We were very spoiled after spending a week at Tambo del Inca in Urubamba. Libertador has a great location and a wonderful lobby and courtyard, and the hotel felt clean, but the rooms were very stark. Plain rooms, very hard beds, lousy showerhead, dated furniture and TV. Staff was friendly and competent, no complaints, but after staying at Tambo del Inka it was a letdown. Tambo said this was a sister resort, hard to imagine.

Very convenient location for exploring Cusco. Our room was strange set up with minmal natural light. Overall room & bathroom needed updating. Service in restaurants were average. Exercise room was closed for 6 months for rennovations -- hotel didn't have any other arrangements available.

This hotel is desperately in need of renovation. It allegedly will become a Westin in 2013 and Westin has its work cut out for it. In particular, the rooms are very dated and somewhat unappealing. They lacked charm and the creature comforts one would expect in a high quality hotel. The nicest part of the hotel was the breakfast setting which looks out onto an interior courtyard.

The last time I was in Peru, in 1992, the Maoist “Sendero Luminoso” (aka: Communist Party of Peru) was on the warpath. In July, a few months before I arrived in the country, it carried out a bomb attack in the Miraflores area of Lima, which left 24 people dead and more than 200 injured. The capital appeared tense, suspicious and unwelcoming. Cuzco and Machu Picchu were considered unsafe at the time - too many kidnappings and some parts of the vicinity under the control of this insane terrorist outfit. Travellers were advised to steer well clear of these areas and so, after a brief and rather dreary sojourn in the capital, I decided to change tack and left for Puno, Lake Titicaca and on to the delights of Potosi, Sucre and La Paz in Bolivia, across land.
Almost twenty years later, I’m back in Peru again and cannot stress enough how things have changed. Lima now appears bright (despite the intermittent mists that encloak the city), friendly, bustling and confident. More importantly, over the Christmas period, I was finally able to visit Cuzco, the historic capital of the Inca empire and Machu Picchu, often referred to as the “Lost City of the Incas”. Cuzco was indeed worth the twenty-year wait and didn’t disappoint. Despite its population having tripled over the last twenty years, it has still maintained the characteristic intimacy of a small city, with its well-maintained colonial squares, museums, churches and cathedral. During my six-day stay, many different indigenous communities descended on the city from the entire region to sell their wares in the main market square, La Plaza de Armas, historic testimony to the importance of this city to the people who inhabited this land before the Spanish arrived, five hundred years ago. Cuzco proved an ideal place for exploring the surrounding area and what better way to spend your time there than at the Libertador Palacio del Inka Hotel as a base camp?
The Libertador is at the top end of the accommodation on offer in Cuzco, so it’s not exactly cheap but the location, the extremely helpful and professional staff, warm and friendly service provided, in addition to the aesthetic merits of the place make it worth it. It is effectively a very large mansion house that dates back to the 16th century, at the centre of which is a very impressive courtyard. Rooms are comfortable and spotless, complete with mini-bar, TV and kettle. Despite a few problems with the Internet and telephone, which were annoying, the peaceful ambience of the place ultimately made our stay very tranquil and enjoyable. Breakfasts are good but the restaurant, despite the great service failed to deliver the goods from a cost-quality point of view and, unfortunately, the cuisine was bland and distinctly unexciting. Soundproofing in the rooms could also be improved but I wouldn’t say noise interference was significant problem.
If you do stay in Cuzco, make sure you get the train to Machu Picchu. The three-hour journey through great countryside is most pleasant, with refreshments and food provided by friendly attentive train personnel and Machu Picchu deserves its place on the list of the Seven Wonders of the World. High up in the mountains, you cannot be but amazed by the feat of “urban planning” and breath-taking views. Other worthwhile trips in the area (the Tikariy company operating at the hotel is very efficient) include the Sacred Valley and Ollantaytambo, Moray and Chinchero, which also provide stunningly impressive examples of Inca agricultural ingenuity and architecture, as well as an insight into the Quechua communities currently living and farming in this harsh and bleak but beautiful Andean environment. The mirador “El Shiriculapo” provides amazing views of the snow-capped mountains and valleys and the Balcón del Inca is a must for seeing how alpaca goods, tapestries and other crafts are made by the creative and tenacious women working there.