Updated on December 14, 2023
Below you will find highlights from my 16 day trip Peru / Machu Picchu trip:
Hotel Review: Sheraton Lima
Trip Report Chapters:
• Peru 16 day trip: Itinerary, Points & Miles
• Daily Highlights
• Lima
• Hotel: Sheraton Lima ⌫ (you are reading this)
• Urubamba / Sacred Valley
• Hotel: Tambo del Inka, Resort & Spa (Urubamba)
• Aguas Calientes / Putucusi Mountain
• How to Book Machu Picchu Tickets Online (without pulling your hair out!)
• Machu Picchu & Wayna Picchu (Huayna Picchu)
• Hotel: La Pequeña Casita (Aguas Calientes)
• Amazon Jungle (Puerto Maldonado)
• Hotel: Amazon Planet (Puerto Maldonado)
• Cusco
• Hotel: Palacio del Inka (Cusco)
• Puno / Lake Titicaca
• Hotel: Tierra Viva Puno Plaza (Puno)
• Colca Valley
• Hotel: Killawase Lodge (Yanque, Colca Valley)
• Arequipa
• Hotel: Los Tambos (Arequipa)
• Sandboarding in Huacachina
THE HOTEL
The Sheraton Lima was a great place to stay because it was so cheap using cash and points and it is centrally located near the tourist spots. If you have platinum status, you will have access to the Club Lounge where they will feed you well. See below.
Sheraton Lima
Free drink vouchers are provided to platinum members at check-in: 1 free welcome drink and coffee/tea per person.
free drinks
Sheraton Lima Interior
THE ROOM
We were upgraded to the club floor. This is a standard king room.
SPG Club Level Room
Bathroom
Some free fruit and a welcome letter were in the room and the fruits were replenished the next day.
free fruits in the room
The sink, which is outside the bathroom, had the typical free water and toiletries.
free waters
THE VIEWS
The views from the room were fantastic!
views of the city
more views from the room
THE CLUB LOUNGE
I wish Sheraton Hotels in the US would be provide service like this! Below are pictures of the free breakfast served in the club lounge (for platinum guests). At the end of my trip when I returned to this hotel, I learned that we could also have breakfast in the restaurant near the lobby which had 2-3x the selection! Be sure to ask – some hotels let you, others don't.
Free platinum status breakfast
fresh fruit (the red one is called “tuna”, aka “prickly pear”)
cereals and pastries
sushi for breakfast? sure why not
hot breakfast choices (usually scrambled eggs are very overcooked, like here)
my hot breakfast selection
FREE EVENING APPETIZERS & SWEETS
If you get hungry before dinner, stop by the club lounge for some appetizers, drinks, and/or sweets. Bottled water was free but limited to two per room per day.
hot snacks in the afternoon/early evening
fruits, cakes and sweets
drinks (not free)
THE FREE SHUTTLE
The hotel will drive you to Miraflores. Make sure you know the exact pick up spot (read more about the mistake I made).
Sheraton Free Shuttle
THE GYM
The gym was well equipped. More than sufficient for my stay.
Gym
SUMMARY
I would definitely stay here again! Its convenient to walk to the tourist spots (there weren't so many things to see) and also as a home base for day trips such as going sand-boarding. Thank you for all the food!
Camera used to take these photos
These photos were taken using a Canon S100 Digital Camera, which has now been replaced by the S110 and S120.
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Man, you stayed in the janky part of town. I paid $40/night for a nice AirBnB room in a bed and breakfast in Miraflores when I was there last month, and I got to walk to all the best restaurants and nice bars. That goes to show you trying to score a free chain hotel often backfires.
I hope you didn’t blow a bunch of hotel points in Cusco, because you can get a sweet hotel there for $50-70/night with free breakfast.
I agree that Miraflores is much more commercialized and has the nice restaurants, bars, and a mall, but that’s not what I was looking for when I’ve got New York City every day. Depends what you’re looking for. My entire itinerary is here if you want to see the other hotels.
Ok, but there isn’t much else to do in Lima besides eat and drink, and most sightseeing that’s good is in the South. Center can be visited during the day for a few hours.
And you’re really short-sighted if Lima has nothing that you can’t get in New York. Go find a good ceviche restaurant in Miraflores or Baranco, or a place like Maido. There are many ingredients that can’t be exported out of Lima so you’ll never have the same dining experience.
…I meant exported out of Peru. Like a lot of strains of some awesome potatoes and the best varieties of limo peppers that make or break the ceviche.
Btw, I looked at the rest of your itinerary, and you’re moving around WAY too much. You will spend a lot of time in transit and won’t get to enjoy any of it.
Tambo Del Inka is a waste of points and time. Urubamba is an ugly looking town with nothing to do and see, and you’ll be going elsewhere anyway, which involves hiring a driver. To properly explore all of sacred valley you need at least 3 full days, and Cusco itself should be 2 full days, since there’s also some great dining.
I was based out of Cusco. Hired a car for $65 one day to take me from there to Ollantaytambo, on the way stopped everywhere except in the western half of the valley.
Another day I got a car for Pisac and everything along the way, also $60 for 5-6 hours.
And the 3rd day I taxied to the hill above Cusco for the ruins for about $10-20.
Putucusi Mountain can be skipped, its nothing compared to Wayna Picchu and just wastes a day in Aguas Calientes where there’s nothing to do.
Jungle tour for 2 days is kind of rushed and I spoke with some tourists who said it was MEH at best.
Colca for one day is too rushed. Arequipa is worth one day maybe.
Are you going there now, or already done? There’s still time to rearrange a few of these. Don’t waste your point on that sheraton at the end and go stay in a $50-60 private apartment in Miraflores instead, you’ll be happier.
Lol to each their own. I’d disagree w/some of your points as well but it all depends on what you want out of it.
Rick,
I agree with a couple of your comments but disagree with most – I was very happy with my trip and will also post how I would change it to make it a better experience. One thing I should have mentioned was that one of the reasons I stay at SPG hotels is to maintain my platinum status. If I didnt have the points I would certainly be Airbnb’ing it. On the jungle thing, i couldn’t disagree more. The jungle was one of my favorite parts of the trip. It is hard to make a judgement if you haven’t actually been there. Admittedly, it’s not for everyone. You may have spoken with tourists who stayed in a bad place or doesn’t enjoy jungles. I LOVED IT. I think if you ask the other people who reviewed the lodge in the jungle, Amazon Planet, on tripadvisor, you would get a similar story.
Travel is such a personal thing. Thanks for reading and sharing your opinions. My advice to people is read and choose those things that interest you most.
rick – maybe you should wrote your own post. agreed with Matt. this is clearly a subjective matter.
Rick, even you travel expensively.
Collectivo from Cusco-Urubamba-Ollantaytambo : 10 Soles
Camping in Ollantaytambo : Free
Collectivo from Ollantaytambo-Urubamba : 3 Soles
Bus from Urubamba-Calca-Pisac: 3 Soles
Camping in Pisac: Free
Bus from Pusac-Cusco: 3 Soles
Cusco Hostel (w/wifi, showers, Latin breakfast): 4 Soles/night
5 nights lodging & transportation: 27 Soles = ~$10 US
(Food also quite cheap if you eat Peruvian menu del dia, and not tourist restaurants)
Anon – that is quite cheap!!