Travelling around Chile: some recommendations on places to stay!

Santiago from our apartment roof terrace

For our final post on this blog we thought we'd put up some recommendations from our time spent living in and travelling around Chile. Mainly we wanted to share our top 10 places to stay. They're in the order that we stayed in them, not in any order of preference. Also they should be seen in this context: while we wanted to meet people we are a couple who didn't want to stay in hostel dorms, we looked for hostels that are owner run, have some character, with private rooms as well as dorms, and include a good breakfast.

None of these places listed below had problems with bathrooms. We found the "bathroom situation" a priority - one bathroom for 20 guests, no... - and we only had a private bathroom in about three of them. Wifi/ computer access weren't priorities, though all of these below except Navimag had some sort of internet access available. We haven't done Tripadvisor reviews for all of them yet, but we can safely say that we'd give all of them 4 or 5 stars for each of the key criteria: "sleep quality", "cleanliness", "service" and "value".

Unless you're a business traveller looking for a Hilton or something, generally speaking Chile has terrible hotels, but loads of really good hostels have been springing up over the last few years. One general thing to remember is that star ratings for hotels describe the facilities available in a hotel, not the standard or quality of the place. A tiny TV with a poor picture, and a trouser press, will get your establishment up the star rankings, even if it's otherwise a dingy hellhole.

With the exceptions of Maria's Casa, Hostal Acuarela, and Hostal Sonchek, we wouldn't say any of this top 10 are the cheapest options in their respective locations - but our main concern was value, not finding the cheapest place no matter what. It's possible to find very cheap accommodation in less "European-style" hostels or in Residenciales. The former tend to be dingy, and the latter are rooms in someone's house - sometimes this can work out well, but other times it's just weird and awkward. One of the times we did this the whole place was run entirely around the needs of the family (kitchen available to guests only at off-times i.e. 10am to 1pm, 3pm to 8pm...) and was generally not all that accommodating.

None of our top 10 recommendations are in Santiago (partly because we wanted to mention the further flung places) but two hostels in the city we know well are:

Hostal Providencia: well located with really friendly staff and lots of info about the city. It's probably fair to describe it as a backpacker hostel - great if you want to meet people, and it's pretty cheap and cheerful.


Andes Hostel: is also well located (close to where we used to live in Santiago) and friendly, if a little more expensive than Providencia. Our best tip however, if you're a holidaying couple, is to get an apartment through Andes Hostel. They're located a block from the hostel, modern, well kitted out and really good value. This is a much better "luxury" option than any of the hotels we're aware of (unless you want to pay a fortune to stay way out East at a big name 5 star in the rather soulless Las Condes part of Santiago). Another similar option is Mosqueto Apartments with apartments on an awesome tiny little street with some of our favourite cafes, right next to Andes Hostel.

So here are 10 places that stood out for us, mainly on the basis of service/ friendliness, character, and value for money:

Maria's Casa, La Serena: run by Chileans Mama Maria and her son Andres, we stayed here twice when visiting the beach side city La Serena, a 6 hour bus ride north from Santiago. A friendly hostel with lots of young travelers but no mega-dorms, mainly double rooms. There's a smaller house across the road with only two rooms - one double and one triple - which you can request if you want to have a quieter stay but, to be clear, the main hostel is not noisy. Both have nice open courtyard spaces to relax in. 

Anna in the courtyard in the small house at Maria's Casa

The Yellow House, Valparaiso: run by a friendly Aussie, Martin, and his Chilean wife Lissette, we also stayed here twice on trips to Valpo, the awesome iconic port city a couple of hours out of Santiago. There are no dorms here and it's more of a B&B/ Guesthouse than a hostel. So it's quiet, has amazing views of the port, helpful staff, and a really good breakfast, well worth the money.

view across the bay from one of Yellow House's rooms

Hostal Acuarela, Valparaiso: a small really friendly hostel with a couple of small dorms (6 or so beds) and a few double rooms, located on the most fun Cerro in Valpo. It's run by a relaxed but helpful group of Chilean guys available 24 hours a day. We stayed here for New Years (which we recommend very highly) and they looked after everyone really well. Awesome breakfast with homemade bread!

this doesn't happen every night - champagne on the roof of the hostel during the New Year's Eve fireworks!

Palafito Hostel, Castro Chiloe: almost certainly the best hostel in Castro - though we only stayed in this one... - we say this on the basis that it's one of the best hostels we've seen anywhere. The same people own a boutique hotel on the same street and, while that's super-special, you can tell that they're both owned and run by the same people. Clean (brand-new pine style clean), good big breakfast and good kitchen facilities looking onto a balcony over the river estuary. The killer point, quite simply, is that it's in a palafito - and if you're staying on Chiloe you should stay in a palafito.

the big red and yellow one is the hostel

El Mosco, Villa O'Higgins: Villa O'Higgins is one of the most remote places in the world, at the end of the Carretera Austral just before the Southern Ice Field. You're in proper rural Chile, the middle of nowhere, and it's great to find El Mosco when you get here. Run by a Spaniard who's a long way from home, there are good facilities with dorms downstairs and double rooms upstairs. Coming back to a log burning stove after a walk is great and, again, the breakfast is amazing (you'll see that there are only a couple of places on this list where we don't mention the quality of the breakfast...). Again, on admittedly observational evidence alone, this is almost certainly the best choice in O'Higgins, and actually it was a bit of a surprise to find something this sophisticated, modern and well run down here. Also, the owner Jorge spent plenty of his time helping travellers with routes, poring over maps of this amazing part of Chile. 

upstairs lounge in El Mosco

Inlandsis, El Chalten Argentina: it's not in Chile but Inlandsis makes our list of standout places. It kind of counts as Chile as we reached here from Villa O'Higgins by boat and then a long trek on foot across the Chile-Argentina border. You can also get there by bus from elsewhere in Argentina, or by flying to nearby El Calafate. More of a modern B&B than a hostel, it's all double/ twin rooms, no dorms. We had an economy room which was large, with a private bathroom, and bunk beds. Because it's in Argentina it also feels like amazing value as everything here is slightly cheaper than in Chile. El Chalten is a great place to spend some time. Our view may be coloured by the fact we got fresh laundry here after a few weeks on the road. That was a seminal moment, but we're fairly sure Inlandsis stands on its own merits, whether they wash your crusty smalls for you or not.

the nice well laid-out economy room at Inlandsis

Hostal Dos Lagunas, Puerto Natales: this is the place to stay to plan a trip to the Torres del Paine National Park. The owner gives every guest a presentation on the Park, and the options for seeing it, amusingly rebuking guests who ask questions while he's in full flow. The accommodation itself isn't up to much, but it's comfy and warm, and this recommendation is really about the friendly welcome and expertise of the owner, Alejandro, and his coffee - proper espresso made in Italian stove-top espresso makers donated by past guests. Not something you see often in Chile, especially outside Santiago.

we don't seem to have a photo of this hostel, so here's the Torres del Paine instead!

Navimag Ferry, Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt (or vice versa): although it's a boat, it's defo one of our stand out places to stay - the journey we took through the Patagonian Fjords north from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt took 5 days and was great fun. You can also do the journey in the opposite direction. We got lucky in that we booked the cheapest beds (which are basically bunks in a wall with a curtain, like where Lister sleeps in Red Dwarf, except worse as they're in the corridor) but managed to get upgraded to a 4 person cabin, with a window, for the two of us. It seems to be that when the ferry is not fully booked they will routinely upgrade people when checking in, but we got an awesome upgrade as the berths are priced more highly with windows, and they're pretty small for 4 people. Basically you have to be willing to be sociable and accommodating, there are no dorms but you could be sleeping about a metre across from some new friends. You're well looked after, it's an amazing experience with the views of pristine islands in the fjords, and where else do you get to smell cow poo while on a cruise?

the fun rear deck on Navimag

Hostal Sonchek, San Pedro de Atacama: this is a great little hostel in the middle of San Pedro, in a courtyard house, with all double/ twin rooms (we think). It's a good value place to sleep, and there are a few tables and chairs around the courtyard. There are plenty of bathrooms. San Pedro is awesome but not a cheap place to be generally, so we found this an excellent budget option. 

the central courtyard in Hostal Sonchek

Hare Swiss, Easter Island: run by Peter, a Swiss guy, and his Rapa nui wife, this is the name for three large, clean and comfortable cabañas located a little way out of Hanga Roa, with an amazing view of the sunset over the western shore of the Island every night! We were really well looked after, Peter offers some really good tours and other advice and, yes, there was a great breakfast.

sunset from the balcony at Hare Swiss

Obviously there are plenty of other good places around, and anywhere else we've mentioned in other blog posts are also recommended, unless we say otherwise in the relevant post...

This is our last post on this blog, unless we really get an itch to post about something else... and we might anyway add a few more links to photo galleries. The time we spent in Chile was an experience we'll never forget. Thanks to everyone who helped us with anything big or small in getting us to and from Chile and while we were there, and to all the great people we met: we hope to see you again someday!

CHAO!