El Albergue Restuarant - Ollantaytambo, Peru

During my visit to the Sacred Valley, I had the opportunity to take several meals in the small town of Ollantaytambo. This included a Dinner and Breakfast at El Albergue Restaurant as well as coffee from Cafe Mayu. The restaurants are attached to the Hotel El Albergue, where I also ended up spending the night after my train to Aguas Calientes was delayed. Whether you choose to sleep at this rustic hotel or not, you should definitely plan to take a meal here during your visit.

After tooling around Ollantaytambo on our second day in the Sacred Valley, my wife and I decided to grab dinner at the highly touted El ALbergue Restaurant at the Peru Rail train station. This hotel and restaurant is off the beaten path, although nothing is far from the central plaza in this rather cozy community. The road from the plaza area to the train station takes five to ten minutes to walk. If you prefer, you can rent a small motorcycle taxi to take you the short distance for one sole (about forty cents). It is worth taking the taxi just to say you did it.

(Road from central square to El Albergue, with motorcycle taxis)

The Restaurant is located to the left beyond the reception desk inside the hotel. If the weather is nice, seating is also available in the lush courtyard just outside the restaurant. It was a bit cool the day we visited, so we opted to take our meal inside the restaurant. The menu was moderately priced, with most meals ranging in the ten dollar range. This is a typical price range for better restaurants in Peru. Because this is a tourist area, even the average restaurants inch into this same price range. The quality of the food makes this price range reasonable, especially compared to prices in the United States.

This restaurant is known for its alpaca steaks, although I was not in the mood for protein when we visited. After a long day of hiking, I was prepared for some pasta. I opted for a fettuccine dish that was covered in olives and capers. The olive and caper theme gave the dish a salty flavor, which was exactly what I was after. Losing plenty of my electrolytes during the day must have had me craving a salty dish. While it was not overdone, it definitely satisfied my craving. The portion was large and almost too much for me to finish. Almost.

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My wife also opted for a pasta dish, choosing the red fettuccine with sun-dried tomatoes. Her portion was similar to mine, but she didn't make it all the way through her meal. Both dishes were filling, tasty and attractively presented. We washed our meal down with a lime-aid that included blended mint. It was not quite as sweet as I like and the mint threw me off. I think I would have preferred it without the mint, although I think it still would have tasted a bit weak for my liking. I had a better lime-aid (limonada) in the plaza the following night.

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The night we slept at the hotel included a free breakfast. The breakfast was not as large as some of the bigger hotels we stayed at, but may have been more satisfying. The eggs were cooked to order and the meal included a variety of fresh fruit. The yogurt was greek yogurt that did not have a sweet flavor like the yogurt at some of our other hotels. But the icing on the cake was the cappuccino brought to us from the machine inside Cafe Mayu. I had an Americano at the Cafe Mayu while waiting for my train the morning before and enjoyed it immensely. But it couldn't hold a candle to the cappuccino. At five o'clock in the morning, that cup of coffee may have been the best I had during my entire trip.

The ambiance of the El Albergue Restaurant has a familial quality. The somewhat small dining area has home-grown artwork on the walls. The tall ceilings have visible crossbeams providing a contrast to the white paint. The dark wood of the small tables and chairs and the orange tile floors give the room a warm cozy feeling. The view through the rear doors into the lush courtyard adds to the charm. The kitchen is not closed off from the dining room, separated only by shelving and furniture, allowing guests to watch their meal being prepared. Fresh fruit and vegetables line the shelves. Much of it harvested from gardens behind the hotel.

Our waitress understood English well enough to communicate and assist with recommendations. She actually recommended the green fettuccine, which neither of us ordered. She provided us exceptional service and was out-going and friendly. It was much of the same attention that we experienced when dealing with Vickie and Natalia at the reception desk when we were forced to change our travel plans. The combination of atmosphere and food made this restaurant well worth the price, which was not at all unreasonable.

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Cafe Mayu is accessible off the kitchen area from inside the restaurant. However, the cafe opens onto the train platform. This is where I first experienced the coffee. In addition to hot coffee, the cafe offers a variety of packaged meals intended for travelers headed to Machu Picchu. The reasonably priced sandwiches are only a couple of dollar each and are well packaged for transport. It is a good idea to pick up a light snack or meal to take with you to Machu Picchu. There are very few snack options once you reach Machu Picchu, and those selections are unreasonably expensive. The Cafe also has a variety of sweet treats to choose from.

(River that runs along the restaurant and train station)

The El Alburgue Restaurant is the highest rated restaurant on TripAdvisor. I ate at another highly rated restaurant, Puka Rumi, where I had an excellent burrito. The ratings are dead on. Puka Rumi was slightly cheaper, but lower quality and not nearly as nice in terms of atmosphere. Whether you grab coffee and a sandwich while waiting for your train or visit the full restaurant for a filling meal, you are not likely to be disappointed.

Unless otherwise indicated, all photos are my own. My photos may be reproduced with prior permission.