The site is located just inland from the south coast of Perú in the Pisco River Valley about 40 km along the highway to Ayacucho known as the Via de los Libertadores, close to the town of Pisco.

The post-processed position is as follows: Northings: 8484705.386 m (± 0.8 m) Eastings: 410335.884 m (± 0.8 m) Altitude (MSL): 484.849 m (±1.8 m) UTM Zone 18 South, Datum WGS 1984.

Thanks to favorable (very dry) environmental conditions, many walls at Tambo, both internal and external, retain enough residual colored paint to accurately reconstruct what the original wall painting would have been like.

Trapezoidal niches at Tambo have one or two recesses each, likely used for the placement of important objects.

It is believed to have been used by the Incas as an administrative and control site on the main road from the coast to the highlands.