Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel by Dominic Hamilton

So you want to visit Machu Picchu? Experience possibly the Inca's greatest architectural and spriritual achievement? So you don't want to do it in a day-trip on the train from Cusco. Timing is everything when visiting the ruins. They are over-run (unbearably so in the high season) between the first train's arrival and the last's departure. That leaves you a window of roughly 7 am to 10.30 am, and 4 pm to 6 pm. What to do? You stay the night nearby.

Now you could plonk for the Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge. It's run by Orient Express. It's right next to the ruins. You can fall out of bed and be at the gates before the barbarians. True. But the Sanctuary Lodge boasts all the character of a telephone directory. It was a scientists' hut before being converted, and really never shakes that fact. Its new restaurant extension is a welcome addition -- it's light and breezy. But the rooms have far too much in common with rabbit hutches. And wallet-bustingly expensive rabbit hutches at that.

The alternative choice is the Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel. First the bad stuff: it's located in the sorry-excuse of a town of Aguas Calientes, where the train arrives to deposit visitors to the ruins. You therefore need to brave the hairpins of the road between the town and ruins to get there and back (about half-an-hour by bus). It also feels, initially, a bit out on a limb at one end of the town. Access is along the wonky walkway beside the train tracks.

Now the good stuff: it's stunning, stylish and ecologically-friendly. As soon as you step up away from the tracks, you really do enter a different world altogether. The grounds, lush, dripping with ferns, moss and epiphytes, and filled with orchids, have been creatively landscaped. Water rushes in channels, paths weave between the intelligently-spaced cabins. The latter are elegant and smart constructions of white plaster and stained exposed beams, with all mod-cons, and very fluffy towels.

The restaurant perches on stilts, wrapped by glass windows and terraces which give on to the roaring River Urubamba below, while the food and service is first-class. The common areas come replete with homely sofas, a book and video library and the odd artfully-placed antique.

The Pueblo Hotel is run by Inkaterra, one of Peru's most responsible and experienced operators. They also own a beautiful lodge in the jungle. They do their best to contribute to the environment and the local population. The hotel, for instance, has one of the world's largest orchid collections, and is involved in rescuing the endangered spectacled bear. They are engaged in various scientific research and conservation initiatives, and recently paid for Aguas Calientes' new square.

Oh yes, and they also have a spa. If you happen to have schlepped the Inca Trail for four high-altitude days, there is no better way to forget the aches, and remember the wonders.