Any interesting alternatives to Monasterio?
 

My husband and I are going to Cusco in late September. I keep hearing about the Monasterio and it does look lovely. However, we tend to like smaller, more boutique type hotels. Any suggestions of an alternative?

Thanks
Taitai

The Monasterio is beautiful and definitely worth a visit, but the rooms were $400+ a night. We enjoyed our stay at Casa San Blas for a mere $135 a night. http://www.casasanblas.com/ The web page accurately shows the hotel. The staff is wonderful. We stayed in a suite apartment. The suite is 2 levels and the upstairs had a huge window with a great view over Cusco. The hotel is about 5-10 minutes walk to the Plaza...it's uphill on the return.

We did eat at the Monasterio and they had great food and drinks - fabulous pisco sours.

Enjoy Peru!

Monastario is not very big (little more than 100 rooms) and absolutely stunning. Plus, the oxygenated rooms really help.

We stayed at the Plaza de Armas hotel in Cuzco, right in the Plaza. It was a great location, right in the middle of all the action, close to some great resteraunts. They include a breakfast and was around $60 USD per night. We also stayed at the sister property of the Monasterio, the Santuary at Machu. It was $950 USD per night, for three of us, and included all meals. The rooms were nice, but you were just paying for the luxury of staying on Machu. If I were you and wanting to splurge, I would do so on the Santuary and not the Monasterio. But these hotels are small and book up months in advance. Have a great time.

Personally, I'd do the opposite. Monasterio is fabulous with great food. I think Santuary is mediocre and not worth the money. I'd spend the money you save not staying at Monasterio on the Hiram Bingham train instead.

Sorry, I meant not staying at Sanctuary.

Also, I'd definitely spend the night in the Sacred Valley. Sol y Luna or the Libertador are both great. You can then take the shorter train from Ollaytaytambo to MP.

Thanks for all the replies. In the end, we decided on the Inkaterra, Sol y Luna and Ninos. I know Ninos is a two or three star and not luxe by any standard but it has only gotten favorable reviews and we are quite taken with the mission and so we opted to do that instead of the Monasterio.

I appreciate the suggestions.

Taitai