If you’re travelling to Cusco from outside of Peru then you will almost certainly have to fly to Cusco from Lima, the capital of Peru. Virtually all international flights arrive at Lima on the west coast of Peru. Cusco is currently not an international airport so you have to get on a domestic flight from Lima.

I’ve found that quite often international flights (or at least the ones I’ve been on) have arrived at Lima quite late in the evening, so it might be necessary for you to spend a night in Lima before you fly to Cusco.

Another thing to be aware of is that flights between Lima and Cuzco are often cancelled due to strong winds.

There are several airlines that fly from Lima to Cuzco. Here is an overview:

LAN – LAN is probably the most popular and reliable airline flying to Cusco and has by far the most flights with currently around 15 flights per day in the busier periods. However LAN is not the cheapest with a return flight costing over $400 with taxes and everything. Visit www.lan.com

TACA – TACA is a popular South American airline has one flight per day between Lima and Cusco, with the flight from Lima leaving at 5.40am. However many of their prices do seem to be cheaper than LAN. Visit www.taca.com

Star Peru – Star Peru have 3 flights a day between Lima and Cusco and from my research they appear to be the cheapest option. It’s possible to get a return flight for less than $150 including taxes. www.starperu.com

Aerocondor Peru – Aerocondor apparently have 3 daily flights between Lima and Cuzco, however at the time of writing I can’t get any pricing information from their website. Visit www.aerocondor.com.pe