Sanctuary Lodge

The buses from Aguas Calientes grind up thirteen hairpins and stop at a turning circle beside the ticket gate of Machu Picchu. A low building of stone and timber stands at the edge of it, and that is the whole of the hotel. Sanctuary Lodge, A Belmond Hotel at Machu Picchu is the only place to sleep at the citadel itself, and its 31 rooms are booked for one reason: to walk through the gate when it opens at six and to return in the late afternoon when the crowds have gone down the hill.

History

A hotel has stood at the entrance to the ruins since the Peruvian state built a small tourist lodge there, decades after Hiram Bingham's expedition of 1911 brought the site to international attention and before UNESCO inscribed it in 1983. Orient-Express Hotels took over the lodge in 1995, in the same arrangement that gave it Hotel Monasterio in Cusco and a share of PeruRail, and rebuilt it as a small hotel of a higher standard. It became Belmond Sanctuary Lodge in 2014. The size has never grown, as the concession inside the sanctuary does not allow it.

Architecture and design

The lodge is deliberately plain from outside, a single-storey building in stone and dark timber that sits below the sight lines of the ruins. Inside, the rooms are simple and warm, with local textiles and wood, and most look onto the gardens rather than the citadel, which is hidden behind the ridge. The gardens are the surprise: terraces of orchids, bromeliads and native plants that draw hummingbirds through the day, with a path to a viewpoint over the Urubamba gorge.

Rooms and suites

There are 31 rooms, including a few suites with a private terrace and garden. Rooms are small by the standards of a luxury hotel, a consequence of the site at Machu Picchu, and the hotel makes up for it with the location. Some have views of the mountain Huayna Picchu; none has a view of the ruins themselves.

Dining

Tampu, the restaurant, serves à la carte dinner and breakfast with Andean ingredients, and Tinkuy, the second room, offers a buffet lunch that is open to day visitors as well as residents, which makes it the busiest place at the site at midday. The bar serves pisco sours and coca tea for the altitude, which at 2,400 metres is lower than Cusco and troubles fewer guests.

Wellness

A small spa offers massages after the climb, and there is an outdoor hot tub in the garden. The real wellness programme is the walk: the lodge arranges guides for the citadel, for the climb to Huayna Picchu or Machu Picchu mountain, which require permits booked months ahead, and for the path to the Sun Gate.

Weddings and events

The lodge is too small for conferences, and the sanctuary rules limit gatherings. Small wedding ceremonies and private dinners for a handful of guests can be arranged in the garden or the restaurant, and the hotel's 31 rooms can be taken in full by a single group.

Location

The hotel is reached by train from Cusco or Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes, also called Machupicchu Pueblo, then by shuttle bus 25 minutes up the switchback road to the gate. The Belmond Hiram Bingham train from Poroy near Cusco takes about three and a half hours. Cusco's airport is the nearest, around four hours away door to door. There is no road to Aguas Calientes from the outside world.