Canteras de Sillar
Canteras de Sillar
4.5
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Monday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Tuesday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Wednesday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Thursday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Friday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Saturday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Sunday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Tours & experiences
Explore different ways to experience this place.
Full view
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
Top ways to experience Canteras de Sillar
The area
Best nearby
We rank these restaurants and attractions by balancing reviews from our members with how close they are to this location.
Restaurants
42 within 3 miles
Attractions
67 within 6 miles
Contribute
Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
Popular mentions
We perform checks on reviews.
Tripadvisor’s approach to reviews
Before posting, each Tripadvisor review goes through an automated tracking system, which collects information, answering the following questions: how, what, where and when. If the system detects something that potentially contradicts our community guidelines, the review is not published.
When the system detects a problem, a review may be automatically rejected, sent to the reviewer for validation, or manually reviewed by our team of content specialists, who work 24/7 to maintain the quality of the reviews on our site.
Our team checks each review posted on the site disputed by our community as not meeting our community guidelines.
Learn more about our review moderation.
4.5
134 reviews
Excellent
71
Very good
46
Average
12
Poor
2
Terrible
3
willem s
New York Mills, NY5 contributions
Apr 2014 • Couples
We loved this visit away from the turistic crowd. It explains a lot about the splendid constructions of Arequipa and it s also interesting to see the suburbs, where the "real" peruvians live and work. I recommand it for people who have time and want to see impressive landscapes.
Written 28 April 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
katharinagood2015
Lima, Peru15 contributions
Mar 2018 • Couples
The entire tour takes about 5 hours. You can reserve it in any of the local tourist shops. After a 30min ride you arrive in an open quarry (5 soles entry fee) where local craftsmen can show you their art. It’s an amazing place and a little known great history of how generations of families extract the “sillar” stone (a volcanic stone unique to Peru) to build most of Arequipa’s buildings (including the majestic Cathedral). The quarry includes impressive cavings into the white stone that may remind you a bit of the (much more extensive) Petra city. The site is not yet very well known so there were few tourists (even though it was Semana Santa).
The friendly and informative local craftsman even allowed us to break up a stone ourselves!
Make sure the tour includes the second untouched quarry (called ‘culebrillas’) where you can walk 15min through a reddish, narrow canyon and see a few petroglyphs.
It’s hot and dusty, wear comfortable clothes/shoes and hats/sunglasses. It’s also in the middle of nowhere so don’t expect facilities and take water/snacks.
The friendly and informative local craftsman even allowed us to break up a stone ourselves!
Make sure the tour includes the second untouched quarry (called ‘culebrillas’) where you can walk 15min through a reddish, narrow canyon and see a few petroglyphs.
It’s hot and dusty, wear comfortable clothes/shoes and hats/sunglasses. It’s also in the middle of nowhere so don’t expect facilities and take water/snacks.
Written 31 March 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Robert D
Heers, Belgium176 contributions
Sept 2016 • Friends
This is certainly worth a stopover.
You cannot drive yourself. You need a guide.
Once there, people are working to cut / carve blocks out of a huge rock BY hand.
They have tools like hammer, chisel and a iron bar but it must be done by hand in open air. They use a iron mold/template to determine the size of the block.
They cut it first roughly with hammer and chisel. Finally, they use the iron bar to finalise the block.
Some of them have a kind of "cloth" above them against the sun. But even then it has very warm /hot. The sun reflects constantly on the white stones/ blocks.
It is hard work. they make about 10-15 blocks a day.
As soon as they have enough blocks they sell it to people who , them selves, sell it on the street market.
You cannot drive yourself. You need a guide.
Once there, people are working to cut / carve blocks out of a huge rock BY hand.
They have tools like hammer, chisel and a iron bar but it must be done by hand in open air. They use a iron mold/template to determine the size of the block.
They cut it first roughly with hammer and chisel. Finally, they use the iron bar to finalise the block.
Some of them have a kind of "cloth" above them against the sun. But even then it has very warm /hot. The sun reflects constantly on the white stones/ blocks.
It is hard work. they make about 10-15 blocks a day.
As soon as they have enough blocks they sell it to people who , them selves, sell it on the street market.
Written 17 October 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
lionclimbers
Victoria, Canada58 contributions
Jan 2020 • Family
Unless you really like volcanic rock quarries, you might skip this. The only real attraction is the cliff wall carving, which is a recent work, definitely not ancient. The rest of quarry is part touristy part dusty workplace. V diff to find on our own
Written 5 January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
TraceyMH
Toronto, Canada466 contributions
Sept 2019
We were a bit surprised by being taken to a quarry..but were fascinated afterwards and so glad we went . The volcanic makeup of the area is silica so the volcanic stone is white. Men have been making white blocks for hundreds of years and you see the buildings in the city all made of this volcanic stone..hence the name “the white city”. There are a couple of carvings in the side of the quarry which are cool (Petra-ish), the highlight was a demonstration by one of the men who makes the blocks by hand with very rudimentary tools. We even got to try cracking a block! The amount of work involved and skill is impressive.
NOTE. WEAR LONG PANTS AND LONG SLEEVE SHIRTS and bug spray...there are little flies that you don’t see and they bite..we left with tons of very itchy bites!
NOTE. WEAR LONG PANTS AND LONG SLEEVE SHIRTS and bug spray...there are little flies that you don’t see and they bite..we left with tons of very itchy bites!
Written 7 October 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Crackerjack1954
New Jersey188 contributions
Aug 2015 • Couples
This was a actually a highlight for us since our son is a geologist. Don't attempt this on your own as the roads there are terrible but our guide took us and having him was a real benefit to us. He translated for us when the man who was climbing the quarry wall and bringing down rocks and cutting them into bricks was explaining what he does. The dangerous work and the skill involved made us appreciate how hard it is to make a living in Peru. Everyone works so hard. But this was actually a beautiful place as photos show. But don't expect a tour there, it is what it is. If you have no interest in Geology, don't go.
Written 6 September 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
טל ברלוי
Ramat Gan, Israel3 contributions
May 2022 • Family
Tourist trap. Just sold a stone that made the sculptures created a few years ago. Not an ancient place............................................
...
...
Written 16 May 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Shawnee G
Missouri9 contributions
Jan 2022
We booked the tour in a travel agency near Santa Catalina Convent and it was very good price 30 soles each and lasted 4 hours, our guide Patricia was outstanding really knowledgeable and friendly , she made this experiece enjoyable and provided insight information
Written 20 January 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Nac087
6 contributions
Jun 2019 • Couples
Not sure why this place has such great reviews. We paid 50 soles as part of a tour. There’s really only two carvings to see here and that’s it, you get 15 min to look at the carvings, watch one of the workers break a stone and leave. Unless you are obsessed with rock quarries, I would skip this and save your money.
Written 2 June 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Filipe D
100 contributions
Oct 2016 • Solo
Nice place to know how did the origin of the stones that make up the structure of the city of Arequipa
Written 20 October 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hola te queria preguntar si sabes como llegar alli desde arequipa y cuanto es el costo y tiempo de recorrido gracias.
Written 24 February 2017
Como llego a las Canteras? Saben de algun tour? Gracias :)
Written 13 November 2016
en Facebook busca al fanpage Ruta del Sillar, son los encargados de realizar salidas y te brindan info de agencias que lo hacen.
Written 12 December 2016
Showing results 1-4 of 4
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
Is this your Tripadvisor listing?
Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.
Claim your listing