Peru’s Best Ecolodges

The top tier of Peru’s ecolodges, both in the Andes and the Amazon, have a well-developed philosophy and strategy for caring for the environment and providing an organic, natural experience for guests. These lodges also typically train and hire local people, serve organic food produced by local communities, and provide eco-friendly services such as natural spa treatments and healing ceremonies.

Here are some of our favorite ecolodges in Peru:

Los Horcones de Túcume [1] is in the backyard of the 26 massive pyramids of Túcume [2], one of Peru’s most sacred healing centers outside of the northern Peruvian city of Chiclayo [3]. This rural lodge, built according to the building techniques of the ancient Moche culture, features rooms made of adobe and algarrobo beams, which open up to covered terraces and views of the surrounding fields. The food here is as organic as it gets, and Don Víctor, a reputed shaman in the area, lives nearby the lodge and works with visitors upon request.

Reserva Amazónica [4] is the brainchild of leading Peruvian eco-pioneers José and Denise Koechlin, who also own the similarly eco-minded and elegant Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel at the base of Machu Picchu [5]. Reserva Amazónica offers 41 private wooden bungalows, organic food, canopy walks, visits to local communities supported by the lodge, and its own line of organic shampoo and conditioner. Both lodges have extraordinary on-staff nature guides and other resources to explore and understand the surrounding environment.

Casa de Pocha [6] is a working organic farm perched in the hills above Carhuaz, in the Cordillera Blanca [7]. The adobe lodge has rustic rooms with eucalyptus beams, a sauna, and a yoga studio. Meals are organic and mostly vegetarian and cooked in a solar stove or over an open fire.

Tahuayo Lodge [8], a four-hour boat ride from Iquitos [9], is next door to the world-class Amazon biodiversity of the Tamshiyacu Tahuayo communal reserve. Founded by U.S. naturalist Paul Beaver, Tahyauo Lodge has been featured in Outside magazine and other publications for its off-the-beaten-path jungle adventures. This lodge, with 15 wooden rooms, hammock hall, and laboratory/library complex, has access to both dry and flooded forest as well as a zip line that sends guest soaring 35 meters above the jungle floor.