Monasterio, A Belmond Hotel

Inside, the restoration has left the bones of the building alone: stone arches, wooden balconies, a Baroque chapel, and a cloistered courtyard built around a single ancient tree. Rooms and suites are arranged off that courtyard, so the hotel stays quiet even with the centre of Cusco on the doorstep. Rooms and suites are arranged off that courtyard, so the hotel stays quiet even with the centre of Cusco on the doorstep.

The hotel keeps its own collection of colonial art, hung along the cloisters rather than shut in a gallery, so you walk past it on the way to breakfast. Dining runs across several restaurants with Andean ingredients handled seriously. The therapy suite offers aromatherapy and Thai massage, and a Bath Butler will draw something restorative after a day at altitude. The chapel and courtyard are also why the hotel takes weddings and small events, as there are few settings like them in South America.

Cusco is where almost every Machu Picchu journey begins, and Monasterio is built for that role. Most guests spend a night or two acclimatising before taking the train down to the ruins. If you would rather wake up at the site itself, Belmond Sanctuary Lodge stands at the gates of Machu Picchu. If you would rather acclimatise lower down, Belmond Hotel Rio Sagrado sits on the banks of the Urubamba in the Sacred Valley, several hundred metres below Cusco. And Belmond Palacio Nazarenas is Monasterio’s sister hotel on the same small square,
a quieter all-suite alternative a few doors away.

Beyond Cusco, the Belmond Andean Explorer crosses the altiplano by sleeper train between Cusco, Lake Titicaca and Arequipa. Most Peru itineraries also open or close in Lima, where Belmond Miraflores Park looks out over the Pacific. We put these together as one journey rather than a list of separate bookings, and the Bellini Club benefits below apply at every Belmond property in it.