Cuzco
Peru


The Experience

The trick to converting a 16th-century Spanish monastery into a hotel is finding a way to keep its bones intact while injecting a bit of indulgence. Hotel Monasterio has been managing this feat since 1995, conserving the original structure -- and even adjoining a nearby fully operational convent chapel, La Capilla de San Antonio Abad (which now holds both masses and meetings), while fully renovating the rooms.

The Rooms

Since the architecture is essentially the same now as it was 400 years ago, none of the guest rooms is identical. They range from tiny to huge, and from dimly lit to flooded with natural light. The best are the 12 junior suites with mezzanine-level sleeping quarters and romantic views over Cuzco's rooftops. Whatever their size and aspect, all the rooms share a modernized Spanish colonial decor, with rich dark woods, soft linens, marble baths and other modern conveniences its original residents would never have known, such as fax machines and Internet access, and the most necessary feature for guests unaccustomed to the 11,000-foot altitude: piped-in oxygen.

The Service

The top-hatted doormen are startling just two blocks from the busy Plaza des Armas -- the main square where backpackers, students, craft-hawkers and urchins congregate. But they herald a sanctuary for those who want to trade the town's hubbub for the hushed inner sanctum of the hotel -- a place where a surfeit of staff hands you coca tea (for altitude sickness), checks you in early to your room (most guests arrive on red-eye flights) and plans any flavor of activity, from horseback riding to helicopter tours to hiking the famed Inca trail.

The Highlights

Orient-Express has a bit of a luxury monopoly on the Inca trail; travelers often use the Monasterio and its sister property, the Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge, as bookends, starting here in Cuzco, then taking the Hiram Bingham train on the switchback route to Machu Picchu. But before you embark on any adventures, delve into Peruvian cuisine (sautéed alpaca, purple corn pudding) at Monasterio's restaurant, Illariy (where you can also play it safe with Provençal-style chicken or Thai beef), while drinking in its history overlooking the serene inner courtyard.

-- Andrea Bennett

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