A pre-colonial house built in 1630 on Inca terraces, a short uphill walk from Cusco's Plaza de Armas, El Balcón is the kind of small hotel that gets recommended by word of mouth and keeps people returning. Fourteen rooms look out over the city and the Andean landscape, including the distant Ausangate glacier. The terraced garden is a beautiful place to start the morning. Breakfast is homemade, the staff are consistently singled out in reviews, and the blend of Inca stonework and colonial architecture gives the whole place an authenticity that larger properties in Cusco struggle to replicate.