Machu Picchu was amazing
Peru | Dec 26 - Jan 6, 2024

Karen Lyn
Karen Lyn V.
Ashburn, VA | Reviewed on Jan 08, 2024

Lisbeth at Andean Travel was excellent. She stayed in touch every bit of the way on our journey. There were many moving parts & she managed them all beautifully. She was extremely responsive always despite the fact part of our trip took place over a holiday.

Hotel Reviews
Holiday Inn Lima Airport
Lima

Staff were lovely-room was clean-beds were comfortable.

Authenticity & Character
They start serving breakfast at 4am!!
Location
We needed to stay at the airport as we flew out very early the morning after we arrived in Peru. The free shuttle was great & proximity to the airport excellent.
Staff
Cleanliness & Comfort
Refugio Amazonas Lodge
Puerto Maldonado

Wow! The lodge is very beautiful but you should know your experience includes sleeping in a room with 3 walls-your room is completely open to the Amazon Rainforest! You must sleep under a very good mosquito net that stops all airflow and when it is hot as it was late Dec-Jan, it is really hot. The solar powered electricity is on from 4am-11pm so your fan goes off. I think they need to find a way to have small rechargeable fans inside the mosquito nets during the hot months. Speaking Spanish will enhance your experience here. I feel I missed a lot since I did not speak Spanish & our guide while lovely often could not properly convey his knowledge to us in English. Food was good & beautifully presented. Staff were very friendly. Loved the carbon neutral visit. Also be aware you have a fairly long cling with about 70-80 steps from the river to the lodge. The area is so beautiful & I did love all the sounds of the rainforest at night.

Authenticity & Character
You are one with nature with a room open to the rainforest!
Location
Staff
I think you need guides who speak better English for visitors who speak only English. The staff overall were lovely & helpful.
Cleanliness & Comfort
Everything was very clean but it was incredibly hot with no air movement once you were inside the mosquito net in the evening.
El Albergue Ollantaytambo Boutique Hotel
Cusco

Lovely hotel-great location if you are going to take the train to Machu Picchu. You are literally steps from boarding your train. You are in a gorgeous setting-flowering plants everywhere. The only thing we could have used was a ceiling fan or other fan in the room because there was no way to open your window in the evening without leaving your room open to someone coming in as the windows are low and no screens. Food in restaurant was very good.

Authenticity & Character
Lush garden setting. Bathrooms very modern. Comfy beds-nice size rooms.
Location
Right next to train station.
Staff
Super helpful. Got our laundry done there & our luggage stored while we visited Machu Picchu for an overnight stay. Collected everything when we returned. Also the Pachamanka lunch was great! Highly recommended.
Cleanliness & Comfort
El Mapi by Inkaterra
Lima

Rooms are very nice-hotel is lovely-staff are lovely. Unfortunately there is a lot of smoking happening-they have a smoking area right by the restaurant where the doors are often kept open so if you're not a smoker you were subjected to it if you sat in the bottom part of the restaurant. Also the room across from our balcony had 2 men who constantly chain smoked on their little balcony so we had smoke drifting into our room thru the open windows.

Authenticity & Character
Location
Not far from train station which was great. Lovely grounds. Comfy beds.
Staff
Cleanliness & Comfort
Very clean. Our issue was with the smoking everywhere.
Antigua Casona San Blas
Cusco

Wow!! Great hotel-great staff-gorgeous setting-delicious breakfast included with room. Food excellent at the restaurant. Cool bar & outdoor seating with firepit. I cannot stress how wonderful & helpful the staff are. I highly recommend this hotel.

Authenticity & Character
Beautiful setting.
Location
Close to ATM, pharmacy.
Staff
If there were 10 stars they would get 10!!! Really great staff.
Cleanliness & Comfort
Super clean & comfy. When we arrived, there was a pot of hot water with a wonderful tea to help you relax and sleep and they brought hot water bottles up and put them in your bed every evening so when you got into bed, you had a nice warm bed to crawl into. It felt so luxurious. If you needed coca tea, you could call at any time and they would bring it to you. I can't say enough about this hotel.
Casa Andina Premium Puno
Puno

Really lovely hotel. Just know there are no elevators & lots of steps to climb if your room is not on the first floor, and even then you would have to climb upstairs to get to the main area of the hotel. Also, you are at an extremely high altitude in Puno. Need to be aware of this, as it does become difficult to breathe for some people. Puno is a beautiful town & Lake Titicaca is gorgeous. We watched an amazing storm rolling over the lake our first night, and it was a beautiful thing to see. Good room service!!

Authenticity & Character
Location
Our room looked over Lake Titicaca-gorgeous. We had a small balcony to sit on. The room was a nice size everything was modern.
Staff
Very helpful.
Cleanliness & Comfort
Very clean and comfy.
Activity Reviews
Shared Uros & Taquile Floating Islands tour
Shared Uros & Taquile Floating Islands tour
Puno

Amazing to see the floating islands & learn about their way of life on Uros. Bonus--be sure to take your passport with you as you can get a passport stamp here. Taquile is beautiful and you have the opportunity to interact with the people who live here as you did in Uros. Nice lunch, boat was very comfortable, just know it's about an eight hour + day.

Quality of Experience
One of the best days of our trip.
Food
Lunch was delicious. You could buy snacks on Uros.
Guides, Drivers and Staff
Wonderful guide. Very informative.
Transport
Comfortable seating on the boat. Shaded. Bring a rain jacket as it rained off & on.
Titicaca Train from {{start_location}} to {{end_location}} NC
Titicaca Train from {{start_location}} to {{end_location}} NC
Peru

Luxury train ride. Delicious food, beautiful service, gorgeous scenery. The 10 hours went by much more quickly than we could have imagined.

Quality of Experience
Food
Guides, Drivers and Staff
Transport
Local specialist: Liz Karen L. Jihuallanca
Liz Karen
Liz Karen L. Jihuallanca
Local specialist in Cusco | Replied on Jan 31, 2024

Hi Karen,
Thank you very much for your great comments. I'll share this with Lisbeth, and all our guides. I'm happy to know you had such a great experience in Peru.
I wish you all the best in the future, please feel free to contact me in the future if needed.
Kind regards.
Liz.