Recommend February 2011 - (Page 44)

latin america PERU Dining at La Casona in Cusco. is gaga over luxury Peruvian hotel companies are at the head of the pack in new luxury lodgings in this South American country. P carla hunt 44 february 2011 Peru is a many-splendored place, long famous as the guardian of South America’s most important pre-Columbian heritage, matched by the grandeur of its natural diversity from the Amazon to the Andes to the Paciﬁc coast. Nowadays, leisure and business travelers are discovering other treasures, such as the glories of Peruvian cuisine—South America’s ﬁnest—and an ever-expanding roster of stylish and luxurious accommodations that are guaranteeing new comfort levels, particularly in Lima, around Puno on Lake Titicaca, Cusco and the nearby Sacred Valley of the Incas. While international chains, such as Hilton, Marriott (with a grand hotel in Lima, and spending $45 million in opening another soon in Cusco) and Sonesta are well established in Peru, it is the Peruvian hotel companies—Libertador, Casa Andina and Inkaterra—which are leading the way in luxury lodgings. Traveling south to north during a recent 2-week stay, for instance, this writer began to lose count on the new inventory of spas that are now part of the national luxury hospitality craze. The other signature change in the last few years is the dining scene, starring a whole new cast of deliciously terriﬁc restaurants with talented chefs in command. Lima, once called the City of Kings, now has hotel infrastructure ﬁt for royalty, or at least the most discerning of leisure and business travelers. The elegant Miraﬂores Park Hotel, whose 81 units are all suites, sits atop the luxury accommodations ladder in the capital, although a new bid for room at the top of the deluxe hospitality niche will be coming from the $100 million Westin Libertador Lima. It is due to debut in May in San Isidro with 301 rooms and suites, a restaurant under the baton of celebrity chef Rafael Piqueras, and a 20,000-sq.-ft. spa that will be the largest in Lima. The Westin is the largest project under development since Libertador ofﬁcially joined hands with Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, an alliance that has also produced new luxury Libertador hotels in Paracas and the Sacred Valley, with a third entry in Cusco opening in June. This deluxe hotel trio is now at home under Starwood’s Luxury Collection brand. “The new Hotel Paracas is a winner,” declared my traveling companion Pam Walker, Southern Hemisphere travel expert and owner of Walker Adventures (walkeradventuresltd.com). “The rooms, the views, the restaurants, are all fantastically done—really, really lovely. This continued on page 46 recommend.com http://www.walkeradventuresltd.com http://www.recommend.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recommend February 2011

Editor's Notes/Agent Speak
Hotel Desk
Tour Talk
Crystal Cruises' Serenity
Flights of Fancy With One&Only Cape Town
South African Airways
South Africa Set to Score Big in 2011
Fantastical Fiji
Luxury Lands in Puerto Rico
Grenada
Barbados: High-End, Low-Key
Bermuda Scales Back
Peru is Gaga Over Luxury
Starry Arizona
Acqualina Resort & Spa, Florida
Baden-Baden, Germany
New Choices in Luxury Tweak Mexico's Landscape
Invigorating Girl Escapes

Recommend February 2011