If you're considering exotic, overseas destinations where the dollar is still relatively strong, think about Peru. Orient-Express (800.524.2420, www.orient-express.com), offers a range of upscale services there, including hotels and a luxury train, that provide an unforgettable experience. Tops among the former is the Monasterio ( 51.84.24.1777), a Spanish colonial monastery converted into a hotel high in the Andes. With an Incan foundation and its original colonial chapel, still decorated with antique gold ornaments, the Monasterio offers a variety of meeting and entertainment spaces, including a restaurant, open-air courtyards, and meeting and function rooms fitted with audiovisual equipment and Internet access. In Lima, Peru’s capital, Orient-Express also runs the Miraflores Park Hotel (pictured, 51.12.42.3000), one of the city’s finest. Function spaces here hold 30 to 300 guests theater-style; an outdoor terrace for cocktail receptions holds up to 250. Orient-Express recently began offering train service that connects Cusco with Machu Picchu; the train can be chartered for groups of 84 or less. The roundtrip can easily be made in one day. —Jane L. Levere
Posted 05.16.05
Posted 05.16.05
