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It’s official! Palacio Nazarenas is launched

September 27, 12 //
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By Stephan Post, Launch General Manager, Palacio Nazarenas

Last week saw the culmination of years of hard work: a spectacular party launched Palacio Nazarenas onto the Cuzco scene. The evening was filled with fireworks, fabulous food and fashions, and lots of fun. Our team welcomed over 150 guests to the hotel, including politicians, diplomats, film stars and international media.

The evening kicked off with the official cutting of the ribbon beside Cuzco’s first outdoor swimming pool, and finished with the Afro-Peruvian sounds of one of South America’s top musicians, Micky Gonzales.

The celebrations marked the conclusion of four years dedicated to restoring this beautiful building while taking it forward as a contemporary hotel. Now we turn our attention to our guests, and to ensuring that they discover all that Cuzco has to offer in an exceptional way.

So now that the hotel is fully fledged it’s time to say “goodbye” to this blog. This is the final post, as we focus all our energies on ensuring that our guests have a fantastic stay.

We’ll be leaving the blog in place for a while so that anyone who wants to discover our “back story’ can find out more. Please, come and visit us and let us turn these words and pictures into an experience to remember.

Candles illuminate the area surrounding Cuzco's first outdoor pool

Candles illuminate the area surrounding Cuzco's first outdoor pool

Vanessa Saba

Vanessa Saba

Anna Laevski, Dominika Paleta and Lorena Pérez Moya

Anna Laevski, Dominika Paleta and Lorena Pérez Moya

Eduardo Ferrero and his wife Verónica, María Rosa Arrarte

Eduardo Ferrero and his wife Verónica, María Rosa Arrarte

Mauricio Bustamante and his wife Claudia Abuid. Pedro Diez Canseco and his wife Jessika Gómez

Mauricio Bustamante and his wife Claudia Abuid. Pedro Diez Canseco and his wife Jessika Gómez

Gina Gabbard and her husband Chris, Kimberly Wilson Wetty

Gina Gabbard and her husband Chris, Kimberly Wilson Wetty

Mr. Manuel Zúñiga

Mr. Manuel Zúñiga

Fátima Arrieta and her husband Alfredo Arosemena

Fátima Arrieta and her husband Alfredo Arosemena

Vania Masías and her husband Erick Hanschke

Vania Masías and her husband Erick Hanschke

Planning the grand opening

September 5, 12 //
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By Stephan Post, Launch General Manager, Palacio Nazarenas

This is the moment we’ve been building up to: our grand opening party takes place this weekend.

Orient-Express has spent years restoring Palacio Nazarenas and turning it into Cuzco’s finest boutique hotel. Last June we opened our doors to our first guests. Now that we’ve settled into our rhythm we’re excited to be holding our official launch event.

Planning the grand opening...

Planning the grand opening...

We’re busy putting the final touches to the party. On our guest list are leading travel agents and press from around the world. We’ve lined up some amazing local food, drinks and entertainment. We want our guests to experience exactly what makes Palacio Nazarenas so special—we’ll be celebrating its amazing story from pre-Inca times up until today.

So stay in touch, and see you next week when we’ll share the party highlights.

Local farmers come to visit

August 24, 12 //
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By Stephan Post, Launch General Manager, Palacio Nazarenas

Last Monday, three representatives from Peru’s Agrarian Investigation Institute came to visit us at the hotel. They then joined our chef, Virgilio Martinez, on a tour of the Sacred Valley, meeting some of the farmers and their communities in what are often remote and inaccessible areas.

Chef Virgilio Martinez toured the Sacred Valley to meet farmers and source new ingredients for his kitchen.

Chef Virgilio Martinez toured the Sacred Valley to meet farmers and source new ingredients for his kitchen.

The trip resulted in a real harvest of ideas. So much so that we’ve invited the farmers to visit us here at Palacio Nazarenas, to demonstrate their products and skills. Starting next week we’ll be welcoming around 12 growers of native plants known for aromatic oils. Four more gatherings based around other crops are planned for the following weeks.

Any guests who are interested in unusual local produce are welcome to drop by. We’re all expecting to make exciting new discoveries that will find their way onto our Senzo restaurant menu and into treatments at Hypnoze spa.

Cheers to Jhony!

June 28, 12 //
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By Stephan Post, Launch General Manager, Palacio Nazarenas

There’s no better way to finish off an exciting day exploring Cuzco than with a cocktail by our Barman, Jhony. We’re delighted that our first guests have been exploring some of his more unusual creations. Jhony is known for mixing the meanest pisco sour east of Lima, and is always eager to share his secrets for success with anyone who wants to follow his lead. But he has also devised a range of individual cocktails especially for Palacio Nazarenas guests.

Jhony serves spectacular drinks beside the pool

Cusquenian Sunset is already proving especially popular. It’s a combination of tangerine juice and aniseed-macerated pisco, laced with cactus-seed syrup—perfect, he says, for those spectacular evenings when the skies over the Andes flare up red. Another winner is Hot Sacred Valley: a blend of cherry- and coffee-macerated piscos, Arequipenian lucuma liquor and espresso coffee. Jhony says it’s best enjoyed outdoors, by the light of the moon.

In the unlikely event that none of Jhonny’s cocktails tempts your fancy, just let him know your favourite flavours and he’ll magic up a cocktail especially for you.

10 Amazing Days

June 25, 12 //
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By Stephan Post, Launch General Manager, Palacio Nazarenas

The last ten days have passed in a whirl, as Palacio Nazarenas has settled into life as a hotel. On our first day we held an opening ceremony, with a blessing by a priest. This was hugely important to us, as we are a religious building—a former convent with a mural of Christ that is revered by the people of Cuzco.

All guests were invited to a welcome cocktail and muña tea in the library, where one of our team gave a short presentation on the story of the hotel.

Near the front desk there is a wooden turntable that the Nazarenas nuns used to sell sweets and embroidery to support themselves. By placing items on this rotating device they could sell their wares without being seen. Marzipan was one of their most popular items, so on the hotel’s opening day, we set out some marzipan treats on it for guests to try.

Since opening, we have continued to train staff and fine tune our service. We’ve also had the enjoyable task of trying out the new menu at Senzo restaurant by chef Virgilio Martinez. We’ve now worked our way through all the dishes—a really exciting experience.

Taste sensations at Senzo restaurant, by chef Virgilio Martinez

Today’s the Day!

June 15, 12 //
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By Stephan Post, Launch General Manager, Palacio Nazarenas

Years of work have all come together. Today we open our doors to welcome our first guests. All our staff have completed their initial training and are putting on their uniforms. They’ve spent weeks practicing: now it’s for real. I can’t tell you the sense of excitement that everyone is feeling. We are all set to thoroughly spoil the first visitors to our beautiful new hotel.

Over the past few weeks we’ve been working hard to bring the spirit of Cuzco to life within the hotel. Gently-heated water awaits bathers in Cuzco’s first outdoor infinity pool. Menus have been printed with the amazing dishes that await diners at Senzo, the destination restaurant. We even have our own bespoke fragrance, based on local flowers, that guests can take home to remind themselves of their stay.


Our 55 luxurious suites have many touches to surprise and delight. Among these are the bath pillows filled with dried herbs from the hotel gardens that release an exotic aroma when in a tub. Many rooms have spectacular views over the rooftops of Cuzco and some even look out towards the Ausangate mountain beyond.

To celebrate the launch, Orient-Express has put together a special opening package that will allow guests to discover the gastronomy of Cuzco. The “Taste of Cuzco” programme includes a market tour and cooking class with Chef Director Virgilio Martinez, not to mention a special dinner based on each guest’s choice of ingredients.

But now it’s time to say our first “hellos”. Watch this space for our next report—as a fully fledged hotel.

Restoring the ancient works of art

March 30, 12 //
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By Janna Rapaport, Interior designer

I’ve recently been working on Palacio Nazarenas’ collection of historic paintings and statues. We plan to display a number of paintings in the chapel and to restore four or five of the statues to place in special locations around the hotel.

In the photographs, the two statues in the front are particularly important. On the right is an 18th-century depiction of Archangel Gabriel.

Antique statues being restored at Palacio Nazarenas.

Remarkably, our restoration coordinator Ximena will be able to make him a new hand and repair his original robes. On the left is a figure of the Virgin from the same period. The other statues, though perhaps not quite as dramatic, are nearly as old.

To my amazement and delight, there are still seamstresses in Cuzco who specialise in dressing religious statues, and will make new clothing where the originals no longer exist. (Many statues traditionally wear different robes throughout the year, according to the religious calendar.) I’m really looking forward to that part of the project as well.

On the Scent

March 26, 12 //
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By Stephan Post, General Manager – Palacio Nazarenas

I’m excited to tell you about a new fragrance that we’re creating especially for Palacio Nazarenas. Our hotel is filled with gardens, flowers and Andean herbs and we wanted to have a special scent that would capture their perfume, and that guests can take home to remind them of their stay.

Liliana de Pagnota, creator of a fragrance for Palacio Nazarenas, checks out flowers in Peru's Sacred Valley.

Our fragrance creator, Liliana de Pagnota, was also keen that the perfume should reflect Cuzco itself. And so off we went to the San Pedro market. It’s a dazzling place that I recommend to every visitor to Cuzco. She explored it “like a bloodhound”, as she described it, overwhelmed by the scents of all the exotic fruits piled up on the stalls. She also visited the cathedral, where she loved the light scents of cedar wood, and St Catherine’s Convent, with its incense and the marzipan that the nuns sell from a small shop at the door.

But most of all the fragrance is about local flowers and plants such as muna and cantuta, orchids from Antisuyo, jasmine and eucalyptus from the Sacred Valley and a collection of rare herbs from around Ollantaytambo. It sounds like quite a heady combination, but the perfume is in fact calm and relaxing—perfect for our spa and a good night’s sleep at the end of an exciting day.

The balcony is complete!

January 27, 12 //
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By Enrique Palacio, Principal Architect

This Cuzco-style balcony in local wood marks a key step forward in the completion of Palacio Nazarenas.

It forms part of a suite and that has fabulous views out over the city rooftops and the Andes beyond. The carving and joinery was done by local craftsmen working under the direction of heritage consultant architect, Roberto Samanez. If you stroll around Plaza de Armas, the central square close by the hotel, you’ll see many similar balconies.

A new magazine features Palacio Nazarenas

November 14, 11 //
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by Stephan Post, General Manager Hotel Monasterio and Palacio Nazarenas

We’ve just launched an exciting new magazine—Highlights: An Invitation to Peru—with a major feature on Palacio Nazarenas.  It also contains articles on other unique experiences available through Orient-Express, including food and dining, wildlife and festivals. Plus you can discover how to plan your trip with Orient-Express, and add extensions in Brazil, the Galapagos Islands and elsewhere in Peru.

Click here to read Highlights online.  Or, if you’d prefer to sit back with a print copy, just let us know and we’ll put one in the post (while stocks last).

Highlights of Peru

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