raymi and Cusco's Festivals: 2026 Calendar of Celebrations

Cusco doesn’t have one single “festival season” — it has several, spread between March and December, and each one changes the city in a different way: closed streets, fully booked hotels, higher transport prices. If your trip overlaps with one, it can be the best part of your itinerary or a logistics headache, depending on how well you plan around it. Here’s the real 2026 calendar.

2026 Festival calendar

Festival	2026 Date	What it is
Señor de los Temblores (Holy Monday)	March 30	Procession of Cusco’s sworn patron saint, with centuries of devotion dating back to the 1650 earthquake
Corpus Christi	June 4	Procession of 15 saints and virgins from different Cusco parishes toward the Cathedral
Cusco’s Jubilee Month	All of June	A month of celebrations for Cusco’s anniversary, with parades and cultural events leading up to Inti Raymi
Inti Raymi	June 24	The Festival of the Sun, the most important Inca ceremony of the year, reenacted at Sacsayhuamán
Virgen del Carmen (Paucartambo)	July 15-18 (main day: 16)	Patron saint festival with masked dances in the town of Paucartambo, 2.5 hours from Cusco
Santurantikuy	December 24	Christmas Eve crafts fair on the Plaza de Armas, one of the largest in South America

Inti Raymi: the most important festival

Inti Raymi (“Festival of the Sun” in Quechua) reenacts the Inca ceremony of giving thanks to the sun at the Andean winter solstice. Today it’s a large-scale theatrical performance with hundreds of actors, unfolding across three venues throughout the day:

1. Qorikancha (Temple of the Sun), in the morning
2. Plaza de Armas, mid-morning
3. Sacsayhuamán, the main ceremony in the afternoon — this is the most photographed moment and the one that draws the most visitors

To watch the ceremony at Sacsayhuamán, there are two options: a free standing area (arrive many hours early to get a good spot) or paid grandstand seating, which sells out weeks in advance.

How this affects your trip

• Hotels: during Inti Raymi week (and to a lesser extent during Corpus Christi), Cusco hotels raise prices and fill up. Book at least 2-3 months ahead if your trip falls in June.
• Transport within the city: the historic center closes streets for processions and parades, so transfers to and from downtown can take longer than usual on those days — build in extra time for your airport transfer if you’re traveling right around those dates.
• Flights: demand for flights to Cusco also rises in June, with higher prices than regular season.

Virgen del Carmen in Paucartambo: less known, but spectacular

Unlike Inti Raymi (built for mass tourism), the Virgen del Carmen festival in Paucartambo remains a genuinely local celebration, with far fewer foreign visitors. Troupes of masked dancers (like the “qhapaq qolla” and “saqra”) perform historical and satirical roles from the colonial era. Paucartambo is about 2.5 hours from Cusco by road — if you want to go, plan your transfer ahead, since the small town fills up with visitors during those days.

Our recommendation based on your type of trip

• You want to see something culturally unique and don’t mind crowds: travel for Inti Raymi (June 24), but book your hotel, Machu Picchu mountain tickets, and transport months in advance.
• You prefer a more authentic, less touristy experience: consider the Virgen del Carmen in Paucartambo (mid-July).
• You want to avoid crowds and high prices: avoid traveling the last week of June; the rest of the year (outside Holy Week) has much less impact on hotels and transport.

Does your trip overlap with any of these dates? Message us on WhatsApp with your exact dates and we’ll help you coordinate transport factoring in street closures and the higher demand on those days.