Sleeping in Lima

This is a charming hotel, suitable for travellers like me who prefer boutique-style accommodation rather than high-rise hotels. The hotel is small enough to offer personalised service and you quickly get to know staff. Facilities are excellent and never seemed to be crowded.

Rooms are furnished with hand crafted furniture, quality queen size beds, original art, antiques, luxurious baths with colonial tile and brass fixtures , cable TV, free Wi-Fi access , safe deposit box, and direct access phones. All are air-conditioned and carpeted. Our standard room was smallish but very comfortable. Colonial rooms are larger than standard rooms and have bar fridges. Suites add jacuzzi baths, rattan furniture and kitchenettes. Room prices start at US$79 for a single standard room and go to US$129 for a double suite.Rates include a 10% service charge.

The bilingual staff was pleased to help with information and travel needs. We found those at the front desk friendly and informative. There is a tour desk, money exchange, laundry, luggage storage, airport transfers, bar and room service.

The central courtyard garden with flowering plants and a fountain is a real delight. The hotel is filled with real furniture, antiques, and has tremendous charm. There are some very nice common seating areas, and a good gift shop that sells fair trade items. Lots of local art are on display and for sale at very reasonable prices throughout the hotel. We were tempted but didn't know how we would get them home.

The charming restaurant and lounge are the perfect places to plan your day, compare travel notes, meets with friends or colleagues as well as enjoy a great selection of beverages, Peruvian dishes, coffee and deserts. The selection is wide-ranging but the prices are a bit high. The standard breakfast offering, however, is fairly basic, although there was freshly brewed coffee. The breakfast staff were not the friendliest people we have ever encountered and let the hotel down.

The hotel is located a little away from the central park of Miraflores with its nightly folklore shows, the ocean front and some good restaurants, shopping and night life. The area itself is quiet and appears to be reasonably secure although the hotel goes to some trouble to ensure that only guests and genuine visitors can get in the front gate.

JW Marriott hotels have a great reputation worldwide, so it was no surprise to find that this too was an excellent hotel.

A superb location, modern architecture and magnificent view await you at the JW Marriott Hotel Lima. Standing in front of the grand cliffs in the Miraflores district, the hotel offers sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean and the interesting foreshore. The hotel's 25-story, ultra-modern glass tower makes a grand statement as one of the newest and better Lima hotels.

The spacious ocean-view rooms feature the latest bedding from Marriott (very comfortable but then any five-star bed should be), air-conditioning, in-room safe and mini-bar. The room had an alarm clock, complementary bottled water, coffee maker, iron and ironing board, telephone and TV. The bathroom had robes, bathtub with spray jets, separate shower, and hair dryer. As expected, it is everything you need and it is all done nicely without fuss.

The JW Marriott Hotel Lima is home to a 5-star gourmet restaurant and other hotel amenities that include a spa for beauty treatments, fitness center, gift shop with Peruvian products, swimming pool (closed during winter season) and tennis court. La Vista, the international restaurant has an exhibition kitchen, buffets for breakfast and lunch and daily tea time with homemade pastries. It is a la carte for dinner. We found the food good but the prices a bit high.

The Latin Grill, which is the hotel steakhouse, was closed while we were there. It normally opens only for dinner and serves international and Peruvian cuisine with an excellent wine selection. There are many excellent local restaurants in the area if you wish to eat outside. Several are across the road in the stylish Larco Mar shopping centre. We ate here on a couple of occasions and there is plenty of choice at prices much lower than the hotel.

This place is really a shame. A once-great hotel is slowly dying. From the outside it still looks grand and the reception area still has great charm and architectural character but once you get to the corridors and rooms it falls down badly. You find worn-out carpets, curtains and towels, no airconditioning and much, much too much noise from outside.

It really is a tired looking hotel now but there is still a taste of old world charm from the 1920's. I even found myself thinking there could still be some grandeur left. This must have been an amazing place to stay in the early days of the hotel. Many of the rooms are large and the bathrooms are reasonable but windows don’t open or close properly, fans substitute for airconditioning and some fixtures leak or refuse to operate.

There are 104 rooms ranging from a Presidential suite to singles, doubles and family rooms. All have cable TV, a balcony, telephone and bathroom with amenities and some have a refrigerator and minibar. Most have timber floors and classic decoration.

San Martin square is a good location. You can walk up the pedestrian street where you can get clothes, food and crafts and it’s not far to the dazzling Plaza de Armas. In the opposite direction there is a clutch of galleries and museums in the Park of the Exposition. One problem, however, is the noise from the nightclubs and bars in the area and the traffic noise from late-night party goers.

Breakfast is a fairly basic affair with buns with jam and butter and coffee or tea. The Grand Salon is a nice place to enjoy a lunch in classic surroundings while listening to international tunes played by a famous pianist. The world-famous Pisco Sour is available in the bar, as in most bars in Peru. You can also enjoy typical Peruvian snacks and drinks here.

Staff are friendly but on the elderly side. For an oldie like me, this was something of a benefit. Would I recommend this hotel? Yes, but only for those who are seeking something different and are more interested in architecture than modern facilities and service.

This has been a Miraflores favourite for years and it continues to please. It needs to be realised, however, that this is a hotel used by tour and other groups so it can get very busy. The appeal starts with the building, an exuberant neoclassic structure that resembles a small castle. The hotel is in a residential area but is only a short walk from the main Miraflores commercial area. There are several restaurants, a supermarket, laundry and stores nearby.

The lobby, with its wrought-iron lanterns is a good indication of what is to come. There are interesting touches like a soaring turret and some stained-glass windows and some rooms have timber shuttering. The comfortable but somewhat outdated room we had was well equipped, with private bathroom, fans, wall-to-wall carpeting, security boxes (with no extra charge), cable TV, and telephones. There was no airconditioning.

Other guests we spoke to were less than happy with their room, however, and some people complained about noise. The noise problem seems to be that taxis line up in front of the hotel during the night and wait to be called for a fare. One guest said there were cars coming and going all night with car doors slamming. The room problem is possibly because there are several different types of rooms and some may not have been refurbished. You need to check the room before accepting what you are given. There are some non-smokers rooms. Our room was clean.


The staff at the front desk were helpful - they promptly called cabs, booked tours and exchanged money. Breakfast staff had little to do but were friendly. Breakfast was fairly basic - tea, coffee, juice and bread with jam. We didn't eat any other meals there but the restaurant area was attractive.

The original, 5-story, 3.5 star Casa Andina hotel, is located in a safe, tranquil residential neighborhood of Miraflores. The hotel was wholly remodeled in 2008 and was in excellent condition when we stayed. It’s a good hotel for independent travelers, with warm and relaxing public rooms, including a clubby lobby with leather couches and chairs, and interior patio.

While Miraflores is a traditional, residential neighborhood, it has also become the most fashionable, upscale district of Peru’s cosmopolitan capital. Several new restaurants, including the local favorites San Antonio and T’anta, have sprung up recently just 2 blocks from the hotel.

I don’t think the hotel is in a great position within Miraflores but it is only a 15-minute walk or short cab ride from Parque Central and central Miraflores’s abundant restaurants, shops and businesses. It is a 30-minute taxi ride from Lima’s International Airport and a short cab ride to Lima’s major museums, the excellent Larcomar shopping mall, and the seaside neighborhood of Barranco.

The hotel has 49 Traditional and Superior rooms, on 5 floors. The rooms are carpeted and warmly decorated in earthy colors although the corradors are not and this can cause some noise when guests come and go. We were woken one night by new arrivals at 2am. The rooms are comfortable in size, with Queen or 2 Twin beds and they have writing desks with 2 chairs, closets with safes, and bathrooms. Superior rooms apparently have huge Jacuzzi tubs. All rooms have airconditioning, cable TV, hairdryer, direct-dial telephone and Wi-Fi internet access.

We ate breakfast in the attractive restaurant. While not meeting 5-star standards, there was a good choice of juices, cereals, yoghurt, fruit, breads, cheeses, meats and some hot offerings. It was perfectly adequate and in fact was perfect for me as this is my preferred breakfast menu. There is also a small business centre, a gift shop, laundry service, free car parking and foreign exchange service.

The level of service within the hotel was friendly and efficient and we enjoyed our stay. If only it was a few blocks closer to Miraflores many attractions.