Peru:
Lodging
Lima: Hospedaje
Jose Luis (http://www.hoteljoseluis.com/)
Comments: recommended;
nice and reliable, in particular you can ask them to pick you up at the
airport. Rooms on the second floor are nicer.
Arequipa: Tambo Viejo (www.tamboviejo.com)
Comments: the hotel is nice; however the reservation system
through email is completely unreliable; after at least 10 email
exchanges in which every time we had to correct some mistake, in the
end our room was not reserved and neither were the tours we thought we
had booked!
Puno: Hostal
Los Uros (www.losuros.com)
Comments: recommended;
very cheap, very nice, very reliable (we had booked a 2-day tour on the
islands, which was very nice; we needed to take bus tickets for the
next day, they nicely proposed to take the tickets for us while we were
on the islands. They got the tickets and even brought us by taxi to the
bus terminal!).
Cuzco: Hostal Sumac Wasi
(www.sumacwasi.com)
Comments: recommended;
very nice people, reliable. Alfredo speaks only spanish (and quechua!)
but is learning english; he organized for us a perfect 3 day tour with
2 nights in Aguas Calientes which included Valle Sagrado, Machu Picchu
and on the 3rd day Maras, Moray and Chinchero (with him as a guide for
the last day) at a very good price.
Aguas Calientes: Hostal Los Caminantes
Comments: on the railroad station; nice.
Cajamarca: El Portal del Marqués
(www.portaldelmarques.com)
Celendin: Celendin Hostal
Comments: basic.
Chachapoyas: El Chillo
(www.estanciachillo.com)
Comments: recommended;
one of the nicest places in Peru, far from everything, with a warm
welcome by very
friendly people, good food, nice rooms, and even a swimming-pool.
Chiclayo:
Garza Hotel
Comments: luxury hotel, no particular remarks.
Trujillo: La casa de Clara
Comments: although recommended by many guides, TO
AVOID ABSOLUTELY!! The few double rooms with bath are
so close to the bar that it is very noisy. Clara explains that she
knows more than all archeologists in the world (because she saw Chan
Chan being discovered... we have rarely seen someone so arrogant!) and
convinces you to have a tour of the interesting places with her. Her
comments on the sites are however essentially numerology plus anecdotes
about her life plus some well-known generalities. Michael seems at
first more interested by football games than by his guests but in the
tour he is a much better and more interesting guide than Clara.
In the end however, they nicely booked for us the bus tickets that we
needed, getting up very early to go and queue at the bus terminal.