10 min away from the Machu-Picchu - Ollantayambo train

The Eco Lodge is a unique Refuge with the Highest Standards of Sustainability

Las Qolqas Eco Lodge is located two kilometers to the east of Ollantaytambo on the road to the villages of Willoq and Patacancha. We are far enough to be surrounded by peace and quiet, yet its only a twenty-minute walk to the village and our free shuttle bus will take you to the train station to Machu Picchu in under ten minutes.

Sustainable Tourism

We firmly believe that, if executed properly, tourism can be a source of sustainable development.  It can provide dignified and rewarding employment to the local population, pay fair prices for local organic produce, encourage best practices for water management and waste disposal/recycling, invest in reforestation as well as in the upkeep of archaeological sites. 

Las qolqas de Pinkuylluna
Restaurant & Bar Pututu at night

Sustainable Lodging

We use a minimal impact architecture that blends with the environment. Insulating our tents to be thermally efficient and to offer our guests a very comfortable stay with the highest finishes. Using solar energy for our lighting needs. 

Activities & Community Help

We promote day trips, off the traditional tourist route. With these activities, we try to help the community by hiring local guides.  We generate employment in our neighbouring villages and train our staff to the highest hospitality standards.  We make donations to help the local schools purchase equipment and train their staff.

 
Cachiccata Hike
organic orchad at Las qolqas ecolodge

The Orchard and its Organic Agriculture

A zero-mile policy inspired us to grow seeds as close to our tables as possible, so we decided to turn our restaurant into a greenhouse. Once germinated, the seedlings are transplanted onto agricultural terraces that date back to the time of the Incas. Here, our diners are invited to help pick the organically grown produce that will come directly from the earth to their plates.

Sutainable Energy Resources

Solar energy for our electricity supply
Wastewater treatment with bio-digesters and a wet ground. The filtered water is used for irrigation.
Recycled irrigation combining the most ancient and modern technologies.

A Botanical Garden

At Las Qolqas Eco Lodge, we offer our guests a stay immersed in a botanical garden that houses a variety of plants, trees and herbs native to the Sacred Valley. Each tent is surrounded by a type of native flower, such as cantuta, native fuchsia or duranta erecta, and bears its name.

Our guests sit in the privacy of their individual canopies, often visited by Giant Hummingbirds and their smaller cousins, which can often be seen feeding on the nectar produced by nearby flowers. Kestrels, hawks and condors fly overhead.

Qolqas for the People

The friendly smile of a Porter from Patacancha

Asociación Las Qolqas has Four Main Pillars of Community Work

We believe that in order for us to prosper, our neighbours must do so too.  It is with that mindset that we set up a non-profit association to promote activities that will help contribute to the well-being of the Patacancha river valley. The association is funded by 100% of the margin we make on the activities we promote and by generous donations from our friends and guests.

I. Child Education

Peru has a serious educational deficit.  More so in rural areas.  Covid 19 has worsened what was already a critical situation.

We believe that investing in Education is key in order to structurally improve people’s lives and give them opportunities for dignified and rewarding occupations.

II. Family Healthcare

Peru has large inequalities when it comes to availability and affordability of healthcare.
We aim to provide our staff and their families with good healthcare.  We also aim to help the neighboring communities get better access & choices.
community works at Las Qolqas eco lodge Perú

III. Protecting our Environment

Irrigation and water care at Las Qolqas eco lodge Perú

Water quality and availability are of prime concern worldwide.  We focus on building the right irrigation infrastructure for Las Qolqas Eco Resort and for its neighbours.  

We also invest in water treatment, waste management, recycling & reforestation.

IV. Preservation of Cultural Heritage

Ollantaytambo is home to incredible archaeological sites. The cultural heritage that surrounds us is priceless.

We work with the ministry of culture and with our neighbours to maintain the agricultural terraces in the Patacancha river valley.
Patacancha river near Las Qolqas Ecolodge Perú

Projects Undertaken by Asociación Las Qolqas

 

March 2024:

Together with Kuska School and El Albergue, Las Qolqas is one of the founding members of CASA KUSKA, a library and cultural center in the historical center of Ollantaytambo.  This center aims to provide a safe space that promotes the love of reading and learning amongst the youth of Ollantaytambo and its surrounding villages.   Tutoring, workshops, additional training for teachers and emotional support sessions are amongst the activities that will further the overall well-being of new generations of thinkers.

https://kuskaschool.org/en/

September 2021:

Provided irrigation hoses, hired a hydraulic engineer and organized our neighbours to implement an aspersion irrigation system.  Allowing each of the neighboring farmers that make use of the agricultural terraces to share water equitably and more efficiently.

 

August 2021:

Paid for the Translation of the  national grade-school curriculum from Spanish to Quechua. This exercise was executed by MAB with the help of two local teachers and a psychologist from Ollantaytambo.

https://aprendemab.com

 

May 2021:

Commissioned an audit of the emotional and academic level of teachers, students and parents of the schools in our neighboring villages: Ollantaytambo, Pallata, Huilloc and Patacancha.

This led to the inclusion of the teachers of said schools in the program ‘De Tambo a Tambo’.  The teachers now engage in monthly calls with other teachers and coaches, in which they have a forum to voice their doubts and get support in order to do the best job they can with their limited resources.

https://www.mablovers.com/tambos-rurales

 

October 2020 – February 2021:

Restoration of Inca wall along the road from Ollantaytambo to Huilloc.  Engaged an archaeologist to work alongside experts from the Ministry of Culture.  They prepared a plan and subsequently monitored the restauration of a millenary Inca wall.

 

September 2019:

The entire staff of Las Qolqas participated in planting thousands of Queuña trees near Pumamarca

 

March 2019 – July 2019:

Built a river intake and canal system to be used by all the neighboring farmers on the south bank of the Patacancha river.