Assessment: Puqio Lodge (Colca Canyon, Peru)

Wednesday newsletters at all times function a lodge or flight overview.

Final summer season, I loved a terrific vacation in Peru. You possibly can learn my journey experiences right here:

Assessment: KLM (previous) Enterprise Class Boeing 777 from Amsterdam to Lima
Assessment: Central, world’s finest restaurant 2023, Lima
Assessment: Cirqa Lodge, Arequipa
Assessment: Puqio Lodge, Colca Canyon (in the present day)
Assessment: Titilaka Lodge, Lake Titicaca
Assessment: Titicaca Luxurious Practice, from Puno to Cusco
Assessment: Explora Valle Sagrado, Sacred Valley
Assessment: Rio Sagrado, a Belmond Lodge, Sacred Valley
Assessment: Hiram Bingham, a Belmond Practice, from Cusco to Machu Picchu
Assessment: Sanctuary Lodge, a Belmond Lodge, Machu Picchu
Assessment: Inca path to Machu Picchu
Assessment: Fausto Lodge, Lima
Assessment: KLM (new) Enterprise Class Boeing 777 from Lima to Amsterdam

Right this moment: Assessment of Puqio Lodge (Colca Canyon, Peru)

Puqio, a luxurious tented camp nestled deep in Peru’s fascinating Colca Valley, provides a rare retreat that celebrates the simplicity and great 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 – provide alternative routes to expertise the valley with distinct views of the encircling terrain. Gastronomic expertise embody 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 listing of the finest luxurious resorts in Peru.

Have you ever ever stayed at Puqio? In that case, what was your expertise? Go away a remark.

On this overview (extra information and pictures under 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 the earth, 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 principle draw of the Canyon are its viewpoints, scenic hikes and sizzling springs. The Colca Canyon is a privileged vantage level from which to look at the majestic Andean condor; with a wingspan of over 3 meters (10 toes), the Andean Condor is taken into account the most important flying chicken on the earth.

The Colca Valley is a 3 hour drive from the town of Arequipa (non-public transfers could be organized by the lodge). The drive from Arequipa to Puqio is nice, scenic journey and provides an opportunity to understand the gorgeous high- altitude landscapes of the Salinas and Aguada Blanca Nationwide Reserve. A number of energetic volcanoes could be seen alongside the best way and enormous herds of gorgeous alpacas and vicunas are continuously noticed by the facet of the street. A number of stops are made alongside the best way, together with a cease on the Patapampa move (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 realm round Puqio is dotted with small, picturesque villages – corresponding to Chivay, Yanque and Cabanaconde – that appear to be caught in time. These village had been based in Spanish colonial instances and are nonetheless inhabited by individuals of the Collagua and the Cabana cultures. The native individuals of those villages keep their ancestral traditions – for instance, ladies are nonetheless wearing elaborately adorned conventional skirts – and proceed to domesticate the pre-Inca stepped terraces – known as andenes – on the encircling mountains.

Puqio is a small boutique lodge and in some ways, it feels extra like a rural Peruvian casitas than a real lodge, all including to a sense of place on this distant nook of Peru. The principle pavilion of Puqio homes a eating room, a few seating areas centered espresso tables, and an open fireplace. 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. Past the primary pavilions are the eight rooms – 4 tents and 4 adobe huts – that are scattered all through the resort grounds (extra on that under).

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 2 carpa rooms are spacious tents providing outside terraces, woodburning stoves, an outside bathtub, and each indoor & outside showers. Impressed by the unique canvas tents of first Andean explorers, every is crafted with rugged canvas to guard guestss from the weather. The 2 carpa refugios are essentially the most commanding of the canvas tents, every boasting a large indoor residing space and terrace, a wood-burning range, and a separate mud room. The 4 pirqa rooms are housed in adobe huts and provide the identical facilities because the carpa tents in addition to the very best views of the valley.

Charges at Puqio are totally inclusive, together with lodging, breakfast, lunch, dinner with wine and cocktails, afternoon tea, drinks and in-room snacks. Meals on the lodge is scrumptious and the parts are beneficiant. Right here, corn is harvested by native arms and freshly baked bread is kneaded with a understanding contact. Every family-style meal is crafted utilizing conventional strategies and the freshest produce out there within the native terroir, creating a very 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. That is farm-to-table eating, Andean type, at its finest. Plus, with no menus, family-style servings remind every visitor of the wealthy simplicity of residing from the land.

Set in a quiet, unexplored nook of the well-known Andean valley, Puqio is an exploration hub providing its company 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 company exploration will fluctuate relying on their preferences. Favourite experiences embody horseback using, soaking within the native sizzling springs, and visiting a number of the finest textile weavers within the Andes. Visitors may also 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 way of inspiring locations, progressive lodging, and genuine experiences. As an trade pioneer within the design and improvement of owner-managed resorts and carefree journey, Andean takes company on journeys from the historic vibrancy of the town to the timeless serenity of Peru’s unspoiled facet. Every 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 resorts, 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 is no such thing as a 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). Nonetheless, the boutique property does provide 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.

Vacationers ought to pay attention to altitude illness when visiting Puqio and the Colca Canyon. As the world 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. Nonetheless, Puqio’s staff 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. Though the lodge does provide excursions to the view factors, it at the moment doesn’t provide 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 organize 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. Right here, the identical taxi firm organized a 4×4 to select 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 embody these sort of hikes in its future tour program (by collaborating with locals), because it’s an exercise that many vacationers is perhaps concerned about.

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. Nonetheless, the 2 different tents (carpa) are a bit set again and, and so they don’t get pleasure from a view of the valley, however somewhat look out over the resort grounds and the opposite lodging. If a view is what you might be after, make certain to guide a pirca or a capra refugio.

MY VERDICT

Location: 8/10
Design: 8/10
Pool: n/a
Rooms: 8/10
Meals: 9/10
Breakfast:9 /10
Spa: n/a
Service: 10/10
Wow issue: 9/10
Worth for cash: 9/10
General expertise: superb 8,6/10

TIPS FOR FUTURE GUESTS & SAVE MONEY

Get monetary savings: learn right here my ideas for getting the very best deal at a luxurious lodge 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 type within the area. You possibly can contact Andean to create a personalized journey for you on this superior area of Peru.

Learn my ideas for making ready your journey in time.

BEST TIME TO VISIT

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