Twenty casitas stand in the terraced hills above Peru's Colca Valley, each with a private plunge pool and a view down one of the deepest canyons on earth. Before dawn the condors lift off the cliffs and ride the thermals.
Las Casitas sits near the village of Yanque, three hours north of Arequipa by road. The drive climbs through the high Andes, past herds of alpaca and vicuña, before it drops into the green seam of the valley floor. The last stretch runs along terraces that pre-Inca farmers cut into these slopes.
Those terraces still hold their shape. The Collagua and Cabana peoples worked this land from around 600 AD, and their walls step down the hillsides to the river. Belmond set the lodge into the same grain, low stone casitas that keep close to the ground.
The casitas
There are twenty in all. Each one has a terrace and a heated plunge pool, angled at the valley and the peaks beyond. Inside there are open fires, local weaves and deep beds, the kind of room you sink into once the light goes and the temperature drops.
The casitas with valley and garden views run to 120 square metres. The Presidential Casita takes 240, with its own fireplace and dining room. All of them sleep up to three. The night sky here holds more stars than most guests have ever seen, with no town glow for miles.
Las Casitas, A Belmond Hotel, Colca Canyon — Courtesy of Belmond
The canyon
The Colca falls more than three thousand metres from rim to river, deeper than the Grand Canyon. The draw is the Cruz del Condor, a lookout where the Andean condor rises on the morning air. Guests leave in the dark and reach the rim as the first birds appear, wings wider than a man is tall.
Back at the lodge the days fill without effort. There are walking trails through the terraces, horseback rides along the ridges, and birdwatching in the reeds by the water. Alpacas graze the lawns. The outdoor pool sits warm against the cold mountain air.
You come for the condors and the canyon. You stay for the quiet that settles over the valley once the light has gone.
The Splendid EditThe table
Dinner is at Curiña, the lodge's one restaurant. The kitchen cooks in the Colca tradition, built around produce pulled from the garden on the grounds. Andean grains, river trout and highland herbs carry the menu, plated without fuss.
The Samay Spa handles the recovery. Altitude asks something of the body, and the treatments lean on local botanicals to ease it. There is a eucalyptus steam room and an outdoor whisper pool set against the hills, best taken late in the day.
The trip
Most guests fold Las Casitas into a wider Peru run. Arequipa and its white volcanic streets sit a morning away, and Cusco and the Sacred Valley lie beyond. Two or three nights in the canyon settle the pace before the rest of the country picks it up again.
The altitude rewards a slow arrival. Rise early for the condors, spend the afternoons by the pool, let the spa do its work. Bookings through belmond.com.
Las Casitas, A Belmond Hotel, Colca Canyon sits above the Colca Valley near Yanque, about three hours from Arequipa. Details at belmond.com.
Photography courtesy of Belmond — © Belmond, Las Casitas, A Belmond Hotel, Colca Canyon