Tambo del Inka, a Luxury Collection Resort & Spa

Tambo del Inka spreads along the banks of the Urubamba River outside the market town of the same name, in the heart of the Sacred Valley between Cusco and Machu Picchu. The location is strategic in every sense: at around 2,870 metres the valley sits usefully lower than Cusco for acclimatisation, and the resort is the only hotel in the region with its own private rail station, from which trains depart directly for Machu Picchu—an advantage that transforms the logistics of Peru's essential pilgrimage.

The architecture goes big—soaring lodge-style public halls of stone, timber and Andean textiles under dramatic rooflines—while rooms are warm and generous, with heated floors in the bathrooms and balconies or terraces towards the river and the peaks. Families and groups are handled with ease at this scale, yet corners for quiet remain.

The indoor-outdoor heated pool is among the most photographed in Peru, anchoring a serious spa of Andean-inspired treatments and altitude-recovery rituals. Dining at Hawa celebrates Sacred Valley produce—giant corn, river trout, alpaca—alongside pisco craft at the bar. From the doorstep: Moray's terraces, the Maras salt pans, Ollantaytambo's fortress and valley hikes with the hotel's guides. As a full-service Sacred Valley base, nothing else matches its completeness.