Where to Stay in Cusco — Best Hotels & Neighbourhoods
Curated by Our Guild Explorers · Updated August 2026
In Cusco, the question is not only which hotel but how many steps. The old city is built on a hillside at 11,150 feet, and a room three streets uphill from the Plaza can be a genuinely hard walk on your first day. Around the Plaza de Armas is the flattest and most convenient ground, within a few level minutes of the cathedral, the Qorikancha and every tour meeting point. San Blas, above it, is the loveliest quarter in the city and reached by long flights of stone steps — wonderful if you are sure-footed, punishing if you are not. Wanchaq, east of the centre, is flatter, quieter and cheaper, but you will take a taxi each time you go out. Below are the hotels we would send our own readers to, by style, each with an honest note and a Book Me link straight to Trip.com.
Luxury
Cusco’s grandest hotels are converted convents and colonial palaces, all within a few level streets of the Plaza.
Monasterio, A Belmond Hotel, Cusco
A Spanish seminary of 1592 built on Inca foundations, arranged around a cloistered courtyard with a cedar tree at its centre, one level block from the Plaza de Armas. The setting is the point — you are sleeping inside a national monument — and the ground floor is flat and easy, though a building of this age has corridors and thresholds rather than modern uniformity. If a step-free route matters, ask for a courtyard-level room when you book.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Palacio del Inka, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Cusco
A five-hundred-year-old mansion facing the Qorikancha, the Inca sun temple, and the most comfortable of the grand Cusco hotels for a traveller who wants modern plumbing behind old walls. It has the indoor pool and spa that most historic properties here lack, which matters more than it sounds when you arrive cold and short of breath. Level walking to the Plaza in about eight minutes, gently uphill on the way back.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Boutique
Small houses with courtyards, where the owner is often at breakfast.
Casa Cartagena Boutique Hotel & Spa
A colonial house on Calle Pumacurco, restored as an all-suite hotel with a spa and a courtyard that catches the afternoon sun. It sits on the slope below San Blas, which means a pleasant five-minute walk down to the Plaza and a slower one coming back — on your first day, take the taxi and do not be proud about it. Rooms are unusually large for the old city.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Antigua Casona San Blas
A restored sixteenth-century house in the artisans’ quarter of San Blas, with a stone courtyard, beamed ceilings and the quietest nights in central Cusco. We list it with one honest caveat: San Blas is reached by stone steps and steep lanes, and at this altitude that is a real consideration rather than a picturesque detail. If you walk well, it is the loveliest address in the city.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Budget & Value
Comfortable, central, and a fraction of the price of the convents.
Tierra Viva Cusco Centro
Tierra Viva is a small Peruvian group that does the same sensible thing in several Cusco locations: a restored courtyard house, plain warm rooms, a proper breakfast and a front desk that knows how to arrange a driver. Nobody writes poetry about it, and that is rather the point — it is the dependable middle of the market, a short level walk from the Plaza, at half the price of the grand houses.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Casa Andina Premium Cusco
The Premium line of Peru’s largest home-grown hotel group, in an eighteenth-century mansion a few minutes from the Plaza. It is the practical choice for travellers who want the colonial courtyard without the colonial plumbing: modern rooms, heating that works, a lift in the newer wing, and the group’s useful habit of running sister hotels in Lima, Arequipa and Puno so the whole trip can be booked with one hand.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Family-friendly
Bigger rooms, lifts, and staff used to grandchildren as well as grandparents.
Novotel Cusco
A sixteenth-century house with a glass-roofed courtyard joined to a modern wing, two blocks from the Plaza. The modern rooms are the sensible booking for a family: larger, warmer, evenly heated and reached without the odd stairs and thresholds of the historic side. The covered courtyard is a genuine asset in the wet season, when the afternoon rain arrives on cue and nobody wants to be out in it.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Sonesta Hotel Cusco
On the Avenida El Sol below the old centre — less picturesque than the cobbled lanes and considerably easier to walk, which is exactly why we list it for families travelling with older relatives. Level pavements, a lift, straightforward rooms, and a ten-minute flat walk to the Qorikancha. The Plaza is uphill from here, but it is a gentle grade rather than steps.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Adults-only
An honest empty category.
We could not verify an adults-only hotel in Cusco
Cusco’s hotels are converted convents, colonial mansions and family courtyard houses, and every property we checked accepts guests of all ages. Rather than dress one of them up as something it is not, we are telling you plainly that Trip.com does not carry an adults-only property in Cusco that we could confirm. If a quiet, grown-up stay is what you are after, the small boutique houses above — particularly Antigua Casona San Blas — come closest in practice.
Browse Cusco hotels on Trip.com ›Pet-friendly
Cusco has pet-friendly hotels; we would rather send you to ask than guess which.
Ask the hotel directly — policies here change often
Several Cusco hotels do accept dogs, usually small ones and usually for a cleaning fee, but we could not confirm a current, written policy for any individual property through our partner’s listing — and a pet policy quoted wrongly is the kind of mistake that ends a holiday at the front desk. So we are not naming one. Use the full Cusco list below, then email the hotel before you book and keep the reply. Note too that Peru requires an import permit and health certification for animals arriving from abroad; that is a conversation to have with your vet several weeks ahead.
Browse Cusco hotels on Trip.com ›Spa & Pool
Rarer in Cusco than you would expect — a heated pool at 11,000 feet is a serious piece of engineering.
Palacio Nazarenas, A Belmond Hotel, Cusco
A former convent behind the Monasterio, all suites, with the only heated outdoor pool in the historic centre and a spa in the old cloister. It is the quietest of Cusco’s grand hotels and the one most obviously built for slow days — which, at this altitude, your first two ought to be. A level two-minute walk from its sister hotel and about five from the Plaza.
Book Me on Trip.com ›JW Marriott El Convento Cusco
A sixteenth-century convent rebuilt to modern hotel standards, with a spa, a lift and the most consistently even heating of the historic properties — not a small thing in June, when Cusco nights fall to freezing. Excavated Inca walls are visible under glass in the lobby. Of the grand conversions this is the easiest to move around in, which is why we would suggest it to anyone unsure of stairs.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Don’t see your perfect fit?
Browse every Cusco hotel with live prices and availability on Trip.com. Booking through our links supports Destinations Guild at no extra cost to you.
Cusco Hotels — Frequently Asked Questions
Which part of Cusco should I stay in?
For most visitors, within three or four level streets of the Plaza de Armas. That puts the cathedral, the Qorikancha, the restaurants and the tour meeting points within a short walk on the flattest ground in the old city. San Blas is the prettiest quarter and the steepest, reached by long flights of stone steps, so choose it only if stairs at 11,150 feet are genuinely no trouble. Wanchaq, east of the centre, is flatter and quieter but a taxi ride from the sights.
Should I sleep in Cusco or the Sacred Valley first?
The Sacred Valley first, almost always. Cusco sits at about 11,150 feet and the Valley at roughly 9,400, and arriving from sea level straight into the higher of the two is what makes people ill. Two nights at Urubamba or Ollantaytambo before coming up to Cusco is gentler on everybody, and costs nothing extra, because you have to pass through the Valley on your way to Machu Picchu in any case.
Do Cusco hotels provide oxygen?
Many of the larger and more expensive Cusco hotels keep oxygen at reception or offer enriched-air rooms, and coca tea is offered everywhere as a matter of course. Because provision varies by property and changes without notice, we have not listed it hotel by hotel here — we would rather leave a gap than tell you something that turns out not to be true at check-in. If supplementary oxygen matters to you, ask the hotel directly by email before you book and keep the reply.
Are there adults-only hotels in Cusco?
Not that we can verify. Cusco’s hotels are historic convents and colonial houses that take guests of all ages, so rather than fill the category with something that does not fit, we have left it open and given you the full Cusco list instead.
Do I need a car in Cusco?
No, and we would advise against one. The old centre is a maze of one-way cobbled lanes with almost nowhere to park, and much of it is pedestrian. Taxis are inexpensive and everywhere. For the Sacred Valley and the airport, book a driver through your hotel; for Machu Picchu you travel by train from Ollantaytambo or Poroy in any case.