Cusco Hilton Garden Inn-hotels

We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn in Cusco for 4 nights total - 3 before our Inca Trail trek with Alpaca Expeditions and 1 night after the trek. We arranged with HGI to store our large luggage while we were gone for the 5 day/4 night trek. Very simple process to do this and all our belongings were kept safe and sound and returned to us in good order. Overall the HGI was a good place to stay. It is is about a 15 minute walk from the Plaza de Armas, uphill all the way. We didn't mind so much since that helped get us ready for our trek. It's in a quiet area. The Plaza is quite busy and noisy, and was especially the night a political rally was being held. I was glad our hotel was not right on the plaza that night. Rooms were a nice size. Our first room was a king-size bed with a view of Cusco. The second room had a view of the courtyard. Both had hot showers, room safe, blow-dryer, and toiletries. One thing to note is that the hotel floors are reversed from the norm. You enter the lobby at street level and then go DOWN to floors 1,2,3, and 4. Ask for a room on Floor 2 or below. Floor 1 is right underneath the lobby and we were kept awake by the sounds of walking, chairs scraping, etc. until quite late at night after we returned for one night after the trek. The breakfast buffet was plentiful and offered quite a variety of choices. The main reason we give this HGI only 4 stars is for the laundry issue. After a week in Peru, we needed to do laundry when we arrived at HGI. Yes, there are laundry facilities in the hotel. However, you can't just put in a few soles, add your own soap, and wash a load. Noooo, they have it fixed so that you MUST purchase a packet of tokens, detergent, and softener from them for a whopping 52 soles!! That's outrageous and taking advantage of a ”captive audience.” Well, not these guests. We simply bagged up our laundry and dropped it off at one of the dozens of laundry shops on the street right around the corner. It cost us 36 soles AND we supported a local, family-run business. Win-win. And boo on HGI for boasting about laundry facilities they actually charge an arm and a leg to use.