Alameda de los Incas

The sequence runs from Manco Capac, the founder in Inca tradition, through to Atahualpa, who was captured and executed in this city in 1532 and 1533. Walking the line in order puts the whole dynasty in front of you and ends it where you are standing, which is a more direct way of registering what happened here than most museum displays manage.

The statues are modern civic sculpture rather than anything archaeological, and the site is honest about that; it is a promenade built to commemorate, not a ruin. Treated that way it works well, particularly as a first orientation for visitors who arrive knowing the Inca mainly through Cusco and Machu Picchu.

An hour, year-round, at 2,750 metres, on level ground with some steps. It makes most sense folded into a walk around the centre rather than as a destination in itself.

A note on the limits of this entry: the promenade is well known locally but thinly documented in the sources this guide works from, so the detail here stays to what can be stated plainly. Opening arrangements, any signage in English, and how the walkway connects to the surrounding streets are worth checking on the ground.