I stayed at the Tierra Cusco Viva Hotel with my mother and a cousin with his girlfriend between February 26th to March 2nd,2013. I read the good reviews on trip advisor and based on these reviews and the very good price I found online (average of about $90 dollars/night for a superior double room), I decided to give it a try.

From the time they picked us at the airport, I sensed that the good reviews were accurate. Yes, it does not have a spa, pool, fancy restaurant, gym, etc, but the rooms are better than some 5 start hotels I have stayed in before. These rooms are very spacious with really good beds and nice decoration. In addition, the environment and weather of Cusco makes staying on a hotel boutique like Tierra Viva more in line with the travel experience of this area, than staying at fancy chain hotel “to my liking”.

The location is excellent just a few blocks away from the Plaza de Armas (Cusco downtown), the hotel itself is very charming; the breakfast although simple is excellent. Now, the hotel staff goes well beyond their way to make you very comfortable and well taken care of. I was there for my mother’s birthday and they even gave us a beautiful complimentary flowers arrangement that was waiting for her at the room when we checked in. Especially Karla Rosetti (reservations office) and Isabel (Hotel’s front desk) were extremely helpful with our party.

The hotel has a person “Jesus” that is a very cordial and overall nice guy andw who has an arrangement with them to offer tours to the guests. For convenience, as we arrived to Cusco around 11 Am and wanted to do the first tour that same afternoon and we booked the three majors tours (Cusco City Tour, Machu Picchu, and Sacred Valley) through him without checking around for other options.

The tours went fairly Ok although they “forgot” to mention a couple of important things such as that as we were Colombians, we had the opportunity of buying the Machu Picchu ticket entries as Peruvians (40% cheaper) as we are part of the Andean’s community. As I found out the price difference while cheking the tickets when they were given to me from what we paid originally for them, $142 soles (US $57)/person and what the tickets actually cost $81 soles (US$33)/person, Jesus did offer to give us bad the difference or offered to compensate for this “oversight” with a private tour guide guy that we were supposed to have in Machu Picchu to see things at our own pace. Well private tour guide was just “private” for 2.0 hours at most and then he rushed to do another “private” tour, meaning that we should have taken back the almost $80 dollars in extra cost (A registered tour guide will give you the private 2 hours tour for about 30-40 dollars when hired in Machu PIcchu) ; also, the free buffet included on the sacred valley tour does not include any kind of drinks and that is where they get you, also the tour busses are not as comfortable as they tell you they are.

Now, I am sure and checked with others that were on the same tours, that you can get the same packages we bought for about 20%-30% less than what we paid but again, you would need to either book them on advance or shop a little on the Plaza de Armas that has tons of tour agencies. Keep in mind that the entry tickets to most attraction have a fixed price which is $130 soles (US $52) for the region/city (Boleto Turistico) that takes you to most places in Cusco and the Sacred Valley, and $152 soles (US $61) for the entry to Machu Picchu including Machu Picchu Mountain “unless you can get a cheaper price for being from the region as I explained above”. However, we did not have a lot of time to shop around, so we opted for the convenience of doing everything through the Hotel’s agent but take my words for what they are worth.

Finally, I really recommend this hotel for anybody that wants an excellent attention, with very nice rooms and on a charismatic hotel. I would have given this hotel an excellent review all day long but some of the issue with the tours, made me give them the very good. I would definilettely stay back there

My husband and I stayed 3 nigths in a deluxe room and felt soo comfortable...Good location, 10 minutes walk to the main plaza, in a safe area next to the police station. Friendly, excellent staff. Spacious room, big comfy bed, perfect bathroom and good bath products. Flat screen tv with lots of english channels. good wifi. The room was in a nice courtyard with a fountain, very quiet.
Breakfast buffet was delicious. Very pleasant experience and good value. Recomended....

We realy enjoy staying at this hotel - good location, very nice, friendly and helpfully stuff, cozy and clean rooms, huge bad, excellent brekfast, good wi-fi - all you need to to enjoy your staying. We spent there three nights and we don't want to go away.
I hope we will have the possiblity to return there in future.

This is a very nice, clean hotel. The hotel staff was friendly and helpful when we needed assistance with cabs or dinner recommendations. The location is slightly farther from the Plaza de Armas than the other Tierra Viva but the walk was not bad at all. Especially since the uphill walk is much more gradual and not quite as steep as the other Tierra Viva. Our group stayed in 2 rooms, both with courtyard views. Our room didn't have any outside windows that could be opened, which was the only complaint I had with the room. The beds were comfortable, sheets and towels clean, bathroom very well equipped. And hot water in the sink and shower! I had previously stayed at the other Tierra Viva and in comparison I think the view from that hotel is preferable since there is no real view from the courtyards of the Saphi.