Sacred Valley of the Incas, Peru

Explora Sacred Valley

Price per night from$432.00

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (USD432.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Style

Adventurer’s all-Inca-lusive

Setting

Hallowed hiking grounds

Any part of the world that’s touted for its legendary treks deserves a lodge that’s equally captivating. Fortunately, Explora Sacred Valley – a remote hacienda with roaring fires and architecturally arresting wooden walkways – does its Machu Picchu-adjacent location justice: staying here gives you access to on-site guides and a lengthy list of organised outdoor adventures. But once you’ve delighted your senses on the all-inclusive Andean feasts (for most rates), plentiful pisco sours and the property’s 17th-century manor-turned-spa sanctuary, you might be tempted to hang up your hiking boots and stay indoors for a while… 

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Facilities

Photos Explora Sacred Valley facilities

Need to know

Rooms

50, including six suites.

Check–Out

10am. Check-in is from 1pm.

Prices

Double rooms from £342.16 ($432).

More details

The all-inclusive rates include all meals, drinks, airport transfers and most guided excursions (not included with bed and breakfast rates).

Also

Before excursions, be sure to swing by the snack buffet in the lobby. There, you can grab a paper bag and fill it with fresh fruit, nuts, trail mix, chocolate bars, coca leaves (for relief from altitude sickness) and dried golden berries (your soon-to-be favourite treat).

At the hotel

Adventure gear for sale and free WiFi in common areas. In rooms: Explora bath products, robes, reusable water bottles and hot tea.

Our favourite rooms

Standard rooms here are anything but run-of-the-mill. They’re generously sized with ample storage to accommodate even the most gear-heavy hiker, and their vaulted ceilings, wall-to-wall woodwork and oversized windows with views of the surrounding mountains and cornfields make you feel like you’re one with the great outdoors even when you’re only exploring the farthest reaches of your queen-size bed.

Poolside

The pool is next to the spa, detached from the main lodge – it’s essentially a sanctuary from a sanctuary. Amblers will appreciate a late afternoon float in either the heated pool or one of the hot tubs to relieve well-trodden tootsies. There are also lounge chairs around the lido as well a mini-fridge stocked with cold beverages.

Spa

You’d be hard pressed to find a hotel that has worked as tirelessly as Explora to make sure guests get a memorable massage. The property teamed up with restoration experts and the Archaeology Institute of Peru to transform a 17th-century manor into a spa, now called the Pumacahua Bath House. The building sits on an Inca-era foundation and was once home to Mateo Pumacahua, a Peruvian independence martyr who led the Cusco Rebellion in 1814: you can meditate on all that history as you relax in a treatment room, lounge on the terrace, or steam your way to bliss.

Packing tips

The dining room and bar here will be a sea of Patagonia and North Face, so there’s no need to bring your finest duds. Instead, fill your suitcase with layers to wear on excursions – trekking pants, a fleece and windbreaker are always a good idea. The hotel has hiking poles to borrow and there’s an on-site gear shop should you forget your beloved neck gaiter.

Also

Explora isn’t particularly wheelchair accessible.

Pet‐friendly

Unfortunately, you have to leave your pets at home. But you’ll see plenty of llamas in the area, so maybe you’ll make some new four-legged friends. See more pet-friendly hotels in Sacred Valley of the Incas.

Children

Family-friendly excursions and child-carrier backpacks are available. The hotel can provide foldaway cots in rooms, as well as booster seats for drives, and there’s a children’s menu in the dining room. Staff will also be happy to heat milk or baby food.

Food and Drink

Photos Explora Sacred Valley food and drink

Top Table

Grab a table by the window so you can look at the Andes while you eat your Andean cheese.

Dress Code

Fleece on fleek.

Hotel restaurant

Dining here has been tailored by Peruvian maestro Virgilio Martínez, formerly of Central Restaurante in Lima, which has formerly won the title of best restaurant in the world for good reason. It's quite the introduction to Andean cuisine and ingredients if you're unfamiliar, and showcases the best of this biodiverse terrain in haute style. And as you’d expect, the wine list is heavily South American, with pours from the major regions in Chile and Argentina.

Hotel bar

If you’re doing it right, every excursion will end at the lobby bar with a cocktail in hand. The mixologists get inventive here with golden berry pisco sours and pineapple-and-rosemary chilcanos (pisco mixed with lime juice and ginger ale).

Last orders

Breakfast is served from 6:30am to 10:30am, lunch from 12:30pm to 3pm, and dinner from 7:30pm to 10:30pm.

Location

Photos Explora Sacred Valley location
Address
Explora Sacred Valley
Fundo Salabella-Silvayoc
Urubamba
Peru

Between Cusco and Machu Picchu, the Sacred Valley is a stretch of land at the foot of the Andes Mountains where the Inca civilisation once flourished.

Planes

The closest airport is Alejandro Velasco Astete International in Cusco, about a 90-minute drive from the hotel. If you’re visiting from abroad, you’ll most likely pass through Lima’s Jorge Chavez International – Peru’s main airport. On check-out, the hotel can arrange a shared shuttle that departs in line with flight times (lunch onsite not included). And private transfers can be arranged on request for an extra charge. (Some transfers may not be included in the bed and breakfast rate).

Trains

Ollantaytambo, about a 45-minute drive from the hotel, is the closest station. It’s also your gateway to hiking nirvana, as it’s the railway to Machu Picchu. (If you book your Machu Picchu visit through Explora, they’ll arrange the train tickets and transfers.)

Automobiles

Navigating the streets in the Sacred Valley can be more challenging than traversing the area’s ancient trails. Even the dirt road leading up to the hotel is a narrow one, so you’re better off relying on hired drivers rather than renting a car. Explora can arrange a pick-up from some hotels in Cuzco and the Sacred Valley, which usually arrive at 11am and wait for 15 minutes (return transfers after check-out leave at 10am, 12.30pm and 3pm). Private transfers can be arranged for an extra charge.

Worth getting out of bed for

The hotel’s planned-to-a-tee excursions – including guides, transfers and picnic meals (for full-day adventures) – give you more than 30 reasons alone to get out of bed. Of course, the ancient Inca citadel on everyone’s mind will be Machu Picchu, and Explora can get you there, with or without the optional two-kilometre hike to Inti Punku, or the Sun Gate (the hotel’s Machu Picchu excursions are included in your rate if you're staying for three or more nights; otherwise, there's an additional fee). Other notable treks include Moray, a half-day exploration of ringed Incan ruins that may have been part of an ancient farming experiment, Five Lagunas, a walk past several lagoons and herds of llamas and alpacas in the Andes, as well as a bike ride along the Urubamba River

Anyone in search of souvenirs will appreciate the Cusco excursion, which starts at the fortress of Saqsaywaman, where you can get a bird's eye view of the city, then winds down to the main square. Lunch is included at a local restaurant, but afterward, you’re free to wander on your own. For all manner of alpaca accoutrements (sweaters, scarves, stuffed toys), take a stroll through the stalls at the San Pedro Market. For more upscale shawls made of baby alpaca and silk, plus sweaters and coats for both men and women, visit a Kuna store (there’s one on the Plaza de Armas). If you’re a speedy shopper and still have time before meeting up with the group, take a peek inside the Museum of Pre-Columbian Art, where there are entire galleries devoted to artifacts made of shell, silver and gold. (Please note, some excursions aren't included with the hotel's bed and breakfast rate).

Reviews

Photos Explora Sacred Valley reviews

Anonymous review

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this boutique hotel in the Sacred Valley and unpacked their baby alpaca shawls and Peruvian panpipes, a full account of their adventure break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Explora Sacred Valley

It’s true that if you’re visiting this part of Peru, a certain level of acclimatisation is necessary: the Sacred Valley is 2,900 metres high, after all. Experts will tell you that the best way to beat altitude-related ailments is to take it easy, which is pretty much a prescription for a stay at Explora Sacred Valley, where taking it easy is practically an artform. Start by sliding into the jetted tub in your room – be sure you also have a mug of hot tea within reach (housekeeping will replenish your supply each day, don’t worry). Then, head to the spa and indulge in a water circuit, slowly making your way from pool to hot tub to steam room (not too fast, of course:, mellow is the name of the game). Next, it’s off to the main lodge where you can burrow under a hand-loomed Peruvian blanket next to the fire while you wait for dinner to begin. Once you get a whiff of Andean potato pie, saunter (easy does it) to a table and sit down to feast. As your epicurean adventures draw to their close, ask for extra caramel mousse on your pecan cake (doctor’s orders, more or less). And once you’ve been there a few days, it gets even better: acclimatisation technically doesn’t allow for much booze, but once you’ve fully adjusted you can throw some pisco sours into the mix. That’s where the fun really begins…

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Price per night from $432.00