It is surprising that not more people know about the fantastic Las Casitas del Colca that is a luxury lodge nestled high in the Andes Mountains at 3,200 metres above sea level of the remote Colca Valley. People drive for around four hours from Arequipa to watch the valley’s high number of Andean Condors that are amazing, but there is much more to experience as well in the enchanted and unbelievably beautiful valley.

Las Casitas del Colca is a collection of luxury cottage villas and the property was originally bought and developed by James B. Sherwood from the Orient-Express Hotels who discovered the land almost a decade ago. Today the property has become a member of the Leading Hotels of the World and the management of the lodge certainly does everything right at the moment. Las Casitas del Colca is managed by Argentinean-Japanese Mariano Takinami who has been a chef as well and his concern about the best quality of the cuisine is obvious.

Executive Chef Cesar Landeo makes a fantastic effort with day by day handovering the best possible cuisine to his guests. The challenges are numerous at 3,200 metres altitude and the constant pursuit of the best ingredients has resulted in Las Casitas del Colca almost being self-supporting, with its own farm that produces 80 percent of all vegetables and herbs, 50 percent of all eggs served, own poultry and there is even a fish farm with different basins for the trout. The final result on the plates is great, especially the vegetables that are awesome with rich flavours that easily could be served at any top rated restaurant around the world.

The menu is changed on a daily basis, but you can have dishes like the parmesan flavoured risotto style quinoa with sautéed veggies that is fantastic or the tenderloin beef stew, fettuccini in coriander sauce which is good as well. The menu offerings are mostly Peruvian with some international touches here and there.

Las Casitas del Colca is a hidden Peruvian gem and hopefully many more will discover its great qualities in both service and cuisine. Just walking around the property’s farm is a pleasure in itself and then later on in the evening be able to feast on the Andean specialities is something everyone should try and will highly appreciate.

Written by Andy