Hotel Monasterio, Cuzco, Peru

The Monasterio provides a haven of grace and calm in the heart of historic Cuzco. Secluded peacefully just a stone’s throw from the frenetic main square, the Monasterio’s elegant cloisters are built around a stone fountain and 300-year-old cedar tree – a world apart from the backpackers that dominate so much of the ancient capital of the Incas. Transformed from the palace of Inca Amaru Qhata and a 16th century Catholic seminary, the Monasterio retains a rich, colonial renaissance style. The background hum of Gregorian chant and splendidly ornate Baroque chapel (now the conference room, although masses and weddings are still held) evoke the religious past. Regular tours help visitors appreciate the magnificent paintings from the 17th/18th century Cuzquenian School that hang in the cloisters and public rooms.

The rooms:
You walk along airy, cloistered corridors decorated with huge paintings to reach the Monasterio’s 100 plus rooms and almost 20 suites. While the cloisters and art are suggestive of monks and old masters, the guest rooms do their best to preserve the palatial phase of the Monasterio’s evolution. Rooms are decorated with plush furnishings in rich shades of gold, which are perfectly set off by the religious paintings that embellish even the guest rooms. All rooms feature direct dial telephone, mini-bar, cable TV and electronic safes, and many have balconies. The polished bathrooms are of similar high quality and boast a range of Molton Brown toiletries and that rare luxury in the Andes – a bath. To bathe in total luxury, the hotel can even arrange a “Bath butler” – where you soak amongst candles, natural salts, flowers and coca leaves.

The most remarkable feature of the Monasterio’s rooms is the oxygen enrichment facility. On request in 50 of the rooms, additional oxygen will flow through the ventilation system to help your body build up an oxygen reserve to combat any adverse symptoms that can affect visitors at Cuzco’s 3,300m altitude.