Explora Valle Sagrado

Explora does not think of a hotel as a destination but as a base camp. Its Sacred Valley property — the Chilean chain's newest in Peru — occupies an eighteenth-century hacienda in Urquillos, with five hectares of gardens, centennial olive trees and an architecture that favours the horizontal. The programme is central: more than thirty daily explorations, led by guides who are also biologists, archaeologists or anthropologists. Those looking for a static retreat are in the wrong place.

The fifty rooms are deliberately uniform — Explora avoids the hierarchy of suites — all facing the valley, each with an outdoor shower. The heated exterior pool and the thermal spa act as counterweight to a day of walking. The approach to food is all-inclusive: a short menu, local produce, and pairings with selected Peruvian wines. The afternoon pisco sour, ritual.