Casa San Blas, Cusco

...what it was about the Casa San Blas at Cusco that I liked so much. The hotel is certainly not without its limitations and even its failings, but it's a nevertheless a charming and delightful place to stay. Let's try to summarise what it has to offer.


* Location *

The Casa San Blas is situated just a few minutes' walk from Cusco's Plaza de Armas (central square), and is therefore convenient for all the main sights ...
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The Casa San Blas is small, having been converted from a former merchant's house of no great grandeur. The 250-year-old building has been sensitively restored, retaining many of the original features. Approached down its little stone-paved cul-de-sac, it presents a welcoming aspect to the world, its entrance overhung with bougainvillea, while lanterns and potted geraniums decorate the walls, and two parasoled tables flank the separate ... more

Why does one like or dislike a hotel? Sometimes the reasons are obvious - a clean, polite place will beat a rude, slovenly one in anyone's book - but sometimes they're not. Naturally, the criteria vary from person to person. In my own case, having stayed at literally hundreds of hotels in my time, I still find it difficult to pinpoint what makes the crucial difference.

Size matters, but it isn't everything. Even quite large hotels can sometimes prove pleasant to stay in. Ownership matters. Generally, independent hotels are better than those managed by chains because they are less typecast and their owners care more than employee-managers do, but there are exceptions: I've even stayed at Hiltons I've enjoyed, whilst some family-run places (à la Fawlty Towers) are the pits. Facilities and décor matter, but tasteful simplicity often trumps ritzy ostentation. Attentive service matters, but nothing is nastier than the kind of smarmy obsequiousness that always seems to mask a sneer. And so on. Maybe it's simply down to that indefinable essence known as character or personality.

These inconsequential musings are prompted by my trying to pinpoint what it was about the Casa San Blas at Cusco that I liked so much. The hotel is certainly not without its limitations and even its failings, but it's a nevertheless a charming and delightful place to stay. Let's try to summarise what it has to offer.

* Location *

The Casa San Blas is situated just a few minutes' walk from Cusco's Plaza de Armas (central square), and is therefore convenient for all the main sights of the ancient Inca capital, such as the Qorikancha (Sun Temple), the Cathedral and the Compañia (Jesuit) church. It tucked away in a little cul-de-sac off a cobbled lane that rises steeply from the Plaza de Armas through the ancient artisan, now more artistic, quarter of San Blas.

'Picturesque' is how San Blas is described in all the guidebooks, but despite that it's not a bad description. The narrow streets and courtyards, often based on the original Inca stonework, are crammed with craft markets selling sculptures, pottery, jewellery, alpaca clothing, textiles and other artefacts. The district is home to many cafés, bars and restaurants. It's an ideal location, not just for daytime sight-seeing, but for venturing out in the evening to eat and drink.

* Style and scale *

The Casa San Blas is small, having been converted from a former merchant's house of no great grandeur. The 250-year-old building has been sensitively restored, retaining many of the original features. Approached down its little stone-paved cul-de-sac, it presents a welcoming aspect to the world, its entrance overhung with bougainvillea, while lanterns and potted geraniums decorate the walls, and two parasoled tables flank the separate doorway to its restaurant.

The Casa San Blas describes itself as a 'boutique hotel'. I am never quite sure what this term means, and am sometimes suspicious that it implies pretentiousness. But in this case any such misgivings were misplaced; all 'boutique' turned out to mean is unpretentiously human-scale, individual in itself and attentive to the individual needs of individual guests.

* Reception and service *

Arriving at the hotel you will probably be greeted by Elisabeth, who always seems to be behind the desk and must work extraordinary hours. (I only hope I've spelled her name correctly; it is pronounced without the "h".) However spelt, she is a lady of seemingly inexhaustible energy and charm. She will make you feel at home as the formalities are seen to, explaining in excellent English anything that needs explaining and offering advice on any outings you may be considering. She is not a stickler for rules.

"Is that really the checkout time?" I asked, noticing that the specified hour seemed alarmingly early.

"No," she replied without the slightest hesitation, just a smile and a shrug. "Check out whatever time suits you."

That's the kind of attitude I like in a hotel. The Casa San Blas boasts a high staff-to-guest ratio (2:1), and there is always help at hand if you need it, but it is not unctious or officious. All the staff members with whom we had dealings were both friendly and efficient.

* Accommodation *

The Casa San Blas has six suites and thirteen other guest rooms. Each is decorated in individual style based on a motif from traditional local art or textile design, although it has to be said that the theming is applied sparingly. Some of the furnishings - bedspreads for example - are disappointingly conventional, even bland. The hotel website talks about "handmade colonial furniture", and it seemed decently-designed, solid and comfortable enough, but really nothing extraordinary.

We stayed three nights in total. For the first two (before going on to Machu Picchu), we were in a "suite apartment" on the top (third) floor, opening onto a terrace with a spectacular view across the rooftops of Cusco to the surrounding mountains. There are more parasoled tables on the terrace, at which to sit while admiring the view, and potted plants to make one feel at home. The suite was spacious and airy, arranged in duplex style with the bedroom upstairs. The lounge area below included a well-equipped kitchenette, and there was a private bathroom.

For our third night (on the way back) we were upgraded at no extra charge to the "senior suite", larger still and even more impressively equipped, with a full kitchen if we'd wanted to cook for ourselves, and a jacuzzi in the bathroom. It was a nice gesture, but a questionable benefit, since this suite is over the front of the hotel. As a result one loses the view from the terrace and gains some noise from the street, whereas the third-floor apartments are soporifically quiet.

I only caught a brief glimpse one of the regular double bedrooms; although smaller, it also looked roomy enough and well-furnished. All rooms have private bathrooms with bathrobes and toiletries provided, cable TV, direct dial telephones and safes.

* Facilities and services *

In such a small hotel, facilities are inevitably limited, but we found them quite sufficient for our needs.

Having free coffee, tea and coca tea available around the clock in the reception area is a hospitable touch. Coca tea, incidentally, is rather tasteless and certainly not intoxicating, but does allegedly help offset the effects of altitude (Cusco is at 3,400m/11,000ft, which can unsettle visitors fresh up from sea level); if it proves insufficient, there is also an oxygen cylinder on hand. In the same area, internet access is provided free of charge, with two terminals available to guests. In an adjacent area is the Piano Bar. Well, there's a bar and there's a piano; I never heard it played but then I didn't spend much time there. There is also a massage room, but I didn't try that either.

If warned in advance of your arrival, the hotel will arrange free pick-up and transfer from Cusco airport, and return you to it after your stay. If you are planning, as we did, to straddle your stay around a foray up to Machu Picchu, the hotel will look after any excess luggage in the meantime. Nearer outings can also be arranged at short notice; Elisabeth fixed us up on the spot with a taxi-driver to take us to Sacsayhuaman, a few miles outside Cusco, and wait while we looked around the Inca ruins there (which, incidentally, are magnificent), at a rate that surprised us by its cheapness and compared favourably with what we heard quoted for similar forays elsewhere.

And, of course, there is the restaurant.

* Food *

The Tika Bistro attached is as much a boutique restaurant as the Casa San Blas is a boutique hotel. The décor is stylish; the dark biscuit-coloured walls are pierced by little brightly-lit niches displaying local artefacts. Mirrors give an illusion of size. It has just six tables for breakfast, eight in the evening when the buffet is cleared away; plus two tables outside, but Cusco is cold at night and you wouldn't want to dine outside.

The buffet breakfast fare is tasty but conventional in concept: fresh fruit, bread and pastries, cold cheese and ham, cooked eggs, bacon and so on - you might find it anywhere. It is in the evening that the Tika comes into its own, offering a fusion of Peruvian and South-East Asian cuisine with a few other influences thrown in for kicks. For example: chicken stuffed with vegetables, Andean cheese and bacon, served with lemongrass risotto and fruit chutneys; or, trout poupiette and roasted Andean potatoes with greens in a teriyaki and aguaymanto vinaigrette. We had both of these and very good they were too. Most of the ingredients are said to be organic, incidentally.

The wine list is limited and almost entirely South American, but it's easy to find something drinkable to go with the meal. Service is friendly and helpful. Unfortunately I've lost my itemised bill, but I do remember that the prices seemed very reasonable by local standards.

Room service is also available.

* Chain affiliation *

Having talked at the outset of preferring independent hotels to chains, I'm slightly embarrassed to discover that the Casa San Blas, which I had assumed from its character to be independent, is part of a chain. It is, though, a chain of very few links and only local ones. The Casa San Blas was its first and founding member. As yet, the only other member is the Urubamba Boutique Lodge over in the sacred valley, but there is another one due to open this year at Sacsayhuaman, for which historic building has been converted.

The chain is called Planet Earth, and yes, it does claim environmental ideals, although the only sign of them in action is the use of recyclable materials where possible. Still, such ideals are always to be applauded.

* Room rates…. *

….range from a standard bedroom for one at US$70 a night all the way up to the senior suite at US$160. Rack rate for the "suite apartment" we booked is US$130, though I think we may have got it a bit cheaper though our travel agent (it's hard to separate out the exact figure from the overall total). Given the style and standards of the place, and the fact that accommodation in Cusco is in great demand, I felt these rates were pretty reasonable.

* Conclusion and recommendation *

The Casa San Blas is certainly not one of the world's great hotels, or even one of the greatest I've ever stayed in (unlike, for example, the Inkaterra Pueblo at Machu Picchu). It's small scale and offers only limited facilities, but it knows how to make the most of its assets and it focuses on what matters most to the customer, or at least to me. Indeed, I would sum up its merits by saying that it's one of the few places I've stayed where I felt I was treated not so much as a customer or even a client, but genuinely as a guest.

I started off this review by talking about that "indefinable essence known as character or personality". Of course, they're not exactly the same thing, but the Casa San Blas has both, and more importantly still, the right attitude. Given that it's splendidly situated and not exorbitantly expensive, I'd recommend it to anyone planning to stay in Cusco. And I'd recommend a stay in Cusco to anyone and everyone.

© torr 2008

A review of an excellent, albeit expensive, place to stay when seeing Machu Picchu may be found at:
http://travel.ciao.co.uk/Inkaterra_Pueblo_Hotel_Machu_Picchu__Review_5 731324

A review of Machu Picchu itself may be found at:
http://travel.ciao.co.uk/Machu_Picchu_Peru__Review_5734092 

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