Sol y Luna - Relais & Chateaux — Hotel in Urubamba

Sol Y Luna was a wonderful place to stay while we explored the Sacred Valley. The setting, in the shadow of the Andes mountains, was inspiring. The casitas were spacious, comfortable and afforded privacy - no neighbors on the other side of a wall. The grounds were beautifully landscaped and fun to explore. There is a Paso Fino horse farm on the property. The breakfast buffet was by far the best of our trip, plus they offer hot made-to-order options at no extra cost. The service was what set this place apart, though. Attentive, but not intrusive, they were happy to anticipate and take care of all reasonable needs. The deep tissue massage one of us had was excellent. The always elegant Malo came to check on us every morning at breakfast to make sure everything was to our satisfaction.

Prior to our first arrival, when our flight to Cusco was delayed for 6 hours, our guide (the inestimable Darwin Mendoza of Terra Explorers) suggested we order ahead of time from Wayra Restaurant's online menu so we could have a good meal that evening. Wayra, one of two restaurants on the property, kept the kitchen open at least an hour late to accommodate the 8 of us, but there were no signs of grumbling from the wait staff. We were escorted to our table and the food was in front of us in moments. It was delicious, and we felt very well taken care of. They eagerly invited us to dine there again the next night.

One of our party arrived with a stomach bug, and the staff offered to make muna (~on the n) tea for him to have in his casita during the day as he recovered. Muna is Andean mint which is soothing to the stomach.

We stayed here immediately following a stay at a Amazonian rain forest lodge which was very close to nature. What a welcome change! We would definitely...

I travelled to Peru and stayed at Sol Y Luna from Jan 9-11. It is a turbulent period right now in Peru, and many visitors have cancelled their plans. We were so lucky to have this beautiful property to ourselves. The gardens are gorgeous, the views are spectacular, and the service is exceptional. I celebrated my 50th birthday there, and the staff provided me with an amazing meal and took into consideration our food restrictions. We then found ourselves in a situation where our flights were cancelled due to the political unrest, and we had gone through a rough day before where we needed to find a place to shelter and recover from what we had experienced. We requested to go back to Sol Y Luna because, to us, that was home. We wanted to be in familiar, peaceful, and safe surroundings. Malo, the assistant manager there, was so kind and helpful with making the arrangements for our stay at the last min. He even took time out of his day to show us around the city. He patiently answered all of our questions and went above and beyond what was needed. He even followed up the next day to see if we safely made it to our next destination. He went above and beyond his job requirements. This property also benefits a local school next door, where they do charity work for the locals. Seeing the work that Alana and Sol Y Luna are doing to help the community adds to the magical atmosphere of the property. If you are travelling to Peru, check out Sol Y Luna in the Sacred Valley. Say hi to the best assistant manager (who definitely needs a raise), and visit the amazing charity work done next door. After everything my friends and I went through on our trip, we will always remember the kindness shown to us in our time of...

The hardware of the hotel would warrant a proper five star review but there were a few issues during our stay:

1. there was a mix up with our spa booking so when we went to the spa for our appointment there was no record of our booking. The staff just ignored us, and there was no phone in the spa reception, so we had to walk to the front desk in the rain to ask for help (the front desk did have a record of our spa booking). We ended up waiting for 30 minutes for them to get things ready and ran late for our dinner appointment.
2. it was pouring when we were booked to do a horse riding session around the area. We asked if there was any cancellation policy given the weather and they told us there wasnt one - if we don't show up it would still be charged (this decision took 30 minutes from the staff to make since apparently the manager was not in and they had to find her). The weather improved a little and we ended up going even though our session was cut short by 30 minutes while waiting for the staff to reply. Bit dangerous to in effect force guests to participate in an outdoor activity during bad weather.
3. the spa menu was listed in $ signs and we were verbally told that that equals American dollars after our spa. This is Peru, and not even an American hotel, and there was nothing that explicitly says the price was charged in USD. The $ sign is used in over 20 countries in the world and does not only mean USD nor is USD an official currency in Peru so that was...