Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel

I am giving this hotel a five star rating since it met my specific requirements. I wanted to visit a cloud forest after hiking the Inca Trail. I also wanted to see some hummingbirds and perhaps the Cock of the Rock. The specific lodge I had in mind required a very long drive. I then realised that the Inkaterra has a 5ha cloud forest and booked for one night after we completed the Inca Trail and visited Machu Picchu. We arrived early and was allowed to wait for our room in the lobby. I noticed the staff are super busy since most guests stay for one night and the rooms are spread out. We were given drinks vouchers and eventually found a server who could assist. The forest is really beautiful and since we arrived on a beautiful sunny day I could immediately enjoy the hummingbirds at the feeders. We took some walks since there are many paths where you can enjoy the forest environment and the orchids. We checked in an I was impressed with the size of the room. The bed is huge and the windows allow views of the forest. The staff prepared a fire in the fireplace in our room. Dinner is included in the booking. Both of us enjoyed our dinner. The service was friendly and the quality of the food was excellent. I still regret not being able to finish the chocolate dessert. The next morning it rained but luckily they did not cancel the bird spotting. I enjoyed watching the rain from the window in the shower while taking a hot shower (the toiletries also have a nice fragrance). Luckily I rented some expensive binoculars since we actually saw a few Cock of the Rock birds at a distance! Breakfast was excellent. Check out is at 10AM but the hotel allowed me to book the tea plantation experience which commenced at 10AM. I learned so much during this hour. My husband could access town within a 2 minute walk and bought me a gift while I did the tea experience. A 5-7 minute walk from the hotel take you to the train station where we caught the Vistadome train back to Ollantaytambo. Since the hotel met my specific expectations and saved me a day of travelling to another cloudforest location I am delighted with our experience. It was a five star experience for me.

Lovely garden like setting with tropical birds and villa-like rooms. Good food, with two cafes. I joke that the thermal pool should be called “Aguas poquito calientes” since it’s lukewarm at best, but it’s still a nice place to sit and enjoy the birds.

At the end of a 4 day, 3 night Inca Trail trek with TreXperience (very highly recommend their luxury camping trip), we stayed for a night at the Inkaterra Machu Picchu and were so happy that we did. Our rooms (my husband and I in one and our son and daughter (both in their mid 20"s) in another) were incredibly nice - especially the warm outdoor plunge and outdoor shower.) We were in heaven after long days of hiking and sleeping in tents. The only negative was the food. As with Inkaterra Amazonia, the food was fair to good, definitely not great. We had much better food (more flavor, variety etc) on our trek on the Inca Trail and in restaurants in Cusco. I hope Inkaterra works to improve this. We probably won't stay at an Inkaterra again because of their food (which is a part of their all inclusive pricing.)

Where to start? Firstly the hotel is well situated for visiting Machu Picchu. It’s a short walk to the bus queue (although the queue itself can be very long). It’s also a short walk from the railway station, places to eat and shops. The hotel is set in 13 acres of cloud forest garden beside the Urubamba River, and offers various nature walks. I enjoyed the one I went on, learning about flowers, birds and history. The hotel offers really nice complimentary sandwiches, cake and coffee in the mid afternoon. The cute lunch room has railway track either side, you go over the track to get in, and it’s a great experience to see the trains go by. Dinner in the main restaurant was good. There is a wonderful lounge next to it and a group of us had a lovely time sitting by the fire chatting after dinner. The rooms are individual, motel style set in the grounds, and the hotel is large and sprawling, it takes a while to find your way around, but it wasn’t a problem. My room was good, comfy, although it was quite cold and it was hard to work out the heater. I discovered eventually that my window behind the curtains and screen was wide open, which explained the cold. The hotel bought round hot water bottles and extra blankets, and there is also a mosquito repellent in the wardrobe, although I didn’t find it. The one thing I would point out is the stone floor is quite cold and as I had only taken an overnight bag, I hadn’t bought a warm jumper or slippers so my feet were cold! My only other problem was that early morning, wanting to leave for a second visit to Machu Picchu,, I couldn’t open my door - the deadlock wouldn’t open! I struggled for ages before it finally opened. However overall, I thought this was a really great hotel with lots of unique features and it added to the wonderful experience of visiting Machu Picchu.

We loved the rooms, the hotel and ambience. The staff were nice and the atmosphere was beautiful. But accessibility was a concern - the hotel was challenging to navigate, especially at night. They could put some uplighting in the ground without ruining the vibe, or put in some handrails to help with the stairs. While there were signs, finding rooms in the dark or rain was still difficult. If you weren’t in one of the 2-3 rooms close to the lobby, you have to traverse 20+ stairs to get to your room