Belmond Palacio Nazarenas

Belmond Palacio Nazarenas has a beguiling setting in a restored 16th-century conquistador's mansion that also served as a convent and orphanage. The hotel is rich with Peruvian history and character; it retains the Romanesque-style entrance sculpture, wooden hinged front doors, and much of the Incan stonework of the original mansion. The superbly detailed interiors are filled with colonial-era frescoes, carved-wood furnishings, and Incan artifacts. There's a distinctly romantic and refined atmosphere here, in part due to the hotel's arrangement around seven cloistered, quiet courtyards with flowers, plants, and Incan water channels. The Belmond draws well-heeled travelers, mostly couples, to its historic and elegant ambience, spacious luxury suites, outdoor pool, and central Cusco location. 

Belmond Palacio Nazarenas is in a good central location in Cusco on the small Plazoleta de las Nazarenas square. The hotel is across the square from the Museum of Pre-Colombian Art, which showcases ancient Peruvian pottery, gold, and jewelry. Numerous restaurants, bars, and shops are a short walk from the hotel. The Plaza de Armas is the city's central square and a hub of activity -- it's three minutes away on foot. The 16th-century Cusco Cathedral is also located on the plaza. Qurikancha (the Temple of the Sun) was considered the most important temple of the Inca Empire and is a little over a five-minute walk from the Belmond. Wanchaq Station is a 10-minute drive, while Poroy Station (the departure point for Machu Picchu) is a little under 30 minutes away by car. Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport is a 25-minute drive from the hotel.

This hotel's suites have a luxurious, but restrained, aesthetic and feature Incan and Spanish colonial decorative elements, Persian rugs, and fine wood furnishings. Some feature Inca stonework and hand-painted frescoes, and many have four-poster beds with hand-embroidered silk coverlets. The color palette is a pleasing one of rose pink, gold, blue, and brown. Some have balconies with views of the Cusco rooftops and mountains, and each suite features air-conditioning that can be enriched with oxygen to help combat Cusco's altitude. All come with free overnight shoeshines, minibars, espresso machines, electric kettles for instant coffee and tea, stereos, iPads loaded with a city guide, free Wi-Fi, and flat-screen TVs. One of the nicer perks are the 24-hour personal butlers who can do everything from unpack luggage to give lessons on making pisco sours from the suite's private bars. The spacious and stylish bathrooms are clad in Peruvian marble and have heated floors, silk and cotton robes, separate rainfall showers and deep soaking tubs, premium bath products, and "soap butlers" with a choice of specially scented soaps. All suites and public spaces at the hotel are non-smoking. 

In line with their fine rooms, features are quite a bit nicer than most Cusco hotels, even other luxury properties. One of the highlights is an outdoor pool, billed as Cusco's first outdoor heated swimming pool, and while it isn't huge, it's a great feature in a city where few hotels have pools. The poolside service includes cocktails, South American wines, and light fare. A fruit and vegetable cart is also available poolside for salads and fresh-made juices. The on-site spa is reportedly the only fully oxygenated spa in the world, and it features massages and aromatherapies using Andean salts, herbs, and coca leaves. Some of the treatment rooms have glass floors to provide views of the preserved Inca ruins underneath the hotel. One treatment room has a private hot tub. The hotel has no fitness center, but it does offer free thrice-weekly yoga classes and free twice-weekly dancing lessons. A high-quality buffet and a la carte breakfast is available for a fee and includes a good range of hot and cold items. Breakfast can be enjoyed poolside. The restaurant also serves locally sourced, contemporary Andean cuisine for lunch and dinner. There are free pisco tastings, an afternoon tea, Peruvian cooking classes, a library, snooker table, public computer, boutique gift shop, and guest lounge situated in a preserved chapel. The hotel has no on-site parking but nearby parking is available for a fee.