JW Marriott Cusco

It wasn’t always so, but these days a good luxury hotel is, almost by definition, a hotel with a story behind it, or at least a hotel with some character. Pillow-top beds, vast high-tech screens, shoe-shine service: these things can only take a place so far. Certainly the JW Marriott Cusco checks all those boxes and then some, but what really sets it apart is that it’s palpably atmospheric — the rooms are oxygen-enriched, a great comfort for a hotel at an elevation above 3,400 meters, but we also mean “atmospheric” in a more metaphorical way. Located in the heart of Cusco’s historic city center, just a few blocks from the Plaza de Armas, the JW occupies the site of a 16th-century convent which itself was built atop centuries-old Incan ruins. It took the Marriott team six years to refurbish (and to a large extent reconstruct) the building. And the result is impressive indeed, combining a deep sense of history with the tasteful modern interiors of a brand-new, high-end hotel.

JW, of course, is the Marriott hotel group’s luxury boutique line. We love the quirky independents as much as anyone, but if you’re going to sleep in a place that not too long ago was an archaeological site, there’s something to be said for a hotelier with a brand to live up to. All of which is a rather abstract way of saying that the rooms are well-designed, the service professional and all the usual luxuries accounted for. There’s a full-service spa with Inca-inspired treatments, a pair of casual but ambitious Peruvian restaurants and a bar that does a mean pisco sour. There are even business and meeting facilities, for the fortunate business traveler whose duties call them to Cusco — a city that can feel, in the best way, like a living adventure travel brochure.

The hotel’s sense of place runs deep. It’s all built around a traditional stone courtyard, the largest in a city that’s quite big on courtyards to begin with. Some of the rooms incorporate ancient Inca stonework and colonial walls from the original structures, while others have terraces with views of the convent’s old cloisters. Nor does the ambience fade when you leave the grounds. Outside the door is one of the most richly historic cities in the Americas, with Machu Picchu just a little ways beyond.