Monasterio, A Belmond Hotel, Cusco

Monasterio sits in Cusco's Centro Histórico, occupying a baroque monastery founded in 1595 on the foundations of an Inca palace — the original stonework is still visible in the walls. The hotel is twenty minutes by road from Alejandro Velasco Astete Airport, and the central square is on the doorstep.

The building holds ninety-seven rooms and twenty suites arranged around cloistered courtyards. Because Cusco sits at high altitude, many suites and some rooms can be enriched with supplemental oxygen to help with acclimatisation; the suites range from thirty-one to seventy-one square metres. Rooms vary in size and character — each is distinct, and the décor draws on the hotel's collection of Cusco School art, a tradition of colonial-era Andean religious painting that fills the corridors and chapels.

At the centre of the main courtyard stands a three-hundred-year-old Andean cedar, said to be the last of its kind in Cusco. An ornate baroque chapel within the walls is available for ceremonies.

The two restaurants take different approaches: Oqre, in the cloisters overlooking the courtyard, serves Peruvian cooking built around native potatoes, paiche fish, loche squash, and Peruvian lamb; El Tupay is an international fine-dining room set under stone arches with live opera. The Oqre Bar is in the lobby. Cooking classes and an Andean spirits tasting are among the additional dining experiences offered.

For onward travel, Poroy train station — the departure point for trains toward Machu Picchu — is forty minutes by road.