Luxury Travel

Review: Puqio Hotel (Colca Canyon, Peru)

November 21, 2024

Wednesday newsletters at all times function a resort or flight assessment.

Last summer time, I loved a terrific vacation in Peru. You can learn my journey studies right here:

Review: KLM (previous) Business Class Boeing 777 from Amsterdam to Lima
Review: Central, world’s greatest restaurant 2023, Lima
Review: Cirqa Hotel, Arequipa
Review: Puqio Lodge, Colca Canyon (at present)
Review: Titilaka Hotel, Lake Titicaca
Review: Titicaca Luxury Train, from Puno to Cusco
Review: Explora Valle Sagrado, Sacred Valley
Review: Rio Sagrado, a Belmond Hotel, Sacred Valley
Review: Hiram Bingham, a Belmond Train, from Cusco to Machu Picchu
Review: Sanctuary Lodge, a Belmond Hotel, Machu Picchu
Review: Inca path to Machu Picchu
Review: Fausto Hotel, Lima
Review: KLM (new) Business Class Boeing 777 from Lima to Amsterdam

Today: Review of Puqio Hotel (Colca Canyon, Peru)

Puqio, a luxurious tented camp nestled deep in Peru’s charming Colca Valley, provides a unprecedented retreat that celebrates the simplicity and fantastic thing about nature. The tented camp invitations you to decelerate, embrace the Andean-style exploration, and immerse your self within the surrounding panorama and native traditions. Three distinct room classes – Pirca, Carpa, and Carpa Refugio – supply alternative routes to expertise the valley with distinct views of the encircling terrain. Gastronomic expertise embrace sauthentic Andean flavors ready in clay ovens and over open flames. Fuming volcanoes, sweeping grasslands, and untrodden pathways await every day exploration. At evening, rustic class rejuvenates physique and spirit of the skilled traveler.

Puqio options in my prime 10 record of the greatest luxurious inns in Peru.

Have you ever stayed at Puqio? If so, what was your expertise? Leave a remark.

In this assessment (extra information and photographs beneath my YouTube video):

PROS & THINGS I LIKE

Puqio is a peaceable exploration camp positioned close to Peru’s third most visited vacationer vacation spot, the Colca Canyon. The Colca Canyon is called one of many deepest canyons on this planet, reaching a most depth of round 3,400 meters (11,150 toes) from the rim of the Canyon to the underside of the valley (twice the depth of the Grand Canyon). The essential draw of the Canyon are its viewpoints, scenic hikes and sizzling springs. The Colca Canyon is a privileged vantage level from which to watch the majestic Andean condor; with a wingspan of over 3 meters (10 toes), the Andean Condor is taken into account the biggest flying chicken on this planet.

The Colca Valley is a 3 hour drive from town of Arequipa (personal transfers may be organized by the resort). The drive from Arequipa to Puqio is nice, scenic journey and provides an opportunity to understand the attractive high- altitude landscapes of the Salinas and Aguada Blanca National Reserve. Several energetic volcanoes may be seen alongside the way in which and huge herds of gorgeous alpacas and vicunas are ceaselessly noticed by the facet of the highway. Several stops are made alongside the way in which, together with a cease on the Patapampa cross (4910 m, 16,108 ft), which is surrounded by the peaks of the three spectacular volcanoes Ampato, Sabancayo y Hualca-Hualca.

Puqio is nestled on a hillslope in a tranquil nook of the Colca Valley, a couple of 45 min drive from the canyon’s most well-known viewpoints. The space round Puqio is dotted with small, picturesque villages – resembling Chivay, Yanque and Cabanaconde – that appear to be caught in time. These village had been based in Spanish colonial occasions and are nonetheless inhabited by folks of the Collagua and the Cabana cultures. The native folks of those villages preserve their ancestral traditions – for instance, girls are nonetheless wearing elaborately adorned conventional skirts – and proceed to domesticate the pre-Inca stepped terraces – referred to as andenes – on the encircling mountains.

Puqio is a small boutique resort and in some ways, it feels extra like a rural Peruvian casitas than a real resort, all including to a sense of place on this distant nook of Peru. The essential pavilion of Puqio homes a eating room, a few seating areas centered espresso tables, and an open hearth. The entrance terrace of the pavilion homes an open-air eating areas that’s used for conventional barbeque dinners, whereas the bottom options and expansive terrace with some lounge chair from the place to soak within the views and the sundown. Beyond the primary pavilions are the eight rooms – 4 tents and 4 adobe huts – that are scattered all through the resort grounds (extra on that beneath).

Puqio provides solely eight rustic but elegant rooms, internet hosting simply 16 vacationers at a time. There are three room classes to select from: Pirca, Carpa & Carpa Refugio. The two carpa rooms are spacious tents providing out of doors terraces, woodburning stoves, an outside bathtub, and each indoor & out of doors showers. Inspired by the unique canvas tents of first Andean explorers, every is crafted with rugged canvas to guard guestss from the weather. The two carpa refugios are essentially the most commanding of the canvas tents, every boasting a large indoor dwelling space and terrace, a wood-burning range, and a separate mud room. The 4 pirqa rooms are housed in adobe huts and supply the identical facilities because the carpa tents in addition to the most effective views of the valley.

Rates at Puqio are absolutely inclusive, together with lodging, breakfast, lunch, dinner with wine and cocktails, afternoon tea, drinks and in-room snacks. Food on the lodge is scrumptious and the parts are beneficiant. Here, corn is harvested by native arms and freshly baked bread is kneaded with a figuring out contact. Each family-style meal is crafted utilizing conventional strategies and the freshest produce out there within the native terroir, creating a totally genuine and impressed culinary providing. Some eating experiences at Puqio function meals cooked in clay ovens and open flames, highlighting the traditions of the Andes. This is farm-to-table eating, Andean fashion, at its greatest. Plus, with no menus, family-style servings remind every visitor of the wealthy simplicity of dwelling from the land.

Set in a quiet, unexplored nook of the well-known Andean valley, Puqio is an exploration hub providing its friends immersive excursions that seize the essence and mysticism of the magnificent Colca Canyon, a must-see vacation spot in Southern Peru. The lodge provides a number of excursions to the canyon’s viewpoints and the condor lookout, in various durations, in addition to shorter actions across the tented camp. A friends exploration will differ relying on their preferences. Favorite experiences embrace horseback driving, soaking within the native sizzling springs, and visiting a number of the greatest textile weavers within the Andes. Guests also can go to the charming cities of Sibayo, Tutti, and Chivay.

Cirqa is managed by Andean, the Peruvian luxurious journey firm who reinvents the artwork of journey within the nation by showcasing the true essence of Peru by means of inspiring locations, revolutionary lodging, and genuine experiences. As an trade pioneer within the design and growth of owner-managed inns and carefree journey, Andean takes friends on journeys from the historic vibrancy of town to the timeless serenity of Peru’s unspoiled facet. Each expertise is complemented by seamless serendipity, outstanding native delicacies, nourishment for the soul, and an understated class that’s uniquely Peruvian. Andean manages three different inns, providing a neat circuit often known as the Southern Peru Travesia: Lima, Arequipa, the Colca Canyona and Lake Titicaca.

CONS & THINGS TO KNOW

Wellness services at Puqio are restricted. There isn’t any pool, no gymnasium and no spa (though I used to be knowledgeable that the Andean administration is contemplating including a spa facility within the close to future). However, the boutique property does supply a sizzling tub, which is positioned on a terrace just under the primary property, boasting some pretty views of the Colca Valley (together with views of the sundown). It’s an amazing place to loosen up after a day of sightseeing.

Travelers ought to pay attention to altitude illness when visiting Puqio and the Colca Canyon. As the realm is positioned at elevations better than 10,000 ft (3.000 m), some vacationers would possibly encounter signs like headache, nausea, tiredness, and shortness of breath. However, Puqio’s workforce is at all times in a position to help and make you snug in case you’ll undergo from altitude illness.

Puqio is positioned within the Colca Valley, which is a forty five min drive from the Colca Canyon and its spectacular view factors. Although the lodge does supply excursions to the view factors, it at present doesn’t supply the choice of mountain climbing throughout the canyon itself (which is the primary draw for a lot of guests to this a part of Peru). I used to be in a position to prepare a hike on my own although: a taxi picked me up at 6 am at Puqio and brough me to the the village of Cabanaconde (after watching the condors on the view level), from the place I began a non-guide, 5-hour hike to Llahuar on the underside of the Colca Canyon. Here, the identical taxi firm organized a 4×4 to choose me up and take me again to the lodge (a 90 min drive), the place I arrived once more at 6 pm. I might recommend that Puqio would attempt to embrace these sort of hikes in its future tour program (by collaborating with locals), because it’s an exercise that many vacationers is likely to be keen on.

Puqio options solely 8 rooms (4 adobe huts and 4 tents). The 4 adobe huts (pirca rooms) and two of the tents (carpa refugio) are positioned on the entrance row of the hillslope, providing spectacular views of the valley, particularly through the sundown. However, the 2 different tents (carpa) are a bit set again and, they usually don’t get pleasure from a view of the valley, however quite look out over the resort grounds and the opposite lodging. If a view is what you’re after, make sure that to e book a pirca or a capra refugio.

MY VERDICT

Location: 8/10
Design: 8/10
Pool: n/a
Rooms: 8/10
Food: 9/10
Breakfast:9 /10
Spa: n/a
Service: 10/10
Wow issue: 9/10
Value for cash: 9/10
Overall expertise: superb 8,6/10

TIPS FOR FUTURE GUESTS & SAVE MONEY

Save cash: learn right here my suggestions for getting the most effective deal at a luxurious resort like Puqio (and/or obtain many free perks).

Itinerary tip: Puqio is an extension to Titilaka by Andean (Lake Titicaca) and Cirqa by Andean (Arequipa) alongside the southern Peru route, the primary providing of its sort within the area. You can contact Andean to create a personalized journey for you on this superior area of Peru.

Read my suggestions for getting ready your journey in time.

BEST TIME TO VISIT

Although it’s potential to go to the Colca Canyon any time of yr, it’s advisable to journey between April and November, when most days supply clear and sunny climate, leading to spectacular views, and condor sightings.