Colca Lodge Spa & Hot Springs

Colca Lodge Spa & Hot Springs is a 45-room hotel on the Puye estate beside the Colca river, just below Yanque. Its draw is the thermal water: hot-spring pools on the riverbank that guests can use day and night, plus a spa and a restaurant. There are alpacas on the grounds and mountain views from most rooms. It is a mainstream hotel, not a gay venue. Google rates it 4.7 from more than 900 reviews, the most of any hotel in the valley. Yanque sits at about 3,400 metres, so take the first evening slowly; nights are cold all year. There are no gay bars anywhere in the Colca Valley; the nearest scene is in Arequipa, about three and a half hours away by road.