The Garden House lives up to the website pictures, being a beautiful home set in a wonderful garden.

I stayed at range of hotels and guesthouses throughout my travels in South America, and the Garden House experience for me was an extremely pleasant surprise and a very memorable experience.

It is only ten minutes from the airport - and this journey alone offers you a wonderful first taste of Peru and its people in all their glorious colour.

The first question we were asked upon arrival was 'How are you all feeling?' - this was particularly significant given that we had just landed at such high altitude, and demonstrated the genuine care and attention of Doris and the girls at the Garden House.

We appreciated the unlimited Coca-Tea to combat the altitude sickness.

Rooms are beautifully clean and spacious. The quality of the room and service puts the 'world class' Sanctuary Lodge in Machu Picchu to shame.

We arrived mid afternoon and we were given complimetary fresh guacamoli and fresh baked bread, served in the beautiful sunny courtyard.

Breakfast was also great - cooked to order (cooked breakfast), fresh fruit, fresh bread, fruit juice, coffee and gallons of coca-tea. If we had requested anything additionally, It would have been made available.

INTERNET IS AVAILABLE - FREE OF CHARGE!!!! (Not sure how one of the previous posters thinks differently) You only have to ask.

The shower pressure is poor - but I experienced this everywhere in South America, and It was better than the Sanctuary Lodge!! It is Peru after all.

Doris and the girls were so accommodating and nothing was a chore.

Because the rooms do get cold, Doris turns the heaters on in the rooms ready for your return after a long day exporing the Sacred Valley. Doris is also willing to make Pisco Sours on demand. Her attitude is "my home is your home" .....

I felt incredibly sad leaving Cusco and want everybody who visits Cusco to experience the Garden House. Whilst a 20 minute taxi ride from the centre of Cusco, it is worth noting that the taxi fare is a mere £2 ($4) and the journey offers you a great view of suburban Cusco life.

PS. Corolla the dog is a little star!

Since my return to the states I have not stopped raving to my friends about what an incredibly delightful experience Peru – and specifically The Garden house – was.

We (two couples) stayed at The Garden House for four nights in two rooms, using it as our jumping off point to get to Manchu Pichu and other local sites. Doris and her staff were amazing – customer service you can’t even get at 5-star hotels. The entire staff looked to make our stay comfortable and enjoyable and lived up to the Latin tradition of “mi casa es su casa.”

From the little touches (terrycloth robes and slippers while in our room) to the grand gestures (birthday cake for our celebration), we thoroughly appreciated everything the staff did. When one of us became severely sick for two days, Doris made homemade chicken soup and others helped us rearrange our traveling schedules. Moreover, they found us a doctor and helped acquire medicines. We were even able to stay in our original room, even though our travel plans altered.

The rooms are eloquently simple; the beds are really comfortable. And while the location is away from the center, it is a quick (and cheap) cab ride to the Plaza de Armas. (Full disclosure: we wanted a place away from the main square since we have heard it can be very noisy throughout the night.) The Garden House is an oasis in the section of town it sits, but we always felt safe.

I highly recommend The Garden House. I plan to return; it’s that good.

We were a party of 4 and we stayed at the Garden House in December for 4 nights. No one in our party had ever stayed at a B&B before so it was a whole new experience. Like previous posters, I thought Doris was a doll and she made us feel warm and welcome. However, there were certain negatives about staying here that I wish I knew before I booked.

Location- It was a bit further than we anticipated from the center of Cuzco. Which honestly would be ok if there were restaurants or charm in the surrounding neighborhood- there was neither. We were constantly getting into cabs (which are cheap) and making the 20 min journey to Cuzco. We paid $200 a night a piece for two rooms, which is a lot for the area. Our friends were staying at the Hotel Libertador, one of the top hotel in Cuzco, and they were paying the same rate as us. Because it's a B&B, there are no amenities like internet access, room service etc. Again, I don't mean to compare, BUT our friends hotel had a HUGE business center with free internet access. I realize we are on vacation but we did need to keep checking our flight times as they kept changing them! But that's a whole other issue. Just know that internal flights in Peru ALWAYS get changed and you don't get informed.

Food- I actually though this was a joke. The "fabulous" breakfast that other posters raved about was bread, cheese, instant coffee and tea. One piece of bread per person was laid out. Again, not really a deal breaker but we did go into town to have breakfast with our friends and their free breakfast was a full spread with pastries, fresh fruit, juices and freshly baked bread that you could smell before you even reached the restaurant. The first night after we checked it, we fell asleep. We woke up around 9:30PM starving. Doris told us that there was no where to get food (we wanted to order something) but that she would make us something. She brought us cheese sandwiches. Not exactly dinner food as we were cold and wanted something cooked and warm. It was actually the same thing we got at breakfast the next day. Had we been staying in town we could have just walked out to a restaurant. We weren't about to get in a cab and drive 20 min just to get a quick bite.

Tip: The best meal we had was at Map Cafe. It was a lovely dinner in a beautiful setting. I highly recommend it.

Rooms- The rooms were very charming and the beds were deliciously comfortable. My only real grievance was the bathrooms. There was absolutely no water pressure and if anyone flushed a toilet or turned on the sink than the water ran cold. The bathrooms could use a bit of updating and the closets were musty- I didn't want to hang my clothes. It was also FREEZING at night. We had a small heater in the room but it didn't do much unless you were standing right in front of it.

Service- The service they provided was in fact excellent. Both Doris and her assistant were great about getting us drivers, making reservations, calling to check flights etc.

Overall: My boyfriend and I felt (at times) that we were intruding into someone else's home. One night we came back close to 2:00 am and we had to ring the outside bell (property is gated) to be let in. Poor Doris came out in her robe and slippers and we felt guilty for getting her out of bed. We were apologizing! There is no phone in the room and anytime our friends called to make plans (sometimes after 11 pm as we were discussing the next days activities) Doris would come to our room and hand us the phone. Again, we were getting her out of bed. This made us uncomfortable to say the least. I think it was just us- like I said we have never stayed in a B&B before. In all honestly none of it mattered so much but in hindsight, we all agreed that it would have been much easier and enjoyable to just stay in Cuzco. The town has it's own charm and after visiting it really doesn't make sense to travel there and not stay in the middle of it all.

Our family of five visited the garden house for five nights in mid August of this year. From the moment we arrived we felt extreme comfort and safety. We stayed in the 5 person suite which was simply wonderful. Ceci, Doris, Giuseppe and the rest of the staff was so amazing, friendly and helpful. The breakfast was outstanding, the facilities beautiful and the coca tea the best! Ceci helped book all of our day trips, got us guides as well, told us where to eat and what to do. For being in a foreign country so far away from home it sure didnt feel like it. This is the first time where my family has missed the staff more than they have missed anything else.

Una experiencia memorable y preciosa!