Los Balcones Hotel Review - Arequipa, Peru
What’s Good:
Big Rooms, Clean, Cost, Balconies
What’s Bad:
Street Noise, Morning Showers
Hotel website: http://www.balconeshotel.com/
Email: losbalconeshotel@hotmail.com
We had the pleasure of staying at the Los Balcones hotel (hostal) for four nights during our recent trip to Peru (April-May 2005). Los Balcones, while called a hostal, is actually more like a hotel. It is centrally located just a few blocks from the Plaza Des Armas and offers many types of rooms (doubles, triples, quads, etc).
What you’ll first notice when you pull up to the hotel is that it doesn’t appear very big. There is a door that leads off the street and down into a very small lobby/front desk area. The lobby has a few very comfortable leather couches and that’s pretty much it. When you’re taken up to your room you’ll go up a set of stairs and to the left into a long hallway. Most rooms are off of this hallway on the left.
We had two rooms, a room with four beds (a double and three twins), and a room with two beds (a double and a twin). The rooms were gigantic. Each person had their own space around their beds. Both of our rooms also had balconies that overlooked the street. The balconies were great. There was enough room for 4-6 people to stand on the balcony and look out. There are no chairs or tables on the balconies. We found the balcony the most useful to check on the day’s weather and to hang laundry out to dry.
The hotel included breakfast with our rooms. Breakfast was good but quite plain. We received orange juice, rolls, tea, and jam each morning. The breakfast room is just at the top of the stairs where you entered (the first door on your right as you go up the stairs). The breakfast room also served as a computer room for the guests. You could rent the computer for a few Soles (about 60 cents) an hour. While it was convenient the prices on the street were much better (0.50 Sols/hour).
The hotel was very clean. Our rooms were serviced each day. The hotel also provided soap and towels for each of us.
Our two rooms each had a private bath. The baths were not that large but were clean and more than adequate. As the water seemed to be heated by the sun we found it was best to shower at night before going to bed. The water was still hot and there was plenty of it.
Due to the rooms being right on the street (one floor up) the street noise was a little more than we were used to here in quiet Canada. We luckily brought ear plugs and it was never a problem for us.
We felt completely secure in the hotel. The hotel is locked 24 hours a day and each person entering has to be buzzed in. We often left valuables, money, and electronics in our room. They were never disturbed. The hotel also offers a bag storage service if you decide to go on a tour for a night. Our bags were stored in a closet beside the front desk for 36 hours free of charge.
A few other things to note:
There is a kids play room at the hotel. To get there go down the main hall and take a right down the first hallway on your right. Then take a left when you get to the next hallway. There is a play room and a few other rooms there.
There is also a very nice terrace beside the play room.
A few of the front desk staff could speak some English. There were a few who could speak none but were able to get by with hand gestures and drawn diagrams.
There is a nice place to eat right beside the hotel (to the left if you’re facing it). The pizza’s were good, the lasagna was good, and the red wine was great. The price was also very reasonable. We ate there a few times during our stay.
Comments
Carl - July 1, 2005 12:41 PM
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g294313-d318505-Reviews-Los_Balcones_de_Moral_y_Santa_Catalina-Arequipa.html
Ron Edinger - October 21, 2005 9:25 PM
Dan, It would sure be great if your posts listed a telephone number (for example Los Balcones in Arequipa, Peru. Their domain has expired and all the travel website are very "coy" about giving you a telephone number so you can call the hotel direct.
On the El Parador, Quepos,
I lived in Santa Ana, Costa Rica from 95-2003. A couple of things about El Parador. The food is not good. Lots of better restaurants around Manual Antonio. Less in Quepos. Never, never order room service at El Parador. We have stayed there many times and got fairly good rates if we bargain a little but once our kids order room service while we went out to eat in another restaurant. The price of 4 hamburgers was $59 !
Stay there but don't eat there....
Dan James - October 22, 2005 11:27 AM
Ron,
Thanks for your feedback. We'll be sure to include the phone numbers from here on in.
Dr Roger Litton - May 22, 2006 1:01 PM
HOTEL PARADOR, Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica
We stayed in this hotel in January 2006 and categorise it as a lovely hotel in a stunning location. However, the staff leave something to be desired. On check-in we were kept waiting for our room for 1 hour 40 minutes after the stated check-in time. We had had a long journey and were tired, hot and sticky and wanted a shower and to change. When I complained to the manager (it took him 25 minutes to arrive) his response was “it may be unacceptable but we are doing our best; if you want to complain to your travel company, that is your choice” (I had made no mention of complaining). Reception finally allocated us a different room number; unfortunately, when we arrived there (with luggage) that room, also, was not ready.
We later asked reception to book us a table at an outside restaurant. They did this but did not book the requested taxi. No apology and we were 15 minutes late for dinner.
One is quite accustomed to having one’s credit card swiped but, at this hotel, one also has to sign the blank credit card voucher – unsettling at a time when we are all being warned to be on our guard against credit card fraud. However it was made quite clear – no signature meant that every bill for drinks and other extras would have to be settled on the spot with cash.
The room was spacious and very pleasant; there are five grades and we had a Superior. However, lighting was inadequate and the bed reading lights were located out of reach between the beds with a bizarre switching arrangement (push once for left, twice for right, three times for both & four times for off). Towels were located above the toilet, inconveniently well away from both wash basin and bath. The bath was excellent – large and roomy (a pity that its plug wasn’t watertight). The air conditioning unit was the quietist we have ever encountered which meant that leaving it on overnight was no problem at all.
Breakfast service was disorganised and the buffet was adequate rather than lavish. It was unsettling to have one’s coffee cup and napkin removed while we were at the buffet but at least on that morning we did get coffee without having to take our cups in search of it.
Wireless internet access was free but, for those of us without a laptop, use of a computer in the separate room was charged – even if we only wanted to send one e-mail or check photos on the camera.
The hotel was impersonal with no atmosphere. One was conscious of being merely a number – never a name. In all our dealings with the hotel, I was never once addressed by name despite the fact that at every point where a bill is to be signed there is a computer terminal, accessed by room number, which brings up the guest details. To all the hotel staff we were (room) numbers.
Nice hotel - shame about the staff. We shall not go back.
Milena Aleman Ayhoniz - October 1, 2007 2:16 PM
well, i visited los Balcones de Moral y Santa Catalina recently (with a taxi driver), it's a clean hostal, one block fron the plaza and Saint Catalina Convent, nice views from the balconies, ask for the rooms with face in Moral Street, they have a terrace and internet wi-fi, the new web page is www.balconeshotel.com, you can get discouns making a reservation before arriving in losbalconeshotel@hotmail.com, also if you get the hostel walking (without a taxi driver)they will give you better discounts. breakfast is included and the staff can arrange the tours to Colca Canyon, and around the city, it's a confortable place to spend the nigths in Arequipa
Dan - October 1, 2007 3:01 PM
Thanks for the new URL and email addresses. I've updated the post to include them. Cheers!