Huánuco's Plaza de Armas is one of the more attractive main squares in Peru's highland cities — well-kept, lined with colonial arcades, and animated in the evenings when locals come out to walk and talk. The central gardens are immaculate, with flowering shrubs and shade trees that provide relief during the warm afternoons. The square is flanked on one side by the Cathedral of the Lord of Burgos, a 17th-century church with a relatively plain façade that conceals a more elaborate interior with colonial-era religious paintings and gilded altarpieces.
The arcades around the plaza house cafes, shops, and the occasional street vendor. Early evening is the best time to be here — the light is warm, children play in the gardens, and the temperature drops to something comfortable. The plaza is also the departure point for most local buses and the reference point for everything else in the city.