Everything I Ate & Drank On A Weeklong Trip To Peru

Let’s be honest: When you think of Peru, what immediately comes to mind is probably Machu Picchu. And who can blame you? You probably learned about the 15th-century citadel in middle or high school, its sweeping vistas are instantly recognizable, and it’s the most famous symbol of the Inca Empire.

It certainly was the first image that I used to conjure up, at least until recently when I was invited by the Highgate Luxury Collection of Peru to check out four of their properties. I was truly stunned to experience Peru’s vast biodiversity, with nearly 100 microclimates ranging from the coastal desert to the Andean highlands, and realize that there’s truly something for every traveler: history and adventure, of course, in Cusco and the Sacred Valley, beach time in Paracas, cosmopolitan vibes in Lima.

Each corner of this beautiful country also has its own unique cuisine, from the freshest scallops you’ll ever taste (plucked from the water not even 10 minutes prior) to ceviche made in so many different ways and plenty of lomo saltado to go around. (And, yes, pisco sours. Lots of pisco sours.)

Ahead, everything I ate and drank on an epic weeklong trip to Peru.

Lomo Saltado In Lima

For my first morning at the Westin Lima Hotel & Convention Center, I wanted to fuel up ahead of a tour of a couple of the city’s picturesque neighborhoods, Miraflores and Barranco, so I headed down to the Westin’s Market 770 restaurant for its buffet breakfast. To say I was spoiled for choice would be an understatement: From fresh fruit (pineapple, cantaloupe, and more) to an array of pastries (croissants, peach Danish, and a variety of jams to top them with, like Peru’s native goldenberry), I almost couldn’t decide.

You can also opt for made-to-order pan con chicharrón, a Peruvian crispy pork sandwich, and adorn it with three options of chile sauce. There was also pollo saltado, another local speciality, and typical American fare like scrambled eggs, pancakes, waffles, bacon, and sausage. A particular highlight for me, though, was the selection of fresh juices — cucumber, pineapple, celery, green apple, ginger, spinach, and lemon — as well as individual bottles of cold brew.

Lunch was also at Market 770, where our group started with octopus, two types of ceviche, and a typical Peruvian chicken salad with lettuce, tomato, and avocado. For my first big meal, I leaned right in and ordered the lomo saltado for my main — a classic Peruvian dish made of beef chunks with potatoes and onions — served medium-rare.

Later on, we had drinks at the hotel’s speakeasy, Alphonse, an homage to late gangster Al Capone. The dimly-lit spot has an almost overwhelmingly long menu presented like a newspaper and neatly divided by category. The negronis are particularly popular, but if that’s not your thing you can choose from classic or long cocktails, spritzes and sours, and a lot more.

We were supposed to eat light ahead of traveling to Cusco and the Sacred Valley the next morning, where the higher elevation can potentially impact your digestion until you’re fully acclimated. Nevertheless, we shared a bunch of “small bites” that ended up not being so small, including pork and shrimp dumplings, fried shrimp on a stick served with matchstick sweet potato fries, tuna ceviche, Reuben-style mini-sammies, and more. (Oops.)

Dining Al Fresco In The Sacred Valley

On Sunday morning, we headed out early for our flight to Cusco, because we were heading to the Tambo del Inka in the Sacred Valley, a resort nestled along the Urubamba River and considered the heart of the Inca Empire.

We were greeted with a refreshing drink that combined coca and muña, two traditional teas served in the region. Both are said to help you acclimate to the altitude, which ranges from about 7,000 to 12,000 feet. Muña is said to aid digestion, so many locals sip it after dinner, while the coca teas are good any time of day for other symptoms — although if you’re sensitive to stimulants, avoid them at night like I did. (Luckily, I didn’t feel sick other than a few very brief moments of shortness of breath and lightheadedness — nevertheless, I packed pills for altitude sickness and I was relieved to have them just in case.)

After a traditional Inca welcome ceremony, which involved blessing our group ahead of our trip to Machu Picchu, we tucked into a family-style grilled lunch by the river with the Andes Mountains in the background. We started with another Peruvian salad, followed by purple potatoes and corn on the cob with the largest kernels I’ve ever seen (corn’s a Peruvian staple, particularly in the Sacred Valley, and the country produces dozens of types), as well as grilled red peppers, tomato, zucchini, and onion. Our mains were a succulent pork belly with oh-so-crispy skin, along with grilled chicken and trout, another local speciality.

For dinner, we met at the hotel’s restaurant, Kawa, where we started with whole wheat and seed breads served with black garlic butter. The menu includes a variety of pastas and ceviches, but I opted for the lomo saltado again. (Hey, when I like something, I stick with it.) We wrapped the evening by sharing tangerine baba and a delectable Snickers sundae.

The following morning, we left early from the hotel’s on-site train station for our three-hour journey to Machu Picchu which, needless to say, is breathtaking. I’ll let the pic speak for itself:

After a long day exploring the Inca site, however, everyone relished relaxing at the hotel the next day. I slept in until a blissful 9 a.m. and headed to Kawa for the buffet breakfast, which managed to top 770’s in its variety. It included a bagel bar with cured trout (pro tip for any fellow New Yorkers homesick for lox) as well as an Andean station serving quinoa salad and soup. As a nice bonus, you could also opt for made-to-order egg dishes, as well as pancakes, waffles, or French toast. We knew we were in for a hearty lunch, so I just grabbed a peach yogurt, some watermelon and pineapple, and a small slice of orange pound cake to wash down with my cold brew.

Tambo Del Inka sources 90% of its produce from an on-site garden, and its offerings include everything from purple and green cabbage to various herbs, lettuces, asparagus, broccoli, and, of course, peppermint and the classic muña leaves. After a quick tour, where we got to pick out some of the produce for our meal, we sat down for a farm-to-table lunch. Starters included two salads — a quinoa, olive, broccoli, and cauliflower creation, plus one with baby lettuce, tomato, radishes, and hearts of palm — and then we enjoyed some trout with grilled veggies, chicken with sautéed snow peas and cabbage, and lamb chops with red mashed potatoes, string beans, and peppers. We washed it down with a pleasantly crisp and not-at-all oaky Chardonnay from the Mendoza region of Argentina.

Courtyard Cocktails In Cusco

The next morning, we headed back to Cusco because we were flying to Lima early the following day. The drive from the Sacred Valley to Cusco is about an hour-and-a-half, though it’s well worth stopping at the salt mines of Maras, a stunning set of about 4,500 wells that date back to pre-Inca times. We also spent time at Moray, a massive Inca site featuring giant concentric terraces that likely were used for farming, and stopped at an alpaca farm to pet the adorable animals and watch locals spin yarn.

We were hungry when we arrived at Palacio del Inka, a Cusco hotel housed in a 500-year-old mansion that abuts Qorikancha, the Inca Empire’s most important temple. We headed straight to the property’s main restaurant, Inti Raymi, for a late lunch that kicked off with a pisco sour — amazingly, my first of the trip — followed by traditional fare that included more ceviche, tenderloin, and, to my surprise, alpaca and guinea pig. (I am an avowed carnivore, but I couldn’t quite wrap my head around the idea of eating the adorable animals, so I refrained.)

For dinner, we gathered in the courtyard, where we were greeted with picol, a pisco cocktail similar to a hot toddy, Bora Bora tea, and berry syrup. We then got a crash course in how to make huanacaure, a gin concoction with matacuy (an Andean elixir), Campari, and vermouth rosso, before the main event, a tasting menu featuring trout and tumbo, lamb cannelloni, and uncucha (a root vegetable) with alpaca.

Scallops Upon Scallops In Paracas

We left at 5 a.m. the next morning to head to our final and most relaxing destination: Paracas, a coastal resort town in the desert near Pisco and a few hours south of Lima. The beachy spot is also a stone’s throw from the Ballestas Islands and its rich marine life, including Humboldt penguins, sea lions, and other birds and mammals. (Another plus: We were returning to sea level!)

After we landed, we piled into the bus for the four-hour drive, hugging the coast for long stretches at a time, and stopped at a gas station halfway through to get reinforcements, aka snacks. (Our group enjoyed this way too much, probably because Peruvian gas station snacks are even more novel than ours stateside — think spicy plantain chips and the snack brands you know and love, with flavors you can’t get here.)

That tided us over until lunch at Hotel Paracas’ restaurant, Ballestas, where we started with paprika bread served with whipped chimichurri butter. (Each lunch and dinner service featured a different type of butter, a delightful realization to this butter lover.) Apps and mains included scallops with yellow chile, which is native to the area; a corn cake; lomo saltado (of course); the catch of the day served alongside more yellow chile, zucchini, and asparagus; and octopus grilled with potatoes, asparagus, and yellow chile.

At dinner, we sampled cocktails including the Manto Paracas (pisco, triple sec, pomegranate liqueur, and passion fruit, tangerine, and cranberry juices) as well as the Hijo de Sarah Hellen, a deceptively potent concoction made from gin, grapefruit and pineapple juices, ginger beer, berry syrup, and basil. Dinner included a selection of sushi and grilled goodies like octopus and tenderloin.

The real treat, however, was our excursion the following morning, when we took a yacht out to meet local scallop fishers and watched them dive into the bay and, in a matter of minutes, bring up dozens and dozens of scallops, which they shucked boatside and squeezed with Peruvian lime before serving to us. When we disembarked, we grabbed a table at Chalana, Hotel Paracas’ dockside restaurant, where servers brought us a massive boat of scallops made three ways, including with onion and two types of sauces, before moving onto a fish stew and risotto. I washed it down with a pisco sour, my new favorite cocktail.

The eight-hour flight home to New York gave me plenty of time to reflect on this special corner of the world, with its vast biodiversity, climates, warmth and hospitality, and food and drink that’s bursting with flavor. I deplaned feeling truly full in every sense of the word — and damn determined to perfect my pisco sour.