Belmond Hotel Monasterio occupies a 16th-century monastery, but with modern amenities plus the service standards of Belmond hotels.

Palacio Nazarenas, A Belmond Hotel, Cusco, occupies a fabulous former palace and convent, but has been updated to feature the best room product in Cusco.

This Peruvian chain has numerous hotels in Cusco, including the four-star Casa Andina Private Collection, but this is the most centrally located of its value line. Only a block from the Plaza de Armas and the cathedral, the property is clean and cheery and extremely well priced. Andean details, such as woven orange-and-red-striped carpets and rustic wooden tables, add a sense of place to the somewhat corporate interiors. There’s an on-site restaurant and free Wi-Fi and laundry service, but no gym or room service.

Who Shouldn’t Stay

Anyone who expects pampering. There’s a do-it-yourself philosophy here; you’ll carry your own bags and serve yourself from the breakfast buffet.

This 18th-century mansion was converted into a 94-room hotel in 2006 and quickly became a less expensive alternative to the Hotel Monasterio. In fact, it is the only four-star hotel in Cusco to offer oxygen-enriched rooms. (The five-star Monasterio, Palacio Nazarenas and the Casa Cartagena are the other options.) Casa Andina is a major Peruvian hotel chain, and the Private Collection brand is its most luxurious tier. This hotel is popular particularly with Europeans, who are drawn to the family rooms, which can accommodate six people.

Centered on three interior courtyards, the building has loads of Spanish colonial charm, which is played up in the public spaces. The lobby has huge wooden doors, stone archways, cobalt blue walls and views into the courtyard, with its stone fountain. There’s a lovely bar and sitting area off the lobby that has deep red walls, religious paintings in gilded frames and a stone fireplace where a fire burns continuously. The restaurant offers seating outside in the courtyard at umbrella-shaded teak tables and chairs and buzzes with locals from morning until late at night.

Often a woman sits weaving in the courtyard, giving visitors the sense that they are sitting in a village plaza somewhere in the Sacred Valley. The rooms are a tad corporate in feeling, as they have cookie-cutter furniture and generic bathrooms, but they are spacious and comfortable. And while it’s a bit less central than some of the other top hotels, Casa Andina is a great choice for families and those who don’t want to spend more than a lot per room.

Who Shouldn’t Stay

Those who expect antiques in every room and snap-to service.

Like the Hotel Monasterio, the Casa Cartagena occupies a building that has been declared a national landmark by the Peruvian government. The foundations of the glorious palace, which was once the home of Don Fernando Cartagena, were laid by the Inca, but the grand layout and proportions were adapted for a Spanish noble. Just up the street from the Museum of Pre-Columbian Art and the square where the hotels Monasterio and La Casona are, Casa Cartagena opened as Cusco’s newest luxury hotel, and one of only three with oxygen-enriched rooms, in March 2009. (The Monasterio and Casa Andina Private Collection are the others.)

Many of the palace’s antique details have been beautifully restored, such as wall frescoes, stone floors and the central courtyard (from which you can see the White Christ that towers over the city), but more than any other hotel in town, this one has embraced 20th century modern design. All of the furniture and lighting was imported from Italy. The bar has space-age bar stools as well as interior lights that change hue. Each of the sixteen suites is slightly different, but all combine a historic framework (the doors, shutters and wood floors are traditional) with ultramodern decor. Philippe Starck plastic desk chairs, original pieces from Moroso, tailored leather headboards, sleek steel and leather lounge chairs are accented by contemporary Kartell Italian lights and LCD TVs. The bathrooms, which resemble those in Italian architecture magazines, feature Bisazza tiles, are easily twice the size of most other hotel bathrooms in Cusco and have enormous tubs, separate glass-walled showers and vast sink areas.

In addition to a gym and a business center, the hotel has a three-story spa and La Chola, one of the best restaurants in town. The two largest suites are the Presidential Suite and the Royal Suite. In the Royal Suite, which is on two levels, the bathroom is divided from the master bedroom only by a hanging sculpture of white leaves like a screen, so it may not appeal to everyone.

La Casona is a handsome mansion on one of Cusco’s prettiest squares, drawing the fashion and art crowds with its chic interiors and laid-back atmosphere.