Orient Express has added to its portfolio in Peru with the opening of Palacio Nazarenas in Cuzco.
The 55-suite boutique hotel occupies a 16th century convent.
Suites feature large bathtubs with pillows filled with dried herbs from the hotel garden. Each suite also has a full cocktail set and recipe book featuring local ingredients.
Deluxe Z-Collection suites have architectural features like an original colonial arch or Inca niches and offer views of the Andes or the San Blas neighborhood. The Nazarenas Suite, which was the abbess’s private prayer retreat, features a ceiling of gold-embellished roses.
Executive Chef Virgilio Martinez prepares authentic Peruvian cuisine with a modern flair at Senzo Restaurant. The hotel also features an outdoor heated infinity pool, which it says is the city’s first.
The hotel’s library showcases artifacts such as an original Inca sandal found during excavation. Daily sessions with shamans, sommeliers or historians teach guests about Cuzco’s history, art and culture.
In the Hypnôze spa, glass floors in the treatment rooms showcase carefully preserved original Inca walls.
Palacio Nazarenas includes restored murals and friezes that date back to Cuzco’s Spanish colonial period. The largest mural, which took six months to restore, was painted on the wall of a cell during the building’s Carmelite convent days after a nun had a vision.