After 5 nights at the Tambo del Inka hotel in Urubamba, Carolyn and I had one day in Cusco, where we stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn Cusco. We spent most of our day out in Cusco city itself, but I thought I would give a brief Hilton Garden Inn Cusco review
Cost of the Hilton Garden Inn Cusco
The Hilton Garden Inn Cusco usually has rooms for a little under USD$100, with occasional dates being higher. This Hilton Garden Inn hotel also does seem to be one of the ones that is participating in dynamic points pricing – paying with points ranged from 19,000 to 36,000 Honors points for the dates I was looking at – we ended up reserving our night for 20,000 points
Remember – even after you book, you’ll want to keep an eye on prices as if they go down, you can rebook and save the points.
Location of the Hilton Garden Inn Cusco
The Hilton Garden Inn is located at Santa Ana, Avenida Abancay 207, on top of a hill overlooking Cusco to the northern side. It is located very near the main roads that head out of Cusco towards Sacsayhuaman and Pisac or Chincheros and Urubamba.
As far as taxi rates go, there is a taxi stand right around the corner to the right of the hotel. In a sample size of one, I was quotes S/15 to go to the airport, and S/15 to go to Sacsayhuman, with S/40 for a return trip to Sacsayhuaman waiting for an hour. Of course the hotel will call you a taxi as well, probably from the exact same pool of drivers. The hotel quoted me S/6 to go down into Cusco city center (Plaza de Armas) and S/16 to go to the airport. So it looks like the hotel is charging a 1 sol premium, which seems reasonable to me compared to the outrageous markups at the Tambo del Inka.
You can also walk down to the Plaza de Armas – it’s about a 15 minute walk. Much easier walk down than up, as there are 216 steps (I counted) going down Avenida Meloc to the Plaza de San Francisco and the rest of the Cusco city center. Might be worth the 5 Soles to take the taxi back up!
Rooms at the Hilton Garden Inn Cuzco
I had originally booked a room with 2 double beds as that was the only one available at the time I booked. As part of my 3 hotels, 0 upgrades plan, I emailed to see if I could switch that to a 1 King room as well as see if there were any upgrades available. The hotel responded a few days later
Dear Mr. Miller,
Thank you very much for contacting us regarding your request.
We have changed your reservation for a room with a king bed as well as giving you an upgrade for being a Diamond member. You will also have complimentary breakfast in our restaurant.
All right! However, when we got here, we did have a 1 King room but I don’t believe there was any upgrade. We certainly did not have any view of the city and the room we were in kept making loud clunking noises, either from the A/C units in the room itself or from nearby. Not a huge deal but certainly not an upgrade. Here is a picture of the room itself
And the bathroom which featured a shower, sink and toilet – all in the same room
Here is the view of the hotel courtyard from our (non opening) window in our Hilton Garden Inn Cusco room
One other thing to mention is that because the hotel is on a hill, the floors at the Hilton Garden Inn go DOWN as you go up in number. Or in other words, you enter in on the Lobby (which is the 0th floor with rooms from 000 to 009), and then the 1st floor is immediately below, followed by the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floor which is the lowest floor. Our room was on the 1st floor.
Hilton Garden Inn breakfast buffet and other food
As a Hilton Honors Diamond (and I assume as a Gold as well), we received complimentary breakfast the next morning. There is a variety of American and Peruvian food along with a custom omelet station
The hotel does also have a restaurant where you can order meals. We did not use that – instead, we just walked down the street towards the city center where there is every type of restaurant you can imagine. There is also an Orion Supermarket very close on Avenida Meloc where you could get most types of food imaginable
(SEE ALSO: The complete beginner’s guide to cooking in your hotel room)
(SEE ALSO: 4 rice cooker recipes for cooking in your hotel room)
Amenities for the Cusco Hilton Garden Inn
The Hilton Garden Inn Cusco does not have a pool or fitness center, although it does have a spa treatment room and yoga room. There is limited self-parking and they do have an overlook (Mirador) on the 3rd floor with some nice views of Cusco
They also have a travel / tour kiosk out in the lobby that will arrange various tours for you and a self serve (pay) laundry facilities here at the Hilton Garden Inn Cuzco.
(SEE ALSO: 4 hacks for doing laundry on an extended vacation)
I would also like to point out, especially in huge contrast to the Tambo del Inka which supposedly is a way nicer hotel, that the wifi here at the Hilton Garden Inn Cuzco was MUCH better. That is, it was actually usable! I hardly ever saw disconnections or slowdowns, something that was extremely common at the TdI
If you’re looking to stay at the Hilton Garden Inn Cusco, you can also read other reviews at TripAdvisor or check prices with HotelsCombined.com
Anyone else stayed here at the Hilton Garden Inn Cusco? What were your thoughts?
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
We stayed here 2 nights on our 2 weeks trip to Peru last September. We actually enjoyed our stay – we are diamond. It was a new hotel, the room was clean (it overlooked the city), the shower had good water pressures, and we did not have to put toilet paper in a bin but flushed as normal. Breakfasts were adequate and many choices. The room rates were certainly much cheaper than all the places we stayed during our Peru trip – better value for money.
Just checked out today. We chose it as for a family, it’s one of the few chains that allow 4 in a room. And we used the book 4 nights get 1 free benefit on points, nice benefit.
We received a scenic room upgrade on arrival, (it was to the left of where you were). Only thing that seemed odd was that the property said we could either have breakfast or the 1K Diamond amenity. Of course we chose the breakfast in that case.
If you’re looking for a good clean chain hotel for a family, it’s hard to go wrong with this property.
This place is a hike back from the square however as you noted. Along with altitude adjustment, we ended up Ubering a lot. Speaking of which, Uber works very well here in Cusco. Mostly cheaper than cabs, and avoids the constant haggling (don’t speak Spainish) with each cab driver while drivers behind are honking at you. Amazingly, Uber even got us to Pisac and Ollantaytambo. Though there won’t be drivers on the other side, which lead to a “it’s funny now” story and my wife and kids getting stranded in Pisac and having to take a random colectivo back.
Yeah it’s not bad and pretty cheap for a chain / points hotel. And yes, I hear you on the hike back from the square. It’s 216 steps, not that we counted 🙂
Looks like we were there right after you! Breakfast was good, but a little repetitive. After a few days, I was ready for something else. Rooms were a nice for an HGI and I really enjoyed morning coffee in the courtyard or in the conservancy overlooking the Cusco historic district. The location is great for walking TO the plaza de armas, not so much for walking back! The altitude is no joke! Uber just started in Cusco so we used it pretty extensively; no problems and super cheap.
LOL that was a LOT of steps coming back up!