Colca Canyon, Peru

Puqio

Price per night from$1,291.40

Price information

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

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (USD1,291.40), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Puqio Photos

Style

Suitably high standards

Setting

Canyons and condors

Explore

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At altitude in southern Peru’s Colca Canyon, Puqio is an upscale tented camp where the blend of slow living and luxe comforts is pitch perfect. This region’s Condor-patrolled, volcanic wilds are steeped in Incan culture, and planned-to-a-tee excursions are designed to share their legacy. Back at basecamp, Peruvian dishes are whipped up with local ingredients and each of the eight rooms (some made from canvas, others from adobe) are warmed with wood-burning fireplaces and fronted by sweeping views.

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

A welcome drink on arrival, as well as early check-in and late check-out (subject to availability)

Facilities

Photos Puqio facilities

Need to know

Rooms

Eight, including two suites.

Check–Out

10am, and check-in is at 3pm. Both are flexible, on request and subject to availability.

More details

Rates include a buffet or à la carte breakfast, lunch and dinner (including alcohol and in-room snacks), as well as all group excursions and shared return transfers from Arequipa and Titilaka.

Also

Sadly the hotel’s rocky walkways and uneven terrain make it challenging for guests with limited mobility.

At the hotel

Yoga tent, herb gardens, exploration gear and bikes to borrow, laundry service and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: speaker, handheld radio, tea- and coffee-making kit, free bottled water, flashlights, yoga mat and bespoke bath products.

Our favourite rooms

Go all-out safari with the tented Carpa rooms, which each have their own outdoor bath tubs that admire the valley and its roaming wildlife. If you’d rather your walls weren’t made of canvas, bag one of the adobe-clad Pirca rooms, kitted out with a wood-burning fireplace and curved private terrace (the tubs are also indoors here, making evening trysts all the cozier).

Spa

We’ve heard word that there’s a spa in the works, but in the meantime masseurs can bring their oils to you for in-tent treatments.

Packing tips

Your best zoom lens for shooting any sightings of the sprawling Andean condor that calls this canyon home.

Also

There’s a small viewing deck connected to the hotel by one of its many walkways, where you’ll find a hot tub (and small changing room) for scenic, starlit soaks.

Children

Over-12s are welcome, but this boutique stay is better suited to adults so we’d suggest leaving teenage Smiths at home.

Sustainability efforts

Everything at Puqio has been built to merge naturally into the Colca Valley’s surrounding environment, without disrupting its ecosystems. Inside, you won’t find any single-use plastic and all the restaurant’s produce has been locally grown and sourced. You’re also encouraged to visit nearby communities to learn more about the region’s indigenous culture.

Food and Drink

Photos Puqio food and drink

Top Table

Stars are at their brightest in the Colca Canyon, so be sure to bag an alfresco spot during dinner. As temperatures drop, take tipples by the fireplace.

Dress Code

You’re welcome as you are – whether that’s straight from the garden or dressed in your best is up to you.

Hotel restaurant

Food is where Puqio thrives, and though it lacks the formality of a dedicated restaurant, its fare is some of the freshest you’ll find. Menus change daily depending on which herbs have grown highest and what produce local farmers have dropped off that morning – but whatever graces your plate, you can bet it’ll be sauted and smoked to perfection in traditional adobe ovens. Even the spreads of sourdough laid out for breakfast have been kneaded by hand with corn harvested from the valley.

Hotel bar

This bar is on wheels, and it’s more of a cart. But that doesn’t stop mixologists from rolling up tableside and getting creative with their cocktails, shaking zesty concoctions that blend local spirits and home-infused herbal syrups.

Last orders

Breakfast is served from 5.30am to 10am; lunch is noon to 3pm; afternoon tea from 4pm to 5.30pm and dinner is between 6.30pm and 10pm.

Room service

Dishes can be taken to your tent during the restaurant’s opening hours.

Location

Photos Puqio location
Address
Puqio
Yanque Valle Colca
Arequipa
04140
Peru

Puqio rests in the undulating contours of the Colca Canyon in southern Peru, storied for its picturesque valleys, Incan heritage and resident Andean condors.

Planes

The closest international airport is Alfredo Rodriguez Ballon in the city of Arequipa. From there, the hotel is a three-hour drive north along the edge of the Salinas y Aguada Blanca National Reserve. Shared transfers are included in rates, and private transfers can be arranged for an additional charge.

Trains

If you’re traveling around Peru, Belmond’s Andean Explorer train has overnight routes that connect Cusco and Puno with a stop at Cañahuas, where staff can arrange for a car to drive you the final 90 minutes to Puqio.

Automobiles

Guides will happily drive you around Colca Canyon to its small surrounding villages, but if you’re hoping to explore further afield then you’ll need a set of wheels. Arequipa’s airport has plenty of places to pick up a rental, and there’s free 24-hour parking at the hotel.

Worth getting out of bed for

Everything will be planned down to the last detail at Puqio, with a roster of rotating excursions headed by knowledgeable guides and held in small groups (if you’d prefer something more intimate, private activities can be arranged for an extra charge). Wildlife wanderers can spend mornings cooing at the Andean condors, famed for their nine-inch wingspans, from the Colca Canyon’s viewing points – one of which is set in the Chimpa Fortress, a pre-Inca castle that sits 3,262 meters above sea level. Hike or horse ride up to the Q’Oriwayra Viewpoint, where sweeping vistas admire the region’s undulating valleys and tributaries; or take in its after-dark starscape from the Colca River Observatory.

Acclimatizing to the altitude here can take a few days, but there’s still plenty to do for those who would rather not hit the higher elevations. Head to one of the surrounding villages – Yanque and Chivay are your closest – to explore their historic charm and visit local artisans. A clutch of healing hot springs rests just below the hotel if you’d rather some solace, and there are frequent trips to the Uyo Uyo archaeological site for those looking to learn more about Incan culture. Staff can also set up picnics around the valley, take you on laidback botanical walks through the gardens and arrange yoga classes.

Reviews

Photos Puqio reviews

Anonymous review

By Mr & Mrs Smith

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 scene-stealing hotel in southern Peru and unpacked their binoculars and bird feathers, a full account of their outdoorsy break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Puqio in the Colca Canyon…

It’s a three-hour drive through the colonial streets of buzzing Arequipa city and over the border of the vicuña-dotted Salinas y Aguada Blanca National Reserve before you’ll descend into the often overlooked Colca Canyon. But once you’ve passed its untouched Incan towns and shifting landscapes, you’ll find Puqio – an eight-room camp hidden among southern Peru’s lost-to-time valley. Canvas tents make up most rooms here (curved adobe houses, the rest); but they aren’t your usual pitch-and-pin types, as each has its own canyon-surveying terrace (with an outdoor soaking tub) and cozy king-size bed, warmed each night with a perfectly placed hot water bottle. But the true beauty is in the surroundings, and thankfully experienced guides await to take you up to the highest viewing points, around volcanic plains, through ancient ruins and down to local Andean villages, where local artisans revel in teaching visitors their traditional weaving ways. Just be back in time for tea – dishes are as fresh as they are flavorful, and served under the stars.

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Price per night from $1,174.00

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