Photo: David Stanley, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
An iron bridge designed by Eiffel for the railway. It has been converted to a pedestrian/bicycle bridge. (The railway now crosses the river over a different bridge a few km to the south.) A technological jewel in Vallecito (10 blocks from main square) and a must for people who love trains and bridges. From the bridge, at golden hour (16:00-17:00), you can get some of the best pictures of the volcanoes and the city.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
Arequipa has beautiful bridges. The closest to the main square is Puente Bolognesi. Go there and visit the Tambos (ancient houses rebuilt by the city government and used as apartments). A great experience.
From May to November the main exhibit is the mummy Dama de Ampato, also known as Juanita. It is close to the main square.
A grand two-story house in Baroque-Moorish style, built in 1773 and named after an old mulberry plant on its patio. The entrance features magnificent stone carvings, and the wooden doors inside the building are also decorated in the same way. Inside the building you can see furniture and paintings by artists from the Cuzco School (Escuela Cuzqueña) from the colonial era.
The oldest market in the center of the city. It's three blocks away from the main square.
An Andean Baroque style church, finished in 1698. Like many major colonial-era buildings in Arequipa it's built out of sillar (volcanic rock) with carved façades, though the carvings on this church are some of the most impressive depicting animals, plants, and even elements of Pre-Columbian mythology. Also the side cloisters featuring stone carvings, and the decorated interior of the church are worth a view.
The main square of Arequipa, surrounded by buildings made of sillar, a white volcanic stone.