The history of the emblematic Hotel Paracas

Paracas is one of the most important seaside resorts on the Peruvian coast. Although it is urbanized, it still retains much of its desert beauty. And it is that in Paracas, the dunes, the waves, the winds, and the starry nights come together. In this scenario, the Hotel Paracas, a Luxury Collection Resort, has become part of the history of an unforgettable destination.

In the middle of the 19th century, in the midst of the guano industrial boom, the product of the islands began to be exploited and a small pier was installed almost at the entrance to the bay of Pisco, in the sunny department of Ica. Decades later, only around 1930, an architect realized the potential of this land nestled between the desert and the sea.
José Álvarez Calderón is one of the most important modern architects in Peru. A fan of fishing and sailing, he is considered the great founder of the Bay of Paracas. It was he who designed the first and most beautiful houses, introducing an aesthetic that became known as the “Paracas style”, a personal adaptation of the architecture of the Greek islands, with a rustic atmosphere typical of the Ica landscape and materials.
Among several other buildings, the architect Álvarez Calderón designed the Hotel Paracas, which so many people from Lima have enjoyed during the weekends since the mid-1940s, and which has even been the set design for cinematographic and literary fictions. Today, the iconic pool of the Hotel Paracas, a Luxury Collection Resort, occupies the place of the old hotel.

An Exciting New Chapter

The Hotel Paracas, a Luxury Collection Resort, is about to celebrate its thirteenth anniversary in front of the Paracas National Reserve. The reopening of the hotel under the brand The Luxury Collection, in 2009, meant the beginning of a new stage in luxury hotels in Peru.
The classic hotel became a resort that is still synonymous with rest, good food and fun for the whole family without losing the magic of its beginnings. Since the reopening under the new brand and new standards, the bay has experienced a true renaissance that has allowed it to become the third most visited destination in Peru.
In addition to its natural beauty, which includes the sighting of a variety of animals, such as flamingos, sea lions and penguins, Paracas keeps enigmatic pre-Columbian discoveries, such as the geoglyphs traced on its dunes. Currently, the bay has the conditions to practice marine sports of all kinds and has adequate infrastructure for the most demanding travelers.
Eight years ago, the Hotel Paracas, a Luxury Collection Resort, opened Chalana, a cebichería located on its private dock, which operates under the “zero kilometer” concept, to offer only cold and sustainable dishes with the catch of the day provided by fishermen. This is just a showy example of close work between the hotel and the local community, as well as the concern to implement a sustainable relationship and participate in the conservation of the National Reserve and the beaches of Paracas.
Being part of the history of this bay is a source of pride.