FEATURE CUSCO & THE SACRED VALLEY
if clients are on a tight schedule. From Aguas Calientes it’s a 20-minute
bus ride up a winding road to the entrance to Machu Picchu. Independent travellers must purchase entrance and bus tickets in Aguas Calientes, currently totalling around $50. Although a day trip from Cusco to Machu Picchu is possible, many itineraries will incorporate an overnight stay in Aguas Calientes, or in Urubamba or Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley. There is a good choice of high-end accommodation around Urubamba, while Ollantaytambo offers several small hotels and plenty of hostels. What it has over Urubamba, though, is a fine set of Inca ruins, pretty streets, a cobbled Plaza
Above left: the iconic Inca citadel of Machu Picchu; Above right: Inkaterra's La Casona Hotel in Cusco
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de Armas and homes and shops built on ancient Inca stonework. What’s more, because the road and railway part company here, there is a greater choice of train departures from Ollantaytambo’s station than there are from Cusco. Other Sacred Valley side-trips worth
recommending to clients include a trip to Pisac for its famous Sunday morning market and its Inca ruins, or to the unusual terraced salt pans at Salineras.
Room Report As the country’s tourism hotbed, much of Peru’s best-quality hotel accommo- dation is located in the Cusco and Sacred Valley region. Cookie-cutter chain hotels are few and far between and instead it’s boutique properties and sensitive conversions from colonial buildings that dominate. As well as operating the Hiram
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"As the country’s tourism hotbed, much of Peru’s best-quality hotel accommodation is in Cusco and the Sacred Valley"
Bingham train between Cusco and Machu Picchu, Orient Express has four luxury hotels in the region. The Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge stands immediately next to the site of the Inca ruins – and is the only one to do so – while the Rio Sagrado is located four kilometres from Urubamba. In Cusco it has the Hotel El Monasterio built on
Inca foundations and, due to open in 2012, the all-suite Palacio Nazarenas located between the Plaza de Armas and the trendy San Blas area. Peruvian hotel group Libertador opened the luxury Tambo del Inka hotel last summer in Urubamba. Located by the river of the same name, it was built using local stone and wood and has 128-rooms, a restaurant, bar, gym, spa, pool and private gardens. Significantly, it even has its very own station where hotel guests can board trains travelling between Cusco and Machu Picchu. The group also has a property in Cusco, the Palacio del Inka. It is set in a historic building with a colonnaded courtyard and is close to the central Plaza de Armas. The small, eco-conscious Inkaterra
group operates three hotels in the region, the Machu Picchu Pueblo
28 July/August 2011 •
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