Long before all the flashy new hotels opened up in the Sacred Valley of Peru, Sol y  Luna (Sun and Moon) had staked out a spot in Urubamba.

Over the years the orginal small lodge mirrored Peru’s tourism industry, expanding and going more upscale as the number of visitors increased. Now Sol y Luna has 42 casitas, a well-regarded spa, and a strong tradition of giving back to the community.

One of our contributors stayed here and mentioned the lodge in our feature story Walking Peru with Butterfield and Robinson. Now we’ve got a full review of it. Here’s a taste:

Private verandas face terraced mountainsides with garden views and lounge chairs that beckon upon arrival. And extravagance registers in deceptively simple touches: colorful Peruvian folk art, indigenous woods, hand-painted frescoed murals, and a hot water bottle in the bed at night.

Yes, there are newer and trendier places to stay among the luxury hotels of the Sacred Valley, but this one has been tied into the community since the start and will really make you feel like you’re in Peru.

See our full review of Sol y Luna Lodge and Spa.

Any time is a great time to be in Cusco, Peru in my opinion, but the dry months of May through September are the most popular for a reason. If you’re lucky enough to be in the area in mid-June, you may get to witness the Inti Raymi Festival. If you want to be sure of it, book a tour through our partner Southwind Adventures. They run a variety of in-depth tours in Peru.

Although I’ve been to Cusco a couple times and I’ve caught a Peruvian festival here and there (like this festival in the Colca Canyon), I haven’t witnessed this grandest one of them all. The spectacle takes place on June 24, around their winter solstice, in honor of the sun god. A procession of Inca-costumed participants starts at the Sun Temple, makes its way through Cusco, and ends at the impressive hilltop fortress Sacsayhuaman. Imagine the gold flashing in the sunlight and all the colors of Peru next to walls that appear to be built by superheroes. Here’s a bit more about it on Southwind’s Inti Raymi Festival page.

You can book several of Southwind’s luxury Peru tours in conjunction with Inti Raymi including World of the Incas and Southern Highlights of Peru.

On these group tours you’ll be staying in the kinds of places you would book yourself. Southwind guests can stay at some of the best hotels around in Peru, ones we’ve reviewed in detail such as Hotel Monasterio, Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo, Luxury Collection Hotel Paracas, and Casa Andina Private Collection Arequipa.

The Colca Canyon is a brown place. In rainy season the flowers bloom and there’s plenty of green, but the overall color is brown, punctuated by pretty white churches in the village centers.

When I left the Orient-Express Casitas del Colca hotel and the driver began the journey back to Arequipa, however, I had a stroke of terrific luck.

As we eased our way through Chivay, going slowly because of all the pedestrians, “Stop!” I said suddenly. Before the driver could say no, I was out of the car with my camera, getting close to the action in the town square.

As so often happens in Latin America, it was festival time. Stay long enough and you’re bound to run into one. I was there in early December, which coincides with the big Wititi Festival.

Instead of earth tones, it was time for a riot of color. Beautiful costumes, dancing, and marching bands. This is Peru at its finest.

See more on luxury tours in Peru.

We’ve run a couple luxury travel in Peru tour stories about upscale, small-ship cruises in the Peruvian Amazon, but we haven’t been able to get anyone out to Inkaterra’s Reserva Amazonica lodge there, the best jungle lodge in Peru, if not the whole Amazon region.

I’m happy to say we’ve rectified that. Contributor Ellen Barone, who recently wrote the story on Butterfield & Robinson’s walking tour in Peru, pulled out a machete and hacked her way through the rainforest to Inkaterra’s resort.

No, just kidding. It’s not really all that daunting: a 45-minute boat ride from river port Maldonado and you’re there. Most of the creatures you see on excursions won’t be human though. The lodge is at the heart of a 42,000-acre private ecological reserve. Here’s what’s in store when you get to your spacious cabana:

King-size beds with billowing mosquito netting. Fluffy robes and slippers. Sumptuous towels and signature organic toiletries. And screened decks with comfy lounge chairs and hammocks. They’re also outfitted with practical extras like umbrellas, flashlight, ceiling fan and Kerosene lanterns.

This carbon-neutral resort walks the walk when it comes to eco-tourism though. It’s the winner of both the 2012 Tourism for Tomorrow Award for Conservation and the 2012 Green Choice Sustainable Tourism Award.

See our full review of the Inkaterra Amazon jungle lodge in Peru.

There’s no shortage of tour companies in Peru who can lead you across the Andes to Inca monuments and Sacred Valley villages. One of our writers just went out with one of the best though: the tour company Butterfield and Robinson, best known for their upscale “slow travel” walking and biking tours.

Our correspondent got to experience that difference we try to capture, the special moments and personalized service that separate a routine tour from a fantastic one. Definitions of “luxury” can get blurry when you’re talking about an adventure tour. Paying a lot isn’t necessarily going to get you 5-star rooms every night and caviar at dinner. What it will get you is better access, unique experiences, and guides who are going to take care of every little details—including many you didn’t expect. In the case of this tour, you get a deserted Machu Picchu at sunset, hikes to villages where you’re the only group who comes by, and nothing to keep track of but yourself and your camera.

That’s the definition of luxury we go by when deciding to run any story making it into our section on luxury tours in South America, Central America, or Mexico. Sometimes that means a couple months go by between features, but we’re okay with that. When you see a story like this one, you’ll see the kind of standards we maintain. See the full feature here: Walking Peru with Butterfield and Robinson.

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