Welcome to Best Of Peru Travel!
We were tired of visiting ‘recommended’ restaurants and hotels only to leave disapointed after spending our hard earned holiday money. So, being the kind folk that we are, we decided to put together this online guide to Lima, Cusco and the Sacred Valley’s best stuff so that when you’re planning your trip to Lima or are in Machu Picchu looking for a great coffee, a place to lay your head or the best place to buy souvenirs, all you have to do is come right here to this very site. Easy eh?
About Best of Peru Travel Guide
We want to make your trip to Lima, Cusco and the Sacred Valley as amazing and as easy as possible so the guide is organized into the most visited cities and towns in Peru which are Lima, Cusco, Pisac, Urubamba, Ollantaytambo and Macchu Picchu. In each place you can browse by restaurants, hotels, nightlife, spas, shops and things to do categories allowing you to quickly and easily plan your best trip ever. We’ve also included information on getting to each of these towns and a blog page with information on what’s on, festivities and our famous insider tips so be sure to check it out.
We’ve also thrown in some tools to make planning your trip even easier. Book the best hotel rates online, buy travel insurance through our partners World Nomads and browse the plan your trip section for lots of tips and useful information about when to travel, what to pack, how to beat altitude sickness, banks and money, safety information and much more… Happy Travels!
So you’re leaving on the trip of a lifetime to Peru and you need to plan those last minute details before you leave… We’ve been visiting and living in Lima, Cuzco and the Sacred Valley since 2009 and have picked up some important tips along the way that we want to share so you have the trip of a lifetime!
The ‘Plan Your Trip’ section is designed to help you plan the details for your trip so If you are still unsure of what of time of the year to travel to Cuzco, check out our when to travel information. Book a great rate at one of Peru’s top hotels.
Be aware of any passport, visa and immunization issues and have a read of our top tips for beating altitude sickness. Altitude sickness can make the start of your trip a little uncomfortable, so follow our tips and suggestions to help ease the symptoms.
It is also important to make sure you have adequate travel insurance before you leave and don’t forget to make sure you have a secure supply of money throughout your trip, the banks and money information will help you with this.
Lastly, we move on to more fun topics like what to pack so you don’t end up forgetting any essential items and don’t arrive with a suitcase that weighs more than your own body weight!
Happy planning!
Need more help? Why not book a personal trip planning session with one of our Peru travel experts top help you plan your trip of a lifetime!
Best of Peru Travel is an independent website set up in 2012 originally under the brand name ‘Best of Cusco’. Each place we review on the site has been visited and experienced by members of our team of travel professionals who each have over 12 years experience in the travel industry.
There are many restaurants, cafes, shops, things to do and accommodation options around Peru so in our crusade to fairly highlight what we think are the best ones; we created a comprehensive rating system where each establishment is given a score based on various criteria. The scores are nominated by our team of professional travel writers and are finalised by the Editor.
How we rank restaurants and cafes:
Restaurants and cafes are ranked based on the six following criteria: Food, wine and beverage service, overall service, atmosphere, personality and comfort levels and value. We also look at whether the restaurant or cafe has achieved and what it sets out to achieve, whether it be Peruvian fusion, typical Cusco or international cuisine. We visited many more restaurants and cafes than appear in our guide and are constantly on the road looking for great new places to share with you.
Don’t forget that for example a score of 3 stars for a cafe is excellent but disappointing for a gourmet restaurant.
How we rank accommodation:
The huge array of accommodation and confusing categorization ranging from hotel, to hostel, to pension is enough to give anyone trying to book accommodation in Peru a headache!
Accommodation is ranked based on the following seven criteria: overall service, sleep quality, cleanliness, location, rooms, amenities and additional services. We also look at whether the accommodation has achieved what it sets out to achieve, whether it be luxury boutique, guest house or B&B. We visited many more hotels than appear in our guide and are constantly on the road looking for great new places to tell you about.
Don’t forget that accommodation in the guide is diverse, those accommodations with a similar rating may be quite different in style. A score of 3 stars for a budget accommodation is excellent but disappointing for a luxury boutique hotel.
Prices:
Guide prices are listed for each cafe, restaurant and hotel mentioned on Best of Peru Travel. Prices change frequently, so these are intended as a guide only and are based on an approximate exchange rate of S/. 3.24 per US$1.
Accuracy:
Bestofperutravel.com undergoes a rigorous fact checking procedure however even we can’t control places shutting down, chef’s leaving or prices changing. These things are all beyond our control so apologies for any inconvenience caused!
Payment:
Best of Peru Travel is continuously scouring Cusco & the Sacred Valley for great new places to add to the guide. All hotels, restaurants, shops etc. featured on Best of Peru Travel have been pre-selected as best-in-class. In order to be able to continue offering all our great Peru travel content free to our readers we do charge an annual fee to our pre-selected partners to cover our running costs. Do rest assured however that our number one priority has been and always will be providing honest, objective travel information. That’s why you won’t find our guide packed with every tourism business in Cusco, but only the best businesses in each category according to our strict reviewing guidlines – this is our promise to you!
If you think your business is one of the best in its category in either Cusco or the Sacred Valley and would like us to consider you for inclusion in our next round of reviews simply contact us here.
We love to travel and explore new and exciting destinations and believe that travel brings people and cultures closer together allowing for the exchange of ideas and the opening of horizons.
Whilst we do accept advertising on Best of Peru Travel, this does not alter in any way our commitment to providing you with tons of interesting and useful information on all the best things Cusco and the Sacred Valley have to offer. We are passionate about this part of the world and love sharing in a sustainable, repsonsible manner what we believe is the very best of Peru with you.
If you are interested in advertising on Best of Peru Travel please contact us here.
We are always on the lookout for talented travel writers and journalists to join the Best of Peru Travel team. If you are interested in joining our team please send a message detailing your previous travel writing experience with samples of your published work here.
Our team of travel professionals offer the following consulting services:
- Business Strategy – We create travel business strategies to help you create a business or improve and drive revenue from your existing business.
- Marketing Strategy – We offer a complete marketing strategy service including online marketing strategy, to help you boost sales and increase brand awareness.
- Sustainable Tourism Strategy – Interested in making your business more sustainable? Our team are experts in sustainability. Talk to us today.
- Translation – We translate commercial, legal, tourism, business and marketing documents as well as website content and copy in the following languages: English-Spanish-English and English-French-English.
- Website design – We design and create websites for a range of clients across many industries including the travel industry.
Meet Our Team
Nicola’s past lives include jetting around Europe marketing new flights and destinations for Ryanair, acting as Director of Tourism for Isabela Island on the Galapagos, creating marketing strategies for public and private sector clients across the world, presenting TV documentaries and generally having fun!
Life as a professional rugby player gave him the opportunity to experience exquisite cuisine and the endless vineyards of Bordeaux where he developed a deep appreciation for all things food. Musician, writer, traveller, he is at his happiest when wearing his mountain boots and playing guitar.
He has just spent a period walking and hitchhiking through Europe and previously worked as a Radio Producer and professional Blogger. Jarrod has also created several documentaries about cultural living. He currently enjoys spending time working in eco villages and communities.
Marcos also assists several NGO’s documenting their work and in the past has worked as Editor and Producer for cultural programmes, travel videos and documentaries for various airlines, hotels and cruise companies. Marcos also runs the Arte Nomada website that sells native art and jewellery from around the world.
